National Border Patrol Council president slams Biden for not being forthcoming
President of the National Border Patrol Council Brandon Judd argues the U.S. is in the 'biggest' border security crisis because the Biden administration reversed his predecessor's immigration polices.
President of the National Border Patrol Council Brandon Judd asserted Sunday that the United States is now in the "biggest crisis we have ever seen" as it pertains to border security, arguing it's because the Biden administration reversed all of former President Trump’s immigration policies.
"Any time we release people into the United States pending a hearing that they’re [illegal immigrants] not going to show up to, we’re going to have tons of people cross our borders illegally," Judd told "Fox News Live" on Sunday.
"It’s that magnet that draws people here and as long as that magnet exists, people are going to continue to come."
"If we hold people in custody, pending a deportation or asylum hearing, people stop coming," he continued. "That was proven under the migrant protection protocols."
Judd then explained that the Biden administration "unfortunately did away with everything that President Trump did that was in fact beneficial to border security," and, resultantly, opened the floodgates. "Now we’re in the biggest crisis we’ve ever seen as far as border security goes," Judd asserted.
President Biden scrapped a number of his predecessor's immigration policies, which included wall construction and having asylum seekers remain in Mexico instead of in the U.S. while they wait for their cases to be heard. The moves have led to a record surge in migrants, including unaccompanied minors, that has strained capacity at immigration facilities.
Judd argued that there has been an "explosion" of illegal immigrants in the country "and it’s simply caused by Biden policies."
Judd also argued on Sunday that President Biden has not been forthcoming to the American people.
On Sunday, White House Senior Adviser Cedric Richmond would not confirm nor deny that the Biden administration would be making payments to illegal immigrants who were separated from their children under the Trump administration, but insisted that President Biden is up to speed on the situation despite seemingly contradictory comments on the subject.
On Wednesday, Biden had denied that a report about possible $450,000 payments to people separated from their families was real, leading the ACLU to claim that he "may not have been fully briefed" about what the Department of Justice was doing. On Saturday, the president came out in support of payments.
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"The president’s in the loop," Richmond told "Fox News Sunday," noting that Biden said all along that his Justice Department would be independent.
Biden's claim that the payments were not real came in response to a question from Fox News' Peter Doocy, who asked whether they would incentivize illegal immigration.
"If you guys keep sending that garbage out, yeah. But it’s not true," Biden responded.
On Saturday, however, Biden said an immigrant – legal or illegal – would "deserve some sort of compensation no matter what the circumstances" if they were separated from their child.
"The dollar amount might be a little bit different, but the fact remains, they are in discussions for payments to these families and President Biden could have come out and he could have told the American public that and he didn’t," Judd argued on Sunday.
He went on to say that he’s "concerned with anything that this administration says right now simply because they haven’t been forthcoming."
Judd said that that the administration has not disclosed how many people are being released into the United States, how many people are crossing the border illegally, or how many of those who are taken into custody have criminal records.
"They’re not forthcoming with the American public and the American public has a right to know exactly what is happening — and until this administration is in fact forthcoming with all these things, we have reason to be skeptical on anything that they tell us as it pertains to border security," Judd argued.
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A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
Fox News’ Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.
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