The Governors ask Biden to schedule a meeting “to bring an end to the national security crisis created by eight months of unenforced borders.”
Today, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves has announced that he has joined 25 other governors in requesting a meeting with President Joe Biden to discuss the crisis at the U.S. Southern Border.
Reeves said on social media that it is President Biden’s job to secure the border. The governors plan to “discuss the flood of more than 1.3 million people who are entering our country illegally due to his open border policy.”
Today I joined 25 other governors requesting a meeting with President Biden to discuss the flood of more than 1.3 million people who are entering our country illegally due to his open border policy.
It is not his job to run your life…..but it is his job to secure our border! pic.twitter.com/sbxUjwt41C
— Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) September 20, 2021
The governors wrote in their letter that as President, Biden has the ability to “take action to protect America, restore security, and end the crisis now.”
“While governors are doing what we can, our Constitution requires that the President must faithfully execute the immigration laws passed by Congress,” the governors’ letter states. “Not only has the federal government created a crisis, it has left our states to deal with challenges that only the federal government has a duty to solve. Our immigration system may be complicated and complex, but the solution to ending the border crisis is simple and straightforward.”
The governors’ full letter can be found here.
The letter from the 26 governors came after the U.S. government decided to close a portion of the southern border and started deporting hundreds of Haitian migrants who had been camped around a bridge in outside the border community of Del Rio, after crossing from Mexico.
The letter states that compared to last year, border apprehensions are up almost 500% which totals around 1.3 million people. Around 9,700 illegal apprehensions have prior criminal convictions and cartels and traffickers are making $14 million a day moving people illegally across the border.
In a press briefing today with Press Secretary Jen Psaki, a reporter asked of the White House’s message to Haitian immigrants seeking asylum and whether there is a place for them.
Psaki said that they extended TPS several months ago and have reevaluated to ensure that they are taking into account what was happening in Haiti. She said that they have been “working with the American Red Cross to bring in bring in much needed resources. We’ve worked with World Central Kitchen to bring in meals, and we have been expediting repatriation flights both to a range of countries in South and Central America where people may have come from if they are can be accepted back.”
The Press Secretary said that there are steps that the White House is taking in order to protect the border communities as well as the migrants themselves.
Psaki says that the White House’s message continues to be, “now is not the time to come for a range of reasons. Including we don’t have the immigration system up and running in the way we want. Including there is still a pandemic and Title 42 remains in place.”
Watch the full press briefing below:
Tune in for a briefing with Press Secretary Jen Psaki. https://t.co/dJD0fIvxle
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 20, 2021
Anne Summerhays
