A group of bipartisan lawmakers from Texas is urging President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to visit the U.S.-Mexico border amid a surge in border crossings.
Republican Senator John Cornyn, Republican Representative Tony Gonzales and Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar penned an essay in the Dallas Morning News on Tuesday voicing concern that the U.S. is on track to receive โthe highest number of total yearly border crossings in two decades.โ
The group notes nearly 930,000 migrants including โalmost 80,000 unaccompanied childrenโ have illegally crossed the border into America in the past 8 months.
โThe momentum for this crisis has been building for months, but no significant action has been taken to address it.โ the essay reads. โThe president and vice president have yet to even visit the border.โ
The lawmakers took issue with Harris for saying โshe is interested in doing work that leads to real results as opposed to โgrand gestures.โโ
โWe agree, which is why weโve spent significant time meeting with officials in Texas who are on the front lines of this humanitarian crisis,โ the group wrote.
They said they had seen the effects of the cartels and criminal organizations abusing the U.S. immigration system.
The group warned that without a โtransition plan, the administration will invite a complete and immediate overload of the system,โ adding that โBorder Patrol agents are already spread thinโ as a result of the border crisis.
โThey lack the facilities and resources to fairly and humanely process the current influx of migrants, let alone many tens of thousands more every month,โ the group wrote. โAs the administration considers the best path forward, there has never been a more important time to hear from the men and women who live and work in border communities and have for decades.
โOur message to President Biden and Vice President Harris is: Come to Texas. Visit the border. Listen to locals,โ they said. โTake a look at our bipartisan bill. And letโs address this humanitarian crisis together.โ
Earlier this month, Harris deflected questions about why she has not yet visited the southern border after being tasked with handling the โroot causesโ of migration, saying โweโve been to the border.โ
โI โ at some point โ you know โ we are going to the border. Weโve been to the border,โ Harris said. โSo this whole โ this whole โ this whole thing about the border. Weโve been to the border. Weโve been to the border.โ
NBCโs Lester Holt pushed back, noting Harris had not been to the border herself while in office.
โI โ and I havenโt been to Europe. And I mean, I donโt โ I donโt understand the point that youโre making,โ Harris said, adding โIโm not discounting the importance of the border.โ
โListen, I care about whatโs happening at the border,โ Harris said, adding that her โfocus is dealing with the root causes of migration.โ
โThere may be some who think that that is not important, but it is my firm belief that if we care about whatโs happening at the border, we better care about the root causes and address them,โ she said. โAnd so thatโs what Iโm doing.โ
Though Harris traveled to Central America earlier this month to work on the โroot causes of migration,โ she has gone 90 days without visiting the border since being named border czar.







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