Every Republican member of the Arizona State House of Representatives signed a letter on Friday, urging President Joe Biden to reopen the Lukeville Port of Entry at the southern border. The Lukeville border crossing was closed on December 1 amid the unprecedented immigration crisis.
The lawmakers condemned the Lukeville closure as “just another failure in a long” and “disastrous record of mishandling the border crisis,” in a press release announcing their letter, and revealed that all 31 Republican members of the Arizona House signed the document before it was sent to the White House.
In their letter, the Republicans accused the president of failing to respond to the “humanitarian crisis” at the border, noting that by “smuggling of illegal drugs, weapons, and human beings” makes the country less safe.
They called the Lukeville closure “just the latest in a long stream of irresponsible policies from your administration that fail to keep Arizona citizens, and all Americans, safe from criminal activity at the border,” before adding that “an immediate collapse of economic activity” is now striking Lukeville without the “critical point of entry.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection shut down the port of entry last week so it could reassign its agents to other areas. Lukeville recent saw an unprecedented number of migrant crossings, and was the scene of a violent clash between migrants and U.S. Border Patrol officials in November.
“As the President of our nation, you should be alarmed as we are that in the past year, 169 migrants on the terrorist watch list tried to cross the southern border into our country,” the legislators charged. They noted that “in the same time period, more than 24,000 Chinese nationals were apprehended crossing into the United States from Mexico,” even while “tensions with communist China intensify.”
The House Republicans argued to Biden that border states, like Arizona, “are significantly harmed by your administration’s failed policies every day.” They warned that Arizona’s “law enforcement agencies at the border are over extended,” while healthcare providers in the area “are overworked to such an extent that they are struggling to provide essential services” to residents.
Likely alluding to their majority in the Arizona Legislature, the Republicans wrote that while they passed legislation to address the border crisis, the Biden administration’s lenient asylum policies are driving the surge in illegal immigration.
“The real solution is simple,” the lawmakers explained. They instructed, “Reverse your policy and put a halt to the wide-open door for so-called ‘asylum-seekers.'”
The Republicans concluded their letter by promising, “Republican leaders in this state will continue to fight for the safety of our citizens and a humane and orderly border,” and pledged to hold Biden “accountable for [his] refusal to protect this nation and its people.”
In the House’s press release, Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria) stated that Biden’s “willful inaction” is causing Arizona “irreparable harm” and declared “Arizona’s Democratic leaders, Governor [Katie] Hobbs and Attorney General [Kris] Mayes, also ignore calls to defend the state.”
After highlighting the alleged inaction of Democratic officials, Toma pledged that “Arizonans can count on House Republicans to pursue meaningful policy” in the next legislative session “to protect Arizona’s border, border communities, and the people we are elected to protect.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Illegal Immigrants” by John Modlin.Â
