Texas Mayor Says Trump Secured The Border But Biden Failed To Step Up To The Plate
Democratic Texas mayor Pete Saenz said Thursday that the southern border was secure under former President Donald Trump, adding that it’s time for President Joe Biden to step up.
Saenz said that the city’s resources have been drained in recent months as they have been left to provide migrants with aid, medical service, and transport. As the threat of COVID-19 increased Saenz said that the border was secure and Laredo residents were safe when Trump was in office.
“We need to truly secure the border,” Saenz told the Washington Free Beacon. “It was working under Trump, call it whatever you want to call it, but it was working.”
Saenz suggested that Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy was effective and should be reinstated to restrict the flow of illegal immigration.
“The key, ultimately, is removing the incentive to come to the border and file for asylum. I believe in the asylum process. It needs to be followed or changed. If we don’t like the way people are attempting to come, we can have them apply remotely or from either the country of origin or some other place that is close to the country of origin,” Saenz said.
Biden tried to put an end to Trump’s policy but the Supreme Court later denied a request from the administration to temporarily block an earlier ruling ordering the policy be reinstated.
Politico reported the administration is looking to rework the policy in order to provide migrants in Mexico with attorneys and better living conditions.
While Saenz was initially opposed to having a wall along the border, he told the Washington Free Beacon that Laredo residents are distraught and may soon be in favor of a physical barrier if the Biden Administration doesn’t address the crisis.
“The border’s not secure and hasn’t been for a while. We can’t continue this way, and I really haven’t seen any measures yet from Washington to remedy this.”
“If Biden doesn’t come out with implementing a virtual wall, people here will be begging for a wall, a physical structure, simply because of his lack of attention to the border and especially the size of these surges,” Saenz said, adding that a wall would “deter or at least buy time, so to speak, for law enforcement.”
He also criticized Democrats for not prioritizing immigration in their $3.5 trillion spending package.
“We’re spending billions of dollars on alternative things but immigration isn’t given priority. Border Patrol isn’t being funded to the extent that Border Patrol has to be funded,” Saenz said. “Their workload has increased to three times or four, and yet they’re not funded. So, that kind of leads me to think the Democrats have the same mentality [toward the Border Patrol] as defunding law enforcement generally.”
Laredo, as well as other border cities, has seen an influx of migrants, in one incident alone, state troopers discovered 105 migrants in the back of a semi-truck during a traffic stop in July.