Former President Donald Trump has declared that the U.S. is going to become a "Third World Nation" amid the ongoing immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
"The United States will soon be considered a Third World Nation," Trump said in a Monday statement. "There has never been anything like what is happening at our Border. Millions of people have already poured in, but many more than that are coming!"
Trump's statement echoed a statement he made on Sunday, in which he claimed that "Our country is rapidly becoming a cesspool of humanity." He also said that "murderers, drug dealers, and criminals" were immigrating into the U.S. from Haiti, as well as South American and African countries.
Trump has regularly claimed that immigrants hurt the U.S. economy and culture. He issued his most recent comments as thousands of Haitian immigrants recently arrived at the U.S. southern border seeking refuge.
Haitian immigrants began arriving after the July 7 assassination of the country's president and a 7.2 magnitude earthquake on August 14. The earthquake killed almost 2,200 people, injured over 12,000, and either destroyed or damaged more than 100,000 houses.
The Biden administration has ramped up deportation efforts as at least 14,000 migrants gathered last Saturday at the border city of Del Rio, Texas. Border agents have recently found infants abandoned at the border as well.
"We are very concerned the Haitians who are taking this irregular migration path are receiving false information that the border is open or that temporary protected status is available," U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters last week. "I want to make sure that it is known that this is not the way to come to the U.S. That is false information."
Mayorkas also said his department would increase flights to Haiti to help reduce immigrant crowding and poor living conditions on the border.
On Monday, Republican governors from 26 states sent a letter to Biden requesting a meeting to discuss the southern border, something they called a "national security crisis."
The letter said that "illegal crossings" have caused "a spike in international criminal activity, and opened the floodgates to human traffickers and drug smugglers endangering public health and safety in our states."
"A crisis that began at our southern border now extends beyond to every state and requires immediate action before the situation worsens," the governors claimed.
Every Republican governor, save for Vermont's Phil Scott, signed the letter.
Last weekend, a group of 50 congressional Democrats sent Mayorkas a letter discouraging the deportation of Haitian refugees.
"The Biden administration cannot claim it is doing everything it can to support the Haitian community while continuing to unjustly deport Haitians as the island weathers its worst political, public health and economic crises yet," Massachusetts Representative Ayanna Pressley, one of the letter's lead writers, said in a statement.
Newsweek contacted the White House for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.
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