In a desperate attempt to mislead the country, world-renowned political clown Ted Cruz and his hapless sidekick John Cornyn are bringing their show on the road with their latest political stunt.
New reports revealed that Trump administration officials “were sitting on their hands” and refused to heed calls from Biden transition officials to increase capacity for child migrants. This week, President Joe Biden took several steps to repair the broken system he inherited, announcing he would restore millions in funding to address root causes of Central American migration, as well as appointing Vice President Harris to lead efforts to address migration.
“If there’s one thing Ted Cruz knows how to do, it is to disingenuously grandstand for TV cameras. President Biden took more action to address immigration issues in one day than Senate Republicans have in the last four years. If Senator Cruz and his colleagues were serious, they’d be in Washington working with President Biden to be a part of the solution.” – DNC spokesperson Eduardo Silva
As a reminder, here are the facts about what’s happening on the border.
THE TRUTH: There is no migrant “surge” due to Biden administration policies
Washington Post: “We analyzed monthly CBP data from 2012 to now and found no crisis or surge that can be attributed to Biden administration policies. Rather, the current increase in apprehensions fits a predictable pattern of seasonal changes in undocumented immigration combined with a backlog of demand because of 2020’s coronavirus border closure.”
Washington Post: “In other words, in fiscal year 2021, it appears that migrants are continuing to enter the United States in the same numbers as in fiscal year 2019 — plus the pent-up demand from people who would have come in fiscal year 2020, but for the pandemic.”
THE TRUTH: President Biden is working to repair the damage Trump caused to our immigration system.
CNN: “‘I can say quite clearly: Don’t come,’ Biden told ABC in an interview aired on Tuesday. The President continued: ‘We’re in the process of getting set up, don’t leave your town or city or community.’”
Council on Foreign Relations: “Still, the administration has inherited a migration system in crisis. The institutional capacity of immigration courts and other parts of the bureaucracy to humanely manage caseloads has eroded. It will take time and money to clear the backload of more than 1.2 million pending immigration cases and put back into place working asylum processes. The pandemic has made managing these flows and the containment of people all the harder.”
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: “Trumpists will claim this supposed Biden permissiveness is drawing more migrants relative to last year to make the trek. But Wendy Young, the president of Kids in Need of Defense, told me it’s far more complex than this. Migration was suppressed last year during the pandemic, and arrivals are now rising due to many factors in Central America.”
THE TRUTH: For the past year, the border has been restricted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Washington Post: “But many of those who live along the border in Texas say that while there has been a dramatic increase in the number of migrants caught crossing illegally, the border itself has been heavily restricted for nearly a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.”
THE TRUTH: The Biden administration has been requiring COVID tests and working to protect the American public.
Houston Chronicle: “A negative coronavirus test is required by the federal government before entry to the U.S. While U.S. Customs and Border Protection conducts screenings, ‘suspected COVID-19 cases are referred to local health systems for appropriate testing, diagnosis, and treatment,’ the agency said in a statement.”
CNN: “Texas Gov. Abbott Stalled Federal Offer To Test Migrants Then Blamed Them For Spreading Covid.”
Austin American-Statesman: “Gov. Greg Abbott ends statewide mask mandate, moves to ‘open Texas 100%’ — actions at odds with health experts, federal officials”
THE TRUTH: Many of the migrant children at the border came during the Trump administration.
Jennifer Podkul, Vice President of Kids in Need of Defense: “[T]hese aren’t brand new cases of people setting out for the U.S…. These are kids who’ve been waiting at the border, in some cases for more than a year.”
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