Hicks: Biden’s border crisis continues to go from bad to worse

Hiding in the shadows of Joe Biden’s Afghanistan catastrophe is his administration’s other signature disaster: the security and humanitarian crisis at our southern border.

While the media’s coverage may have waned in recent weeks, that doesn’t mean the crisis at the border is getting any better. By every measure, it’s only getting worse.

Thanks to Biden and Kamala Harris’ reckless open borders agenda, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reportedly caught nearly 209,000 migrants trying to cross the border illegally in August.

Back in the spring, Biden told us the surge in illegal immigration under his watch was nothing more than a seasonal spike that happens “every single solitary year.” Biden then reassured us he had the situation “under control.” Harris backed up her boss’s fantastical claims, saying they were “making progress.”

Those were all lies. Far from the “return to normalcy” he campaigned on, August numbers were yet another month of border encounters at 21-year highs under Biden. They were a 317% increase from just one year ago.

As terrible as August apprehensions numbers are, they don’t even begin to capture the true extent of how bad this crisis really is. There are thousands more illegal immigrants we can’t catch or who we simply release into the interior of our country because our Border Patrol agents are outnumbered and our immigration system is completely overwhelmed.

Officials warn the flood of illegal immigration will only continue to get worse as we flip the calendar from summer to fall.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise. Migrants risking their lives on the dangerous journey north know that if they can make it to America, Joe Biden will just let them stay.

This crisis of epic proportions has gotten so bad that even Biden’s fellow Democrats are starting to sound the alarm.

Last week Laredo’s Mayor Pete Saenz and Texas State Senator Juan Hinojosa – both Democrats – slammed Biden for surrendering control of the border and failing to provide our immigration officials with the resources they need.

While Biden refuses to lift a finger to solve the crisis he created, Republicans are stepping up to protect American sovereignty and keep our citizens safe.

Here in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has bolstered resources to the border and beefed up law enforcement. Other Republican governors across America have followed suit.

More help came late last month when the Supreme Court ordered Biden to reinstate President Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy. This policy, whereby asylum seekers must wait in Mexico while their claims are being processed, was extremely effective at curbing illegal immigration – before Biden ended it on his first day in office.

That even Biden administration officials are secretly breathing a sigh of relief this Trump-era policy is back tells you everything you need to know. President Trump and Republicans’ leadership created a secure southern border, progress Joe Biden has spent month after month undoing.

As a proud Texan and a proud Republican, I know that immigrants are part of what makes America a great nation.

After all, it was none other than Ronald Reagan who said “more than any other country, our strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our capacity to welcome those from other lands.”

However, it was also Reagan who warned that “a nation that cannot control its border is not a nation.” Because of Joe Biden’s failed policies, that is the situation we find ourselves in today: a nation without borders.

It’s long past time for Biden to stop playing politics and start working with Republicans to secure our southern border.

Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by Thomas “Tommy’ Hicks, Jr., co-chair of the Republican National Committee. Hicks is pictured above.

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