- The Washington Times - Monday, April 15, 2019

Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tim Ryan said Monday President Trump’s laziness is contributing to the crisis on the southern border.

“He has failed to address the issues in Central America. Quite frankly, the president is lazy. He doesn’t read his presidential daily briefing. He ignored this problem. We want presidents to deal with the root of the problems. Central America is a mess and we are doing nothing to stabilize that region,” the Ohio Democrat said on MSNBC’s “Kasie DC” show.

“This president needs to set the phone down and start rolling up his sleeves and getting to work. He’s lazy and this is going to take work to stop it, so yeah, we’ve got problems at the border now because he’s failed to do his job the past two years,” Mr. Ryan continued.

He added the country needs “comprehensive immigration reform,” saying the country can be strong on border security but have a “compassionate system” for immigrants and asylum seekers.

Mr. Ryan is one of the almost 20 Democrats currently vying to be the nominee to challenge Mr. Trump in the 2020 election.

Mr. Trump tweeted Monday he wanted Congress to “come back to D.C. now and FIX THE IMMIGRATION LAWS!”

The president faced controversy after he confirmed exploring a plan to take illegal immigrants nabbed at the U.S.-Mexico border and ship them to sanctuary cities for release, many seeing it as a tool of political payback.

  • Stephen Dinan contributed to this article

• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.

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