The Texas farmer hammers the Biden administration over the border situation
As migrants lined up at the US-Mexico border on Thursday before Title 42 expires, a Texas farmer says the situation has not improved at all and the Biden administration has made it worse.
Hundreds of would-be asylum seekers await their chance to illegally sneak into the country before the Trump-era COVID policies that make it easier to deport immigrants expire on May 11.
Title 42, the COVID-19 pandemic-era policy that helped law enforcement quickly remove illegal migrants at the border, expires May 11.
The Biden administration will send an additional 1,500 troops to the southern border to join the 2,500 already fighting to stem the flood of people crossing the border.
However, Texas farmer Stephanie Canales called the Biden administration’s handling of the situation “a joke.”
As migrants lined up at the US-Mexico border on Thursday before Title 42 expires, Texas farmer Stephanie Canales (pictured) says the situation has not improved at all and the Biden administration has made it worse
“You want to laugh, it’s a joke. And those of us who live here every day and deal with this, it hasn’t improved at all,” Canales told Fox Business.
‘It’s only getting worse. And I don’t care what lies they spew against the American people. They are lies because it only gets worse every day.’
Her comments came after White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration has made efforts to address the “broken” immigration system.
Canales says she has to constantly fight migrants who pass through her ranch every day.
“If they drive through our property, it’s fence damage. So we’re constantly repairing fences, we’re constantly replacing gates that they blow through on their vehicles when they’re being chased by law enforcement,” Canales said.
She noted that inflation under President Biden has only exacerbated her family’s problems.
“We’ve also had to install cameras all over our property…but the cameras allow us to see who’s on our property at any time so we can alert the patrol. But it’s cost us a lot and it’s very, very frustrating. And no, we don’t feel safe at all.’
Canales said sending troops to the border was a good decision, but may have come too late.
“God bless our troops, I am sure they will be of great help to the Border Patrol and to our state forces who are down here. But where were they long ago? They should close the border because people just come here. It’s nonstop.’
Hundreds of would-be asylum seekers await their chance to illegally sneak into the country before President Biden expires May 11 on a Trump-era Covid policy that makes it easier to weed out immigrants
President Joe Biden, center, walks with Customs and Border Patrol officers during a visit to the border wall along the Rio Grande, January 8, 2023 in El Paso, Texas
Canales says she has to constantly fight migrants who pass through her ranch every day
Canales did say that Biden sending troops to the border was a good decision, but may have come too late
Republican senators wrote in a letter to Biden on Wednesday, signed by Judiciary Committee members and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, that Title 42 is necessary to maintain order at the border.
But Title 42, a CDC policy, will end with the Covid-19 emergency, and it’s not clear if there is legal authority to keep the rule in effect after the emergency.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham called on Biden to find an “adequate replacement” for Title 42 if he could not enforce the current public health rule.
Graham said migrant caravans camp along the border because they don’t believe other border policies – namely Title 8 – will be a “sufficient replacement” for Title 42.
“The reason 10,000 people in a city are waiting for May 12 is because they don’t see a suitable replacement,” he said.
Potential asylum seekers wait on the Mexican side of the border near San Ysidro, California, hoping to cross once Title 42 expires on
Biden has vowed to use processing centers in countries such as Colombia and Guatemala to reduce the number of illegal crossings
There is a rapidly forming migrant caravan in Mexico, with some estimating as many as 35,000 asylum seekers waiting to cross into the US interior after May 11.
“We are writing today to implore you to reverse your decision to end the Public Health Title 42 Order, which expires May 11. reach 13,000 encounters with illegal immigrants per day,” the letter reads.
So far, the president has ignored Republican requests to expand emergency powers that allow authorities to deport migrants without hearing their asylum case.
Ken Cuccinelli, who served as deputy secretary of Homeland Security in the Trump administration, told Fox News that the US will face a wave of asylum applications he called “an invasion.”
“Much of the southern hemisphere is lined up at the border,” he said. “They’re going to storm into the country.”
“This administration doesn’t care,” the former lawyer added.
On Thursday, a deal was signed with Mexico that will allow the country to take back Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who have been expelled from the US border from next week.
“This is a hemispheric challenge that requires hemispheric solutions,” said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“By working with our neighbors in the region, we can and will reduce the number of migrants reaching our southern border,” he added.
But the Republican-led House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Congress, plans to pass stricter immigration laws
Thom Tillis, the Republican senator from North Carolina, said the end of Title 42 “sets the table” for Congress to draft new legislation amid predictions of a wave of arrivals.
Official records show that more than 2.3 million migrants attempted to illegally enter the United States last year
Thom Tillis, a Republican senator from North Carolina, said the upper house of Congress could work on new laws to make it more difficult to enter the US.
More than 2.3 million migrants tried to illegally enter the United States across the Mexican border last year, according to US Customs and Border Protection.
That’s more than 1.7 million people in 2021 and just over 450,000 the year before, when much of the world went into lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.
Emergency powers to remove migrants, known as Title 42, stem from a 79-year-old federal law that Trump used from the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Republicans are also angry that Joe Biden scrapped his predecessor’s key anti-immigration policy: a $16.6 billion border barrier along the border with Mexico.
Some border towns, including El Paso in Texas, have already declared a state of emergency.
The administration stated that it will use various legal tools to try to stop the number of people trying to cross.
Those powers, known as Title 8, will result in undocumented migrants detained in the United States being punished in such a way that they are no longer eligible to legally enter the country.