It’s been noted that President Donald Trump (R) spent the most time speaking about illegal immigration and the border during this week's presidential debate. Despite pushback from Vice President Kamala Harris (D), Republicans feel President Trump is justified in raising concerns regarding the border. In an interview with the Floridian Press, Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R) affirmed that President Trump is “absolutely right” on the border issue.
Hindsight is 2020, and Rep. Diaz-Balart suggested that since President Joe Biden (D) stepped into office, he's made the country a bit more dangerous.
"Because of the Biden-Harris 'Open Border' policy, we have now hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of very dangerous people here," Rep. Diaz-Balart warned. Among those "dangerous people" are members of the Tren de Aragua gang from Venezuela. They are "incredibly violent, ruthlessly violent," and according to the Florida Republican, members of the gang have subsequently spread to places like Chicago and south Florida. In those places, they are "committing very nasty and violent acts, taking over streets. That's a reality."
"They're terrorizing people in the United States. That's not debatable, that's a statement of fact," the former president said.
Considering that the gang hails from Venezuela, The Floridian asked Rep. Diaz-Balart how the United States should respond after Venezuela's recent presidential election. In short, he expressed that the problem lies with the Biden Administration.
Recounting a hearing that happened years ago with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Rep. Diaz-Balart shared that he asked the secretary of state if he agreed with sanctions against Venezuela. Secretary Blinken is alleged to have agreed with implementing sanctions. However, “within weeks of that, of the secretary of state telling me that, they started unilaterally relaxing sanctions on the Venezuelan narco-regime,” the Republican lawmaker lamented.
“It’s fascinating. They say one thing but then they do the opposite of what they say," Diaz-Balart added.
Rep. Diaz-Balart then derided the Biden Administration, detailing that sanctions were loosened after “the Maduro regime said that they were gonna have free and fair elections." This, he argues, was a bad move because "when you’re dealing with folks like that, you trust but verify."
"This was just, unilaterally, under a promise, which we, by the way, warned the administration that it was going to be violated. They relaxed sanctions on the Maduro regime under the misguided thought that that regime was going to have free and fair elections," he continued.
“Elections took place. They were neither free nor transparent, but the opposition clearly won despite that,” he said. In turn, he questioned what the Biden Administration has done after the Venezuelan election, noting that President Biden has yet to respond.
“It’s clear that this is an administration that moment after moment, step after step, has been looking at ways to help the anti-American narco regime in Venezuela, in Cuba, in Iran, and we can go on and on," Diaz-Balart concluded.
