Lindsey Graham: Border crisis a 'bunch of bulls---'
Sen. Lindsey Graham shares behind-the-scenes stories from the ongoing crisis at the southern border.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., spoke out Saturday night about the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border under the Biden administration, calling it a "bunch of bulls---" during an appearance of Fox News' "Justice with Judge Jeanine."
"This is offensive, it is a bunch of bulls--- and it needs to stop," Graham said.
The senator was specifically referring to the practice of "well-off" Brazilians obtaining tourist visas to fly to Cancun, Mexico, then driving to the U.S.-Mexico border with their luggage in tow. Before turning themselves in to Border Patrol agents, they book flights to visit a loved one already in the United States. The Brazilians are then released in the U.S.
The process has the effect of turning Border Patrol agents into "hotel clerks for … well-off Brazilians who are scamming and playing the game."
"They've got better luggage than I do," he added.
LEAKED BORDER PATROL DOCS SHOW MASS RELEASE OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS INTO US BY BIDEN ADMINISTRATION
Graham said the U.S. has seen 46,000 Brazilian immigrants arrive so far this year, with the Brazilian government refusing to allow them to return home without vaccinations or negative testing for COVID-19.
According to the senator, 2020 saw 8,000 illegal immigrants apprehended in the Yuma, Arizona, sector of the southern border. As of this month, 2021 has seen 114,000 illegal immigrants arrested thus far.
Graham blamed the Biden administration for the increase of illegal immigrants in the Yuma sector, "none of [whom are] coming from Mexico or the Northern Triangle countries" of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, he said.
"You got Venezuelans doing the same thing [as Brazilians]," Graham continued. "People … [who are] pretty well off in Venezuela. … I can understand wanting to come to America, but at the end of the day, our Border Patrol agents are being denied the ability to police the border because they're processing agents."
Graham said he wished, instead, that agents could arrest "drug dealers and terrorists" at the border. He warned that with an open border and al Qaeda and ISIS "roam[ing] freely" under the Taliban in Afghanistan, "some terrorist is going to take advantage of this system, come here and kill a bunch of us if we don't change."
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"Joe Biden is criminally negligent," Graham said. "His administration, I think, is criminally negligent when it comes to controlling our border."
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