President Biden issued an executive order to contain the southern border crisis at the beginning of June. But has anything really changed? A recent letter written by Senators Rick Scott (R-FL), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and others suggests that it has not, calling the executive action "purely performative and politically motivated."
"Just days after you announced executive action that purports to crack down on illegal immigration, it appears that your administration is still intent on continuing to disregard and undermine not only established immigration law but also your own executive order," Sens. Scott and Rubio began bluntly, hammering in the political motivations of Biden's actions.
The letter cites recent Border Patrol memos shared by the Washington Examiner and Fox News suggesting that all single adult illegal immigrants caught and processed at the border be released into the country and then designated as "hard" or "very hard to remove," with only six countries listed as "mandatory referral," meaning they are not released immediately.
The six countries in question are Russia, Moldova, and several states in the Caucasus region (Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan).
"To be clear, of the more than 100 countries in the Eastern Hemisphere, your administration's internal memo encourages immigrants from all but six to continue to violate our immigration laws and exploit our southern border since they are effectively assured their unlawful entry will not result in their removal from our country," Scott and Rubio noted.
From there, the Senators condemn the approximate 10 million illegal immigrants who have been allowed to enter under the Biden Administration, including numerous criminals and terrorists, highlighting the recent arrests of eight Tajikistani men suspected of having ties to the Islamic State (ISIS) that were able to pass vetting.
Additionally, Scott and Rubio highlight the devastating effects of fentanyl that have been enabled by the border crisis, killing over 70,000 Americans a year.
"In every one of our states, families are feeling the impact of your administration's lawless border policies every single day, which we firmly believe are responsible for this horrible crisis of criminals, terrorists, and drugs coming into our country. It is obvious this executive order was simply performative and politically motivated. The American people see right through your tactics and deserve a president who prioritizes their security," the letter harshly concluded.
Scott and Rubio's letter comes shortly after recent comments by Representative Kat Cammack (R-FL) on Fox News, who similarly said Biden's executive order "made the situation at the border worse. Why? Because now everyone is rushing to the border because they feel that they are going to be kept out, so it is putting more of a burden on those states like New Mexico, Arizona, [and] California."
