In recent weeks, a number of lawmakers have traveled to the border to further investigate a surge in migration that has been deemed “a crisis which has the potential to escalate into a humanitarian catastrophe” by Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R). Over the weekend, a number of Texas lawmakers visited the border, and one of those lawmakers is Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R).
In an exclusive interview with Texas Politics at the DEA headquarters in McAllen, Texas, Duyne answered questions regarding the surge in migration, how the Biden administration is responding to the concern and what she wants the Biden administration to do in order to respond to the situation.
President Joe Biden (D) made the announcement this month that Vice President Kamala Harris (D) would be leading the charge in “stemming” the “serious spikes” of migrants that have been crossing the border, but not all lawmakers are championing the announcement.
In response to the appointment, Rep. Van Duyne expressed her disappointment in the president's decision to pick Harris, explaining that “when you take her previous actions of basically vilifying our customs and border patrol folks and comparing them to really bad, nasty people – villains and offenders – I don’t think she’s the right person for that job. These people are putting their lives at risk.”
“They are doing everything that they can to be compassionate, and yet enforcing our laws,” Van Duyne added, continuing that “you can’t do both under these circumstances; I’ve seen a ton of compassion right now; I’ve seen them getting sick; I’ve seen them risking their own lives, and I’ve seen an administration that is not supporting them at all.”
The freshman lawmaker slammed both Biden and Harris, calling it “unconscionable” that neither of them have taken a trip to the border to survey the concern.
In discussing what should be changed in order to effectively respond to the situation, Van Duyne pointed to the “first safe city policy,” expressing her disappointment with its removal by the Biden administration.
“You could stay with your family, you could apply for asylum without having to make that trek,” she explained. “The only people that are getting empowered and enriched are drug cartels and human smugglers and human traffickers” when people make that journey. However, I’ve seen this administration take that away because of their hatred for personality, they’re taking all the positives of the policy and throwing it in the garbage, and they’re getting exactly what they got back under Obama.”
Rep. Ronny Jackson, who was also part of the delegation to the Texas border, stated that Biden was "functioning as the trafficker in chief."
