Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., told Newsmax on Wednesday that President Joe Biden's comment about having more important things to do than visit the U.S.-Mexico border during a trip to Arizona was "horrific."
Before departing the White House on Tuesday to visit a Taiwanese semiconductor fabrication plant being built in Phoenix, Biden was asked by a reporter if he's going to Arizona, why not visit the border?
"Because there's a more important thing going on," Biden said, according to a White House transcript. "They're going to invest billions of dollars in a new enterprise in the state."
That didn't sit well with Van Drew, who is on the House Homeland Security and Transportation and Infrastructure committees.
"Don't ask me to figure this guy out," Van Drew said on "American Agenda." "But the one thing that I will tell you, that's just horrific. For all the border patrols that could really use seeing their president of the United States being there, reassuring them that he appreciates the work that they're doing just to really know firsthand what's been going on.
"I've been there. Many members of Congress have been there."
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have not visited the U.S.-Mexico border since they were elected. Van Drew, who switched parties in 2019 after opposing Democrats' efforts to impeach former President Donald Trump, said Biden's comment sends the wrong message to states such as Arizona and Texas.
"Does that mean that Texas and Arizona and other states don't matter?" Van Drew said. "And by the way, it isn't only Texas and Arizona now because it matters enough to him to pay to fly [illegal immigrants] all over the country and drop them off.
"It matters enough to him to take care of their healthcare. It matters enough to him to make sure that he gives them legal advice if they need it. It matters enough to him to help them in any way financial.
"So, I don't quite understand what he means. You know what matters to me? Americans and American veterans and American homeless and America's economy. That's what matters to me, and it also matters that we have people pouring in the country, and we don't know where they're going who they are, what diseases they have. You've got to be kidding me."
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