Biden, Administration Deny the Border Crisis, Contradicting Past Statements, while Fellow Democrats Sound The Alarm

BIDEN’S BORDER CRISIS BY THE NUMBERS:

• 5,707: The number of unaccompanied children apprehended at the Southwest border in January;[i] this is:
  • 112% higher than last January.
  • More than double the January average over the last decade.
  • A record breaking number, as more unaccompanied minors were apprehended in the first month of 2021 than the start of any year CBP provides data for.[ii]
• 75,198: The number of illegal immigrants apprehended at the Southwest border in January; this is:[iii]
  • 157% higher than last January.
  • 15,000 more apprehensions than the average January since 2000.
  • The highest number of January apprehensions since 2006.[iv]

DEMOCRATS PREVIOUSLY ADMITTED NUMBERS THIS HIGH WERE A CRISIS

• There was widespread Democrat acknowledgment of the border crisis in 2014, when monthly apprehensions were lower than they are now:
  • Biden called the situation a “crisis” in 2014 and again two years later in 2016.[v]
  • President Obama called the situation at the border “a serious problem” and a “crisis.”[vi]
  • Nancy Pelosi called it a “crisis.”[vii]
  • Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson called it a “crisis.”[viii]
  • Then-Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called the surge a “tremendous spike.”[ix]
• In 2019, Democrats refused to acknowledge a mounting border crisis before making a “u-turn” when apprehensions skyrocketed in the spring.
  • Biden called the situation a “crisis.’[x]
  • Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): “What is happening at the border is tragic and we hope to address some of that in the supplemental, the disaster supplemental, to provide some of the resources that are needed there.”[xi]
  • Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA): “This is a humanitarian crisis.”[xii]
  • Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE): “In recent weeks it’s gotten clearer and clearer there is a dramatic humanitarian crisis, again, at the border.”[xiii]
  • Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD): “Congress cannot ignore the humanitarian crisis at the border.”[xiv]
  • 2021 apprehensions are currently trending well above where they were in 2019, with 20,000 more apprehensions at the Southern border in January 2021 compared to 2019.[xv]
  • Axios: “Border crossings usually peak in the spring, and it’s only February,”.[xvi]

NOW BIDEN AND HIS ADMINISTRATION ARE REFUSING TO EVEN ADMIT THERE IS A CRISIS

• Biden himself denied that the escalating situation is a crisis.[xvii]
• White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has repeatedly refused to acknowledge the crisis at the border.[xviii]
• Psaki hit back at a reporter questioning her denial saying, “I don’t think we need to meet your bar of what we need to call it.”[xix]
• Biden Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas downplayed the situation, saying  “the answer is no” when asked if there was a crisis at the border.[xx]

BORDER STATE DEMOCRATS ARE SOUNDING THE ALARM ABOUT THE BORDER

• Democrats who represent border communities are warning the Biden Administration that their border policies will be “catastrophic” for the country and the Democratic Party.
• Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) warned that Biden’s decision to release migrants who crossed the border ahead of even those who have waited in Mexico while their asylum claims have been processed sends a dangerous message.[xxi]
  • Gonzalez: “If that is the message that we send to Central America and around the world, I can assure you it won’t be long before we have tens of thousands of people showing up to our border.”[xxii]
• Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX): “I urge the Biden administration to listen and work with the communities on the southern border who are dealing with the surge of migrants.”
  • Cuellar: “You just can’t say, ‘Yeah, yeah, let everybody in’ — because then we’re affected down there at the border.”[xxiii]

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[i] https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters

[ii] https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2020-Jan/U.S.%20Border%20Patrol%20Total%20Monthly%20UAC%20Apprehensions%20by%20Sector%20%28FY%202010%20-%20FY%202019%29_0.pdf

[iii] https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters

[iv] https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2020-Jan/U.S.%20Border%20Patrol%20Monthly%20Apprehensions%20%28FY%202000%20-%20FY%202019%29_1.pdf

[v] https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/20/remarks-press-qa-vice-president-joe-biden-guatemala

[vi] https://www.cnbc.com/2014/06/30/obama-on-immigration-we-now-have-a-humanitarian-crisis-on-our-hands.html

[vii] https://www.businessinsider.com/nancy-pelosi-addresses-crisis-at-the-mexican-border-2014-6

[viii] https://www.dhs.gov/news/2014/07/10/statement-secretary-homeland-security-jeh-johnson-senate-committee-appropriations

[ix] https://www.ndn.org/blog/2014/09/transcript-deputy-secretary-homeland-security-mayorkas-ndn-event

[x] https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1166517754746195968

[xi] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-pelosi-idUSKCN1SM2L1

[xii] https://twitter.com/SenWarren/status/1143564909621497857

[xiii] https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/449214-dems-make-u-turn-on-calling-border-a-manufactured-crisis

[xiv] https://twitter.com/RepCummings/status/1143699562210701319

[xv] https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters

[xvi] https://www.axios.com/kids-border-patrol-custody-767cb87d-d757-4c11-842e-2a5dd9db9839.html

[xvii] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVSBIgeRUSw

[xviii] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tneDI6fIZTw

[xix] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYUeCkIWgyY

[xx] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEWJHhklNFk

[xxi] https://www.nationalreview.com/news/border-dems-warn-biden-border-policies-will-be-catastrophic-for-our-party-for-our-country/

[xxii] https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1366430412348743682

[xxiii] https://twitter.com/axios/status/1366176362336313346