President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats have been forced to play defense amid the ongoing border crisis, as Republicans pressure them to visit the besieged region and push them into a political corner on immigration bill votes, The Hill reports.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor on Thursday that Democrats have "prioritized" amnesty instead of America.
"[The border] crisis … continues to escalate," McConnell said. "And what about Democrats here in Congress? Are the House Democrats rising to the occasion with solutions? Not exactly. They prioritized passing another amnesty bill. They doubled down on the wrong direction and the wrong incentives."
Biden said Thursday in his first White House press conference that he planned to make sure that children in custody are not held for more than 72 hours — even though some have reportedly been held for days longer than the legally allowed period — and will coordinate with the Pentagon to make beds available at Fort Bliss, which is located on the Texas-Mexico border. Biden also said most illegal immigrants were being sent back.
That assessment didn't match up with what Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he's been made aware of.
"The misinformation being given by President Biden on immigration is stunning," Graham tweeted after Biden's briefing. "It’s clear he does not have the situational awareness he needs to understand what is going on at the border or how to fix it."
The National Republican Senatorial Committee also blasted Democrats, claiming liberal lawmakers are "in denial" about the situation.
"If you look at open borders, it's not what the public wants," said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who chairs the NRSC. "I mean, if you look at where we're headed, we're gonna have a hell of a ‘22 because the Biden policies are not where America is. They want to open schools. They want closed borders."
In some political gamesmanship, Democrats were forced to block five bills related to immigration on the Senate floor this week — despite the fact that none would have passed with unanimous consent. But the move allowed Republicans to get Democrats on record as opposing the legislation.
Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., objected to a bill from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, which would create a mandatory minimum sentence for illegal entry into the United States. Lujan said the proposal "seems to be a continuance of the harmful proposals from the Trump administration."
But Cruz hit back at Lujan, along with Biden and Democrats in general, saying their positions on such bills show they support illegal immigration.
"President Biden's political decisions have produced a crisis and a crisis that is growing," Cruz said. "The actions of today's Democratic Party is extreme and out of touch and out of touch with the American people who we were elected to represent."
After Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, tried to pass legislation that would change asylum rules, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., warned: "We have the authority. We have the opportunity ... Making this sort of request on the floor, I know, is symbolic. But I have to say that it's not the symbolism we should follow."
When asked what Congress plans to do in response to the situation at the border, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters he planned to meet with House leaders to "figure out the best way forward where we can get the most done."
Biden this week put Vice President Kamala Harris in charge of the border crisis, an appointment Graham suggested may be pointless.
"I'll gladly work with her to do things that will turn the problem around," Graham said, before listing the issues he sees coming up: "Does she have the ability to do that politically? Does she have the will? ... Does she see the problem the way I do?"
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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