Immigration

Biggs asks Biden admin to ‘publicly declare that the situation at the southern border is a crisis’

Published

3 years ago

March 10, 2021

Congressman Andy Biggs, R-AZ, sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Wednesday, requesting that he publicly declare that the situation at the southern border is a crisis.

“Given your recent plea for volunteers from throughout the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to support Customs and Border Protection’s work at the border, I request that you publicly declare that the situation at the southern border is a crisis,” Biggs wrote to Mayorkas.

Biggs said the situation at the border is a “deteriorating humanitarian crisis” that needs to be labeled as a “crisis,” not a “challenge.”

Mayorkas on March 1 claimed there was no crisis at the southern border, but rather a “challenge” that the DHS was working to manage.

Biggs went on to request that Mayorkas immediately reinstate enrollments in the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP).

Biggs explained that reinstating MPP, which kept migrants in Mexico for the duration of their hearings, will send a message to illegal immigrants seeking to enter the U.S. that DHS is serious about border security and enforcing immigration laws. The MPP program was set up under the Trump administration, however, the Biden administration has begun the process of removing the program.

“The Department’s current actions allowing aliens previously placed in MPP into the United States sends a strong message to aliens that our border is open and encourages aliens to attempt to enter illegally,” Biggs wrote.

Biggs then urged that Mayorkas rescind recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) guidance that narrowed the categories of migrants subject to arrest and deportation, saying it will “send a strong message that DHS will enforce the law.”

Biggs concluded the letter requesting that if Mayorkas chooses not to move forward with his recommendations, a detailed explanation is provided as to why.

There has been a surge of migrants at the border as the Biden administration has loosed immigration policies set in place by the Trump administration. Many are blaming the Biden administration’s new border policies for the surge.

The U.S. Border Patrol says encounters with unaccompanied migrant children are up 64% compared to last year. More than 100,000 children are expected to cross the border this year.

House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, also sent a letter last week requesting a meeting with President Biden to discuss the issue, saying he had “great concern” with the administration’s approach to border.

Follow Annaliese Levy on Twitter @AnnalieseLevy

Immigration

NYC Mayor Adams’ budget cuts slash total number of police and education funds

Published

2 weeks ago

November 17, 2023

Sara Carter Staff

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“No city should be left to handle a national humanitarian crisis largely on its own, and without the significant and timely support we need from Washington, D.C., today’s budget will only be the beginning,” said New York City Democratic Mayor Eric Adams about his decision to make budget cuts as a result of the overwhelming migrant crisis.

However, those who will suffer from budget cuts to the city’s services to offset the cost of dealing with the ever-increasing number of migrants are those that are in place to make the city better.

“The cuts will see police freeze hiring and bring the total number of police officers below 30,000. It would further slash the education budget by $1 billion over two years and affect a litany of other agencies” reports Just The News.

Albeit, Adams admitted: “In all my time in government, this is probably one of the most painful exercises I’ve gone through.” More than 110,000 migrants have arrived in New York City over the past year, including roughly 13,000 sent from Texas by GOP Governor Greg Abbott as part of his ongoing bussing plan to send new arrivals to the U.S. to sanctuary cities.

However, similar to other leaders of sanctuary cities, Adams is unwilling to put his money where his mouth is. In September, Adams warned that the crisis would “destroy New York City” and begged the federal government to pay for his mess.

“I’m gonna tell you something, New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I didn’t see an ending to. I don’t see an ending to this,” Adams said at the time. “The federal government needs to do its job. We need the federal government, the Congress members, the Senate and the president to do their job: close the borders,” said Adams’ advisor Ingrid Lewis Martin insisted in early October. “And until you close the borders, you need to come on with a full-on decompression strategy where you can take all of our migrants and move them through our 50 states.”