Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, unleashed his full fury on President Joe Biden for his handling — or lack their of — concerning the disaster unfolding at the southern border, but offering up praise for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for attempting to alter current policy and try to rein in the situation. Manchin has been a thorn in Biden’s side fairly consistently over the last few years, which leads one to wonder if he might be considering a defection to the GOP.
“Manchin spoke out in a statement shared with the Washington Examiner Thursday and depicted the Biden administration’s two years of planning for this day as a failure that will be fully realized in the coming days,” the Washington Examiner reported.
“We are one day from the end of Title 42 and still the Biden Administration has no viable solution to prevent an unmanageable surge of migrants at our southern border,” Manchin stated.
“There are multiple commonsense solutions to this crisis, including my bipartisan bill that would give the Administration a two-year temporary expulsion authority for migrants attempting to illegally enter the U.S. without inspection or proper documentation,” Manchin added, going on to say, “While I do not support every provision, Republicans in the House of Representatives are at least working on a border security bill to fill the leadership vacuum created by this Administration. Our country cannot maintain our superpower status if we cannot control our own border.”
As Title 42 winds down and massive numbers of illegal immigrants might surge across the border, Manchin has called for both parties to come to an agreement and support a solution to the issue that he, along with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent, Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, and John Cornyn of Texas, also a member of the GOP, has introduced just a week ago.
The legislation is very similar to some of the protocols contained in Title 42, which was put into place back in spring 2020 to help prevent Border Patrol stations from filling with immigrants during the thick of the COVID pandemic. Under the Trump-era policy, Border Patrol was allowed to immediately turn back those who crossed the border illegally. Individuals were also not allowed to request asylum at ports of entry.
“The bipartisan bill would extend a Title 42-like expulsion policy for the next two years until a better long-term solution can be found. The House is expected to vote on the bill Thursday but faces an uphill battle getting it through the Senate despite having encouragement from Manchin, who has defected from the Democratic Party on various issues,” the report added.
“The Secure the Border Act of 2023 is comprised of approximately 20 bills that the Republican-led Homeland Security, Judiciary, and Foreign Affairs committees passed in April. Many would reinstate Trump-era policies, including building the physical wall, requiring asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico through legal proceedings, and not allowing immigrants to make asylum claims in the first place if they had chosen not to do so after passing through other countries,” it continued.
Build the wall, enforce the law.
That should be a new slogan.
And that would be a simple solution to the border crisis, if only Biden would set aside the progressive agenda and actually do what is best for this country.
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