Biden Facing Increased Calls to Take Action on Border Crisis, Including Dumping His ‘Border Czar’ Kamala Harris

Arizona Sun Times Staff
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris
by Debra Heine

 

Joe Biden is facing increasing calls from Republicans as well as Democrats to deal with the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, including dumping his ineffective “border czar’ Kamala Harris.

In a letter to Biden this week, the attorney general of Arizona called for Kamala Harris to fired from the position due to her “absolutely abysmal” performance in the role.

“Her response to the border crisis has been absolutely abysmal, so I am requesting that she be replaced as your ‘border czar,’” AZ Attorney General Mark Brnovich wrote in his letter.

“Since her appointment, there have been more than 200,000 illegal crossings at the southern border. Arizonans are fed up with the failure to restore safety and security,” Brnovich noted in a tweet. “Arizonans are fed up with the failure to restore safety and security.”

Brnovich said he has invited Harris to visit the border amid the historic surge of illegal immigrants to his state, but she never responded to him.

“I have not received a response from Vice President Harris or anyone in your administration,” the attorney general wrote. “We cannot afford to wait another day, week, or month of apathy and inaction by any official in your administration.”

Brnovich concluded his letter by “respectfully requesting that Vice President Harris be replaced as America’s ‘border czar.’”

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey last month issued a Declaration of Emergency, and deployed 500 National Guardsmen to the state’s southern border to support local law enforcement efforts there.

In an open letter on Tuesday, Ducey, along with 19 fellow governors, called on Biden and  Harris to “reverse their destructive policies” that caused conditions at the border in Arizona and other states to deteriorate.

“As a border state, Arizona is on the front lines of the border crisis. We feel the impacts of human trafficking, drug smuggling and this humanitarian crisis first,” said Governor Ducey. “Now, the Biden-Harris border crisis is affecting other states too. And it’s clear the crisis is the direct result of this administration’s broken policies and botched messaging.”

“Arizona has deployed all available resources, including the National Guard, but we need federal cooperation to secure the border,”  Ducey added. “Today, I am joining 19 fellow governors to call for immediate action from President Biden and Vice President Harris to stop this crisis before it gets even worse.”

According to Yuma Sector Chief Chris T. Clem, Border Patrol agents are seeing a massive increase of large groups surrendering themselves at the U.S./Mexico border in Arizona. Clem told KYMA that agents are also “seeing a major uptick in both human and drug smuggling, and they’re finding more stash houses.”

“So far in 2021 fiscal year, Yuma Sector agents have come across over 2,000 unaccompanied children at the border. That compares to only 450 unaccompanied children by the same point in 2020,” Clem said.

Border Patrol agents have become so frustrated with Biden’s ineffective border policies that they are considering early retirement, Newsmax reported based on interviews with a dozen current and former agents. Some disgruntled agents are even reportedly buying novelty coins that say “U.S. Welcome Patrol.”

A border patrol agent working in Casa Grande, Arizona was one of many agents who told Newsmax that she is considering taking early retirement.

“We have so many people coming across, and then we’re out there killing ourselves to catch them, rescue them or whatever it is, and then they’re being released,” she said. “Why even bother?”

Both Democrat senators from Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly, have backed Ducey’s deployment of the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border to deal with the mounting crisis.

On Wednesday, Sinema complained that the federal government was not doing enough, and that the state’s resources can’t handle the influx of migrants illegally crossing in the Tucson and Yuma regions of the state.

“It’s clear that not enough is being done,” Sinema said. “Arizona is bearing the brunt of this crisis because of the federal government’s failure to address immigration issues over the last three decades.”

Sinema and Kelly have also demanded that the Biden administration reimburse the state for the $25 million they expect the National Guard deployment to cost, but they have reportedly not heard back from the White House.

“I’ve been down to the border, Douglas and Yuma. I’ve talked to sheriffs and mayors and the two sector chiefs and their leadership teams. We’ve got a problem,” Kelly told reporters on Thursday. “The federal government has failed on this issue for decades now. Washington has to do better, and Arizonans are fed up. So, I’m just going to call it like I see it.”

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) is also expressing dissatisfaction with how the Biden administration is handling the border crisis. Cuellar accused DHS of playing games with photos to make it appear like a facility in Donna, Texas had been cleared out.

This past week, DHS released photos of Border Patrol’s Donna facility, a series of tents to hold children and families after they are initially taken into custody. The pictures revealed near-empty rooms compared to in March, when border authorities allowed the facility to become extremely overcrowded in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. A congresswoman who toured the Donna border facility in March said it was holding 5,700 people despite its 250-person capacity.

Cuellar said the photos are misleading the public because the children are all still in custody several hundred feet away at nearby tents operated by the Department of Health and Human Services.

“All they’re doing is they’re moving kids from one tent to the other tent and saying, ‘Oh, they’re not in the Border Patrol (custody),’ but they’re right next door,” Cuellar told Border Report. “They’re just next door in HHS.”

Kamala Harris, who was tasked to lead the regime’s efforts at stemming the flow of illegal aliens at the U.S.-Mexico border back in March, has not visited the border once, or even held a press conference to address the issue.

It didn’t take long for Republicans to notice her complete lack of action.

A group of GOP congressmen fired off a letter last month  demanded a meeting with Harris to discuss the border crisis.

Republican Reps. Jim Jordan, John Katko, and James Comer requested the meeting to gain insight into the Biden-Harris Administration’s plans to deal with the situation.

“President Joe Biden delegated the Administration’s response to the humanitarian and security crisis at the southern border to you. However, it is unclear what, if any, actions you have directed or plan to initiate to respond to the crisis that continues to worsen every day,” the lawmakers wrote. “We request the opportunity to meet with you as soon as possible.”

They continued: “The situation at the southern border is a crisis. Your characterization of it as a ‘huge problem’ is an understatement.”

The three congressmen concluded that “the crisis at the southern border is a creation of the radical policies of the Biden-Harris administration.”

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey called Harris “the worst possible choice” days after she was appointed, and slammed Biden for trivializing the crisis “by putting someone in charge who flat out just doesn’t care.”

– – –
Debra Heine reports for American Greatness.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Content created by the Center for American Greatness, Inc. is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a significant audience. For licensing opportunities for our original content, please contact [email protected].

Related posts

Comments