Democrats were not at the table when border crossings were a problem at the start of Joe Biden's presidency and are invested now because it's a national issue and the presidential election looms, said Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah.
"Where have they been the last three years? We've been going down to the border to make this point. The fact is we're now getting into an election year, and people are realizing that the mistake that Biden made was they allowed this to happen too early," Owens said Friday during an appearance on Newsmax's "Carl Higbie: FRONTLINE."
Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a bill meant to clamp down on the number of migrants allowed to claim asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sought Thursday to underscore GOP resistance to the proposal.
The legislation, negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators, was already rejected by most Republicans in February when it was linked to a foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and other U.S. allies. But with immigration and border security becoming one of the top issues of this year's election, Democrats are looking for an answer to the barrage of GOP attacks, led by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Owens said Democrats "allowed it to happen enough times to put these illegal people across our country in every blue city, every blue state. And it's a national issue for everybody. So of course you'll see Democrats coming back, but know that they were not there. They were not at the table," he added.
Owens said Democrats are desperate to pass a border bill now but could have signed off on HR 2, a bill House Republicans passed last year that would have reinstated Trump-era immigration policies such as the construction of the border wall.
"They're now desperate because they realize the border is everything and everybody's still paying for it, and they're going to pay the price for not standing up for the American people earlier."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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