In an interview with CNN, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed concern about the Biden administration’s $14 billion supplemental request, arguing that it is primarily aimed at processing and allowing more illegal immigrants into the country rather than focusing on border control.
Johnson highlighted the need to address the influx of illegal immigrants and the associated challenges at the U.S.-Mexico border.
He emphasized the importance of implementing policies such as reinstating the remain-in-Mexico policy and ending catch-and-release. (Trending: Fauci’s Ex-Boss Admits The Truth About COVID)
“Listen, this is a catastrophe down here,” Johnson said.
“What the White House is proposing is more money to process and allow more illegals into the country. We need to do the opposite of that. And this — you don’t need to take my word for it.”
“Listen to the deputy chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, who was with us last night.”
“Speaker Johnson, thanks so much for being here. Welcome to THE LEAD, your first time as speaker,” CNN’s Jake Tapper said.
“So, you’re at the border today, and I presume you’re seeing a very dire situation, hardworking border agents who can’t do their jobs with what they have. They need more money. They need more colleagues. They need more beds for asylum seekers. They need more funding.”
“How come the House has not yet touched this $14 billion supplemental request from the Biden administration? The White House is hammering you on it. Why not take it up and help these individuals?”
“Jake, good to be with you. Sorry it’s taken so long to come on with you since I became speaker,” Johnson said.
“Listen, this is a catastrophe down here. And what the White House is proposing is more money to process and allow more illegals into the country. We need to do the opposite of that.”
“And this — you don’t need to take my word for it. Listen to the deputy chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, who was with us last night.”
“And he told us in his own words. He said: ‘It’s as if I’m at an open fire hydrant. I don’t need more buckets to dump the water.’ He said: ‘I need to turn the flow off.'”
“That’s why we’re here today, Jake. We had 64 House Republicans here representing 26 states and one U.S. territory, everybody from California to Maryland, Michigan to Florida, because every state in America is a border state right now.”
“This catastrophe can come to an end if the Biden administration will do its job, and they have refused to do it. They’re doing the opposite.”
“So the $14 billion, there are, you’re right, 1,600 asylum officers that would be part of that to speed up processing of asylum claims. That’s what you’re talking about,” Tapper said.
“But there also would be 1,300 more Border Patrol agents to work alongside the 20,200, and also funding to hire 1,000 Custom and Border Protection officers with a focus on counter-fentanyl. So it’s not all — in fact, most of it is not related to processing asylum seekers.”
“A lot of it has to do with what you’re talking about.”
“Jake, the president should come to the border. What an idea that would be. He should talk to the Border Patrol agents who are down here,” Johnson said.
“I think he went last year,” Tapper said.
“The morale is low,” Johnson said.
“I think he went last year, just FYI,” Tapper pressed.
“Yes, well, he went for a photo-op,” Johnson shot back.
“He should come and spend a couple of days, like we have, to be with the people here on the ground who are fighting this war on the border. That’s effectively what it is.”
“We have so many people. Jake, seven million people have come into the country since Biden walked into the Oval Office. And that’s a low estimate.”
“Most people believe it may be twice that high. We have nearly two million got-aways that we know about, not to mention those who evaded capture, over 300 known terrorists apprehended at the border trying to come in.”
“We don’t know how many evaded capture and detection. They’re in the country potentially setting up terrorist cells everywhere. Fentanyl is the number one cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 49 flowing over the border like an open sewer. Human trafficking is the number one business of the cartels here.”
“Estimated — we were told today, Jake, one of the local sheriffs here said that they believe that the cartels are making $32 million a week on trafficking human beings into the U.S.”
“That’s over $1.5 billion a year, transnational criminal organizations. And the Biden administration seems to care nothing about it.”
“Remember, they could issue executive orders and fix this overnight. You could reinstate the remain-in-Mexico policy. You could stop the catch-and-release policy that the Biden administration insists upon.”
“Right.” Tapper said.
“You could do some very important things, but they refuse to do it,” Johnson pressed.
“So, just one note on the terrorist thing. There aren’t hundreds of known terrorists getting into the country. There are people whose identity have been flagged on a certain database,” Tapper said.
“I just don’t want people out there thinking that 200 members of Hamas have flown into the country and we don’t even know about it.”
“It’s a little bit more complicated.”
“Hey — hey, Jake — hey, Jake, it…” Johnson began.
“I’m not saying that it’s not serious. I’m just saying these aren’t necessarily terrorists,” Tapper said.
“That’s the terrorist watch list, Jake,” Johnson said.
“Right.” Tapper answered.
“It takes quite a bit to make that list, OK?” Johnson said.
“These are dangerous people who are coming into the country. And we have hardened criminals who are coming from all these countries around the world.”
“Right.” Tapper said.
“They’re opening prisons and sending them here. We saw it today, Jake. We know what’s happening. We’re talking to the people on the ground. So these are not Republican talking points. This is reality. And the White House needs to wake up to it,” Johnson pressed.
“Right. No, and these criminals and individuals have been coming in for years, Republican, Democratic administrations,” Tapper said.
Additionally, Johnson discussed the House Republican bill, H.R. 2, which includes provisions related to border security and asylum processes.
He underscored the interconnected nature of these provisions in securing the border and emphasized the need for a comprehensive approach to address the situation.
“Let’s talk about H.R. 2, because that’s the House Republican bill that calls basically to resume some of the Trump era policies, including building the Trump era border wall. It would strongly increase the restrictions on who could apply for asylum. Critics of that say it would essentially gut the asylum process. It certainly would restrict it,” Tapper added.
“That bill is not going to get 60 votes in the Senate. And whether or not that’s a good thing or a bad thing, I leave to you. But it won’t get 60 votes in the Senate. It won’t get signed by a Democratic Senate — Democratic president.”
“Is there a compromise on border security that’s being negotiated right now that you would allow to be voted on, even if a majority of House Republicans are not behind it, something that would improve situation — the situation at the border, even if not to the point that you want it to be improved?”
“Jake, the reason that we have insisted on the provisions of H.R. 2, which is the bill that we passed seven months ago that’s been sitting on Chuck Schumer’s desk collecting dust, the reason we have insisted upon that is because each of those provisions work together to secure the border,” Johnson said.
“You can’t, for example, just reform the asylum program and leave the broken parole process unrepaired. Then you would have a loophole that would do absolutely nothing.”
“You can’t just reinstate remain-in-Mexico. Even just that action would stem the flow estimated about 70 percent, but you have to also end catch-and-release.”
“All these things work together. And so you can’t just pick and choose from them from a menu and expect that you’re going to solve the problem. I will quote to you one of the sheriffs of Terrell County down here, of a border county, who has to deal with this crisis every day. He had lunch with us today.”
“And he told us. He said he was — before he became a sheriff, he worked for the U.S. Patrol 26 years. He said he had worked for four administrations who were doing great work, but it took less than six months for the Biden administration, in his words, to unwind 100 years of progress that the U.S. Border Patrol had accomplished. Six months.”
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