Arizona rep. warns border is 'a total disaster' with end of Title 42
Rep. Debbie Lesko explains on 'Fox & Friends First' why she believes the Biden administration's failed border policies are 'purposeful' in order to keep the border open.
Arizona Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko accused Democrats and the Biden administration of being "complicit" in the migrant crisis overwhelming the southern border. On "Fox & Friends First" Friday, Lesko suggested Democrats' inaction is "purposeful" in order to keep the borders open, noting they did "nothing" to secure it despite having full control of Congress and the presidency for two years.
WHAT IS TITLE 42? WHAT THE END OF THE BORDER POLICY MEANS FOR THE US
REP. DEBBIE LESKO: I've been in Congress now for a while, and I've seen all the legislation that has been passed through the Democrat-controlled Congress. And it's purposeful. They want an open border. For what end goal? I do not know. I can only guess. But yesterday on the floor of the House of Representatives, Republicans passed a border security bill. We have a solution. The Democrats complained about it. They said that we should work with them on a comprehensive plan. Well, they had two years. Two years in total control of the House, the Senate, the presidency. They did nothing to secure the border. And these people, even the immigrants, are being hurt by the cartels. Girls are being sold into sex slavery. This is something that the Democrats and Biden are complicit in. They're doing absolutely nothing to help our country be secured. It's awful.
Migrants could be seen arriving at the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border early Thursday, hours before President Biden's administration was scheduled to end Title 42.
Members of the Texas National Guard could be seen patrolling the barbed wire fences of the border barrier in El Paso on Thursday. Maj. Sean Storrud of the Texas National Guard pointed to groups of migrants ranging from a few dozen to well over 200, saying that they were waiting for Title 42 to expire.
Storrud said that few things are likely to change in terms of process at his area of the border, where officials have been operating under Title 8 rather than Title 42. Nevertheless, huge numbers of migrants believe otherwise.
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"A lot of them are still waiting there because they just don't know what's going to happen when Title 42 ends," Storrud told Fox News. "They have been fed a lot of misinformation from social media, from the cartels, from well-meaning people. And they've got so much information that when we tell them about the consequences of Title 8, they simply don't know what to believe. But they do know that they're here now, and they're willing to wait it out, even knowing after we've told them that what they're doing is illegal."
Fox News' Mills Hayes and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
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