CNN anchor Jake Tapper admitted Monday that there is a crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
During his show, Tapper suggested to Republican Kentucky Rep. James Comer that a bipartisan, “comprehensive bill” in Congress is the real solution to combating the record-high migrant and fentanyl influx occurring at the border.
“It is a crisis at the border, without question,” Tapper said. “Isn’t the larger solution to security issues at the border a comprehensive bill that updates the laws, beefs up security and also is able to get 60 votes in the Senate and President [Joe] Biden’s signature? Meaning some sort of compromise that includes tougher at-the-border measures that you want but a willingness to sit down with Democrats. Is that not the ultimate way to solve this problem?”
Comer agreed, and said that the new GOP majority in the House hopes to pressure the Biden administration to increase its efforts to secure the border and cut off the flow of fentanyl. He also said the party plans to address surging crime rates.
“We’ve got a very high priority on crime in America, that’s something that we campaigned on during the midterms,” the representative said. “We believe that we need to focus on funding our law enforcement, we need to focus on tougher laws to try to hold prosecutors accountable, but we also need to focus on securing the southern border, and that’s gonna be one of the investigation Kevin McCarthy put[s] in the hands of the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees, as far as holding hearings on what [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas has done or failed to do about border security.” (RELATED: ‘Resign’: Biden’s DHS Secretary Shredded For Claiming The Border Is ‘Secure’)
The migrant surge has more than doubled since Biden assumed office in January 2021. Migrant apprehension numbers exceeded a record of 2.3 million in the 2022 fiscal year, which began in October 2021, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Border officials encountered 230,678 migrants at the border in October — the start of the 2023 fiscal year — up from the 164,837 apprehended in the same month the previous year.
Republican House Speaker nominee Kevin McCarthy has pledged that border security will be his party’s first priority after the GOP assumes control of the House in January. He cited national security concerns over the 98 migrants named on the terror watchlist in 2022 and the continuing fentanyl crisis that has killed tens of thousands of Americans.
Despite the migrant and fentanyl surge, prominent Democrats have repeatedly said the border is “secure.” Vice President Kamala Harris claimed that the border was under control during a September interview with NBC News’ Chuck Todd. Mayorkas has made similar claims.