U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is gaining attention for her strong stands on border security and “big tech.”
On Saturday, she joined Fox News’ Neil Cavuto on “Cavuto Live” to discuss her trip to the border in El Paso, Texas, Friday to meet with Customs and Border Patrol officials. Blackburn also discussed how Congress should assess the size of big tech companies.
‘Big tech’
Cavuto called it “an odd confluence of events” to have many Republicans and Democrats agreeing on a subject — the need to watch “big tech.”
Regarding “big tech,” Blackburn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said
“They are big ad companies. They have pretty much built monopolies in their space and it is time to review their practices and see how much we know about what they are doing with, as I call it, your Virtual You – you and your presence online.”
Congress needs to “do a deep dive” and examine the companies’ business practices before making any sort of recommendations to the Department of Justice, Blackburn said.
In April, Blackburn said tech companies should embrace “the spirit of the First Amendment,” The Tennessee Star reported. She called out media giants to use their power responsibly and to respect diverse viewpoints, particularly conservative voices.
Border security
The concessions President Donald Trump received from Mexico, to protect their Southern border and their border with the U.S., are “a very positive step,” Blackburn said.
When she visited the border Friday, she saw 12 illegal immigrants captured within 30 minutes, she said. She saw a car carrying drugs be detained as well. She called for hiring more agents.
“The fact that Mexico is going to put their national guard throughout the country, but primarily on that Southern border, and then again at the U.S.-Mexico border to stop this flow….This is a positive step…. An agent told me yesterday, ‘Yes, we need technology. But I have yet to see a camera climb off the pole and apprehend an illegal alien.’ We need boots on the ground.”
In May, Blackburn addressed the Senate about the humanitarian crisis on the border where ICE is stretched thin in providing for the flood of illegal immigrants seeking asylum who are being detained, The Star reported.
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Jason M. Reynolds has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist at outlets of all sizes.
I just want to applaud Mrs Blackburn for being a real conservative Republican, and not RINO.
I second that.
Senator Blackburn is exactly correct. We have Fort Hood at Killeen TX, just up the road from the border, with (according to Wikipedia) 65,000 troops…the largest military base in the world.
Why can we not smother the border with boots on the ground. Many of these folks are trained in NBC threats (nuclear, biological, chemical). Now that we have Ebola coming to the border, they could probably be of some assistance. Can a U.S. President use troops to protect our borders from foreign threats? You bet, he can, according to the USC, one of his most important jobs. And he can arrest anyone who gets in his way including some of the lawyers without borders, or lawyers without brains.
The quickest method for securing the border would be to get serious and deployment military troops en mass with instructions to capture and detain ALL of those illegally entering America. The current halfhearted effort by Washington just goes to show this average citizen that they really do not care a whit about me and my security. Rather they coddle the invaders and use MY tax money to care for them. What a sham!