U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) blasted the Biden administration for its ongoing failure in addressing the southwest border crisis, which is about to get a whole lot worse when Title 42 ends later this week.
The Iowa Republican said it’s time to move on her Build It Act, legislation allowing states to finish the border wall by using previously purchased materials.
“This week, due to President Biden’s failure, the Southern border will go from crisis to catastrophe,” Ernst said in a statement. “Instead of securing the border, the Biden administration canceled border wall projects and left materials to rack up dust and dollars.”
The Build It Act requires the federal government to transfer any material associated with the construction of the southern border barrier to any state, upon request, for the materials’ original purpose. Both Arizona and Texas have initiated state action to continue construction on their sections of the border wall.
Title 42 was put in place by the Trump administration at the outset of the pandemic in 2020 to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The policy effectively ended immigration law that allows illegal immigrants to seek asylum. Migrants could be swiftly expelled from the United States under Title 42, in place for decades to limit the spread of communicable diseases.
More than 2.8 million illegal immigrants have been expelled from the U.S.-Mexico border since the policy went into effect, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
But that check on illegal immigration comes to an end on Thursday, as the Biden administration ends the national COVID-19 public health emergency.
While the Biden administration claims it’s prepared, a sea of humanity awaits, ready to flood border cities such as El Paso, TX, and, ultimately, U.S. cities nationwide.
“No matter how much we are prepared, I don’t think we are going to be prepared enough,” John Martin, deputy director of the Opportunity Center for the Homeless in El Paso, Texas, told CNN.
“I wanted to emphasize more so than anything else at this point – this is a national issue,” Martin said. “We in El Paso, along with many other communities along the southern border, just happened to be at the front doorstep.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott told reporters Monday he is deploying a “tactical border force” to check the flow.
“We’re deploying today a new Texas tactical border force made up of elite National Guard who are specifically trained for one thing,” the Republican governor said in an interview Monday with Fox News. “And that is to identify areas illegal immigrants are trying to cross the border and to fill that gap and to repel them.”
Since Biden took office, more than 5.5 million illegal immigrants have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. One of the Democrat’s first acts was to end the Trump-era construction of a border wall and redirect the funds.
“Like every nation, the United States has a right and a duty to secure its borders and protect its people against threats. But building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution,” Biden wrote in a proclamation issued on his first day in office. “It is a waste of money that diverts attention from genuine threats to our homeland security.”
Biden’s orders, however, have wasted taxpayer money already invested.
The estimated cost to watch over the border materials is $130,000 a day, which is nearly $50 million a year, according to a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee from the Army Corps of Engineers. An estimated one-quarter of a billion dollars is sitting unused on the southwest border.
“Here’s a simple solution, Mr. President: let’s put the border materials to use, end the taxpayer-funded waste, stop the unprecedented flow of illegal migrants, and finish the wall!” Ernst said.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Joni Ernst” by Joni Ernst. Background Photo “Border Wall Under Construction” by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
