With the chaos at the southern border deepening, Republicans released a video Wednesday pressing President Biden and his Democrats to visit the area to get a firsthand look at what local communities have been left to deal with.
Homeland Security officials signaled that an even bigger border problem is on the horizon, preparing for half a million illegal border crossings a month. That would be the worst on record, by far.
“We’re seeing a human rights catastrophe, we’re seeing a public health catastrophe, we’re seeing a crime and national security catastrophe,” Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, says in the video, released by the Republican National Committee.
The video shows one clip of Mr. Biden last April speaking to NBC and insisting the surge that plagued the early months of his tenure was over and “it’s way down now — we’ve now gotten control.”
In fact, things were getting worse. The Border Patrol reported nabbing 173,913 border jumpers in April, the month Mr. Biden made his remark. By June, the number was 178,896, and it soared past 200,000 in July. In February 2022 it was still nearly 160,000, marking the worst February in two decades and continuing the longest sustained high level of illegal border encounters in U.S. history.
By contrast, the last full month under President Trump, December 2020, saw just 56,186 people nabbed.
The video shows the White House deflecting questions about Mr. Biden’s lack of attention to the border, and also shows Vice President Kamala Harris — whom the president tapped as his lead official in trying to stem the flow of people — laughing off questions about her visiting schedule.
Mr. Cruz said he’s made entreaties to his colleagues to make the trip.
“I’ve asked the Senate Democrats, ’Come to Texas and see the border.’ Not a one of them is willing to do it,” he said. “They’re literally turning a blind eye and they’re counting on the corporate media to cover it up.”
He challenged Mr. Biden’s claims that he’s imposing a more compassionate immigration policy, saying they can only claim that if they’ve never seen the chaos firsthand.
Rep. Tony Gonzales, another Texas Republican who appears in the video, pointed to migrants jumping on train cars to try to sneak deeper into the U.S., with some getting seriously injured along the way — losing an arm or leg.
“That’s part of the 2 million,” he said.
The RNC says the video is the first in a series on the border.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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