Far-left Texas Democrat gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke, who has previously called for tearing down existing sections of border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, slammed Democrat President Joe Biden in an interview for his handling of the border crisis that has erupted under his administration.
O’Rourke was specifically knocking the Biden administration for its decision to end the use of Title 42, an emergency health order that allows federal authorities to quickly expel illegal aliens.
“It does not make sense to end this until there is a real plan and the capacity in place to handle those and address those that come over,” O’Rourke told The Texas Tribune this week. “I have yet to hear a plan from the Biden administration to address the dynamic we will have on the border once Title 42 ends.”
“Everyone is legitimately concerned about the lack of a plan,” he added. “We should hold the federal government accountable for doing its job, and they’re not doing that.”
After criticizing the administration for ending the use of Title 42, O’Rourke then claimed that the health order was detrimental to efforts to stop illegal immigration.
“What it has done is produced a situation where the same person is crossing multiple times a week, and under Title 42 that Border Patrol agent simply turns that person back around and then that person tries to cross the next day,” he said. “They’re not arrested, not detained, there are no consequences for someone who is not following our laws when they try to come into this country, and it means that this country is not following its laws when it comes to those who are trying to make a legitimate claim for asylum.”
Jeh Johnson, Obama’s secretary of Homeland Security, warned during an interview on Sunday that President Joe Biden was going to pay a steep political price for his continued crisis on the southern border as up to 18,000 migrants could be headed to the U.S. per day if the CDC lifts Title 42.
“The CDC and the Department of Homeland Security have said for months that border crossings will almost certainly increase once the order is lifted,” The Washington Post reported. “Homeland Security officials, who oversee CBP and other agencies, said officials are planning for multiple scenarios in case of a major influx, tapping Federal Emergency Management Agency officials to prepare for as many as 18,000 migrants per day, almost triple the current numbers.”
O’Rourke’s criticism of the Biden administration comes after the administration has overseen one of the worst immigration catastrophes in U.S. history.
In February 2019, when asked by MSNBC host Chris Hayes whether he would tear down the border wall if he could, O’Rourke responded, “Yes. Absolutely. I’d take the wall down.”
Beto O'Rourke when asked, since Rep. @DanCrenshawTX asked on Twitter, if he would tear down the walls that are already in place: Yes and I think a referendum to do so would pass. pic.twitter.com/ENZuYvdqEa
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) February 15, 2019