Rep. Thompson says visit to southern border emphasized need to address immigration
WASHINGTON — Rep. Glenn Thompson returned from a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border Thursday even more convinced that Congress needed to act to stop the flow of migrants to the country.
“The best time to do this would have been yesterday,” Mr. Thompson, R-Centre, said in a telephone interview after visiting Eagle Pass, Texas, with 63 other House Republicans. “The second best day would be today.”
Several news organizations reported that an estimated 300,000 people crossed the U.S.-Mexico border last month, which would be a record number of migrants in any month.
“It really is a crisis of epic proportions,” Mr. Thompson said.
The trip, led by House Speaker Mike Johnson, was the Republicans’ latest attempt to highlight the immigration issue that has plagued the Biden administration in advance of the 2024 elections, while pressuring Democrats to act.
“One thing that is absolutely clear, America is at a breaking point with record levels of illegal immigration,” said Mr. Johnson, R-La. “The situation here and across the country is truly unconscionable. We would describe it as both heartbreaking and infuriating.”
White House spokesman Andrew Bates put the blame on House Republicans, noting that the spending cuts they approved in exchange for raising the debt ceiling would have gotten rid of more than 2,000 Border Patrol agents, and the reductions they deavoid a government shutdown
“Actions speak louder than words,” Mr. Bates said. “House Republicans’ anti-border security record is defined by attempting to cut Customs and Border Protection personnel, opposing President Biden’s record-breaking border security funding, and refusing to take up the president’s supplemental funding request.”
Immigration was not among the most important national problems, according to a June poll by the Pew Research Center. Less than half of Americans — 47% — thought it a top issue, even as majorities named inflation, health care, gun control, drug addiction, crime and the federal deficit among the most important problems facing the country.
Mr. Thompson said that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have said changes in immigration policy under President Joe Biden have led to a surge of migrants.
Such changes include an end to then-President Donald Trump’s policy of requiring those seeking asylum to remain in Mexico while their applications are being considered by U. S. immigration judges.
Giving further urgency to the need to pass legislation, Mr. Thompson said, is the fact that Mexican cartels are making millions of dollars bringing migrants across the border. He said he was given a figure of $34 million a week.
“The cartels are the only ones winning in this situation,” he said.
House Republicans passed legislation in May, including stringent restrictions on immigration and resuming construction of the border wall that Mr. Trump promised Mexico would pay for.
But Democrats who control the Senate have refused to consider a bill that has none of their priorities, such as allowing those brought to the U.S. as children — the so-called Dreamers — to legally remain in the country they grew up in; and have rejected the punitive provisions being pushed by the House.
GOP lawmakers, led by Mr. Johnson, have demanded immigration restrictions as the price for passing legislation that would send billions of dollars to Israel and Ukraine. That has led to a bipartisan group of senators trying to find a compromise that could pass both houses.
Other Republicans have demanded that the Senate and Mr. Biden support their bill, which led White House Budget Director Shalanda Young to say Friday that she was worried that the House Republicans won’t vote to keep the federal government open past Jan. 19, when part of the current temporary spending bill expires.
“The border trip left me with more concerns about where they’re headed,” she said at a breakfast with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.
Mr. Thompson said he’s waiting to see what negotiators come up with even though he said he prefers the House legislation.
“I’m a realist,” he said. “As long as they’re negotiating in good faith, it will be interesting to see what they unite around.”