PBS Tags 'Harder Line' Republicans for Border Security

bradwilmouth | February 4, 2023
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PBS NewsHour

February 1, 2023

7:26 p.m. Eastern

AMNA NAWAZ: In its first hearing of the year, the House Judiciary Committee focused on immigration, and how the Biden administration had handled record high numbers on the Southern border. Lisa Desjardins has been following it all, and has this look at how Republicans are making border security a key part of their agenda.

LISA DESJARDINS: Wielding their new power, House Republicans hammered the Biden administration over its handling of the border.

CONGRESSMAN JEFF VAN DREW (R-NJ): It is Biden's problem because in two years it's radically changed.

DESJARDINS: The House Judiciary Committee is packed with Freedom Caucus members and other harder line conservatives focused on the border, including Texas Congressman Chip Roy.

CONGRESSMAN CHIP ROY (R-TX): That's 2020 to 2022 -- almost 1,000 migrant deaths at the Southwest border of the United States.

CONGRESSMAN ANDY BIGGS (R-AZ): The border is dangerous. Drugs pour across -- international terrorists, criminal gang members.

DESJARDINS: U.S. Customs and Border Protection saw a record at 2.3 million encounters with migrants in the Southwest last fiscal year, driven by a spike in migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, with many repeat attempts by the same individuals. The hearing was parts heated with sharp accusations from Republicans.

CONGRESSMAN JIM JORDAN (R-OH): Month after month after month, we have set records for migrants coming into the country, and, frankly, I think it's intentional.

DESJARDINS: Part ardent defense from Democrats, who say Republicans are being political.

CONGRESSWOMAN VERONICA ESCOBAR (D-TX): -- no one who wants a safe, secure well-managed border more than those of us who live and work on the border.

CONGRESSMAN TED LIEU (D-CA): This hearing is titled "Biden's Border Crisis." That is completely wrong. It is not Biden's border crisis. This has been a crisis for over half a century.

DESJARDINS: And it was part trying to grasp the problem with U.S. policy at the border. Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise County, Arizona.

SHERIFF MARK DANNELS, COCHISE COUNTY, ARIZONA: I work with many Border Patrol agents -- federal agents -- and to date, I have not heard one say that it's working.

DESJARDINS: Indeed, along the border, some in law enforcement say their officers are overwhelmed.

CLINT McDONALD, SOUTHWEST BORDER SHERIFFS COALITION: The influx of people -- the mass quantities of people that are invading our border -- our Border Patrol cannot keep up with it.

DESJARDINS: Clint McDonald is the executive director of the Texas and Southwest Border Sheriffs Coalition. He's critical of Biden policy and says Border Patrol is struggling.

McDONALD: They're understaffed and underworked, and are falling behind every day. So our sheriffs are having to put on hold the citizens that elected them to office to try to help with this immigration problem. Our sheriffs don't want to be immigration officers, but they're forced into that role now.

DESJARDINS: But others working on border issues argue the U.S. needs to be more open, not less, to the flood of asylum seekers. Dylan Corbett is an advocate who works with migrants.

DYLAN CORBETT, HOPE BORDER INSTITUTE: We are concerned that, two years into the administration, we haven't fully restored asylum at the border, and we're seeing steps in the opposite direction. This administration is embracing some of the policies of the previous administration to manage in a long-term way immigration at the border.

DESJARDINS: Back at today's hearing, the mixed search for light.

CONGRESSMAN JOE NEGUSE (D-CO): And I'd love to be able to have a thoughtful conversation with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle about these different prescriptive proposals.

DESJARDINS: And heat.

CONGRESSMAN JORDAN: In the last Congress, they controlled everything. Joe Biden was a Democrat in the White House, the Senate was controlled by the Democrats, and the House was controlled by the Democrats. Why didn't they fix it then?

DESJARDINS: Revealed little new but opened what could be a significant debate. Republicans plan more hearings and say they hope to write legislation in coming weeks. For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Lisa Desjardins.

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