Jackson Lee Says ‘Most of’ Border ‘Well-Protected’ and Runs Fine, Blames Trump and Abbot for Crisis

EXCERPT:

JACKSON LEE: "Well, Jake, thank you first of all for having me. Why don't we start from point A and that is let us change the narrative. The narrative is that we have a human rights crisis at the border. I am a Texan. We have about 2,000 miles, a little under 2,000 miles of border, and most of that border is well protected with legal points of entry and it operates appropriately. But what has happened is because of the Trump relic of Title 42 and the demonizing of immigrants throughout governor, Governor Abbott, who's look toward the next election, we can't seem to really know how to handle this surge. I think the Biden administration is very eager to adhere to that we are a land of immigrants and a land of laws. And that is what Secretary Mayorkas was saying. That he has the ability to provide security of the border, but also, I think, our meeting with a number of officials in the White House got them to understand that, one, Title 42 is discretionary. Even DHS said that the medical expertise that was used there may not have been that accurate. And again, it is a relic of the Trump administration. Here's what we want to see. A moratorium and/or suspension of Title 42 to be able to use the resources that have been sent to the border, meaning personnel, to determine and do as migrants did in other surges in 2014, surges in the spring of 2021, to be given the determination of who could get an asylum appointment, who could get in court because they were families. We know some will have to be removed at some point, but when you have a narrative of the largest deportation in months or years, that does not fit favorably. That is not the administration. I know their heart is different. We saw that. We feel that we're going to see some changes, and we're going to also understand, Jake, that as the Homeland Security has said, the migrants are not national security threats."