Unsurprisingly, President Joe Biden’s (D) State of the Union address is continuing to draw various reactions amongst his colleagues. Many of the reviews have been favorable from Democratic voters and politicians.
However, some of his fellow Democrats, such as Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar (D), were disappointed with his statements on immigration.
“When it came to talking about immigration, I felt like I didn’t hear the details, the excitement, the energy of what we actually can do together as a country to move the needle forward. It is an issue that’s dear to me. I certainly am somebody who believes in the international right to seek asylum. I know that we are a country of immigrants. And I know that we have tools within our toolbox. It would have been nice to hear the president, in an animated, detailed way, talk about what are we going to do and how [we are] going to address immigration.” stated Rep. Omar.
Texas Representative Chip Roy (R) expressed his confusion with Omar’s response, saying, “Was she against the fact that he’s using parole to illegally bring people in from certain countries while also turning them away at the same time? I mean it’s such a backwards, asinine policy I can’t even put it into words.”
Many Republicans have recently begun to elaborate on their beliefs that the Biden Administration’s border policies are faulty.
“Right now, people walk in, they claim asylum and they get released, for the most part, under parole or notice to appear to come back for maybe an adjudication, at some point in the future.” claimed Rep. Roy. “The facts bear that out completely, and so asylum’s a problem but not in that direction. Look, we need to have laws that allow for people to claim asylum if they truly, as the language of the law requires, [have] credible fear of persecution for their religious or political beliefs. But, what we have is a use-the-magic-word-and-get-released-in-the-United-States policy, and that’s completely untenable. For any of my colleagues, Republican included, who think that that’s not border security, that’s somehow integration, it’s just wrong.”
“Our border security requires us to actually secure the border [and] stop flow unless they have papers,” said Roy. “If they have a legitimate claim, it’d be adjudicated. You can’t just…be released.”
Border security and immigration continue to be pressing issues for the government, and for good reason. With political turmoil across the globe, the number of migrants seeking asylum is increasing. The president will have to figure out a way to address this issue in a way that both helps the migrants as well as protects the American border.
