Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) on Saturday called President Joe Biden's immigration policies a failure, saying they will cause an influx on the border and increase the number of cartels.
In an interview at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, Roy claimed Biden was not "faithfully executing laws" regarding immigration and that he was allowing too much influence from the left.
"It’s causing an empowerment of cartels,” Roy said, according to The Epoch Times. “And it is causing an attraction of human beings to come here where they think they’re going to get here and get amnesty, and a rush to our border.”
Biden's policy changes include creating a pathway to citizenship for nearly 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, stopping border wall construction, and revoking Trump-era restrictions on asylum seekers.
“President Biden’s strategy is centered on the basic premise that our country is safer, stronger, and more prosperous with a fair, safe and orderly immigration system that welcomes immigrants, keeps families together, and allows people—both newly arrived immigrants and people who have lived here for generations—to more fully contribute to our country,” the White House said in a statement, The Epoch Times reported.
Republicans though say these policies create a risk of increase of crime, and endanger the lives of Americans.
The process of taking in at least 25,000 asylum seekers, whose cases were held under the Migrant Protection Protocols, started on Feb. 19.
Federal agents have seized more than 70,000 illegal immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in each of the last four months, the highest for that period in a decade, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The wide-open border approach will endanger the lives of both Americans and immigrants, Roy said.
“There are immigrants in stash houses being abused,” he said, as reported by The Epoch Times. “There are immigrants being abused on the journey. There are cartels that are using these people for profit. That is happening right now. And it is happening because Democrats are irresponsible and refuse to secure our border.”
Roy's argument is that securing the border doesn't mean Republicans no longer want immigrants, it simply means they want them to enter in a safe and legal way.
“It’s better for America, better for Mexico, better for Central America, better for everybody around the world,” he added.
He accused Biden of “completely allowing the radical left to just decide what this policy is going to be.”
Roy pointed out that Biden supported the Secure Fence Act of 2006. The law authorized about 700 miles of fencing between the U.S.-Mexico border, use of more vehicle barriers, increased checkpoints, and the use of advanced technology like unmanned aerial vehicles in a bid to curb illegal immigration. Roy says Biden's present policy now is against all this.
