Former Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf warned late last week that the immigration bill backed by President Joe Biden is a “wish list” for those on the “far Left.”
“I mean, this bill is fundamentally flawed. And this is not, in my view, a serious effort at immigration reform. We all know that our immigration system certainly needs some needed reform,” Wolf said. “And so a little disappointed in the Biden administration of putting basically a wish list together of those on the far Left, and submitting this as a bill.”
Wolf said that what the Biden administration is doing in terms of providing a pathway to citizenship for people who broke U.S. federal immigration laws sends the wrong message and is disrespectful to everyone who does it the right way and to U.S. citizens.
“And what we know from previous amnesty attempts, is that if you do this, this is an extreme incentive for future population flows to come to the US hoping that they too, will get amnesty in the future,” Wolf continued. “The bill, the legislation that we’re talking about further incentivizes folks with amnesty, they reduce penalties for border crossers. They provide attorneys for those coming into the country. So there is a number of pull factors that the Biden administration unfortunately is sending the signal smugglers and traffickers and others, that it’s okay to come.”
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TRANSCRIPT:
STEVE DOOCY, FOX NEWS HOST: Welcome back. former senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller sounding off on the sweeping immigration bill unveiled yesterday by Democrats in Congress with the support of POTUS Biden.
[START VIDEO]
STEPHEN MILLER, TOP FORMER TRUMP IMMIGRATION ADVISER: It is the most radical immigration bill ever written, ever drafted, ever submitted in the history of this country. It is breathtaking.
[END VIDEO]
DOOCY: Well, the measure includes an eight year pathway to citizenship and immediate Green Card eligibility for dreamers and undocumented farmworkers. Additionally, the Trump administration’s remain in Mexico policy officially ends today. Here with reaction, former Acting DHS Secretary under President Trump and visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, Chad Wolf. Chad, good morning to you.
CHAD WOLF, FORMER ACTING DHS SECRETARY: Good morning. Thank you for having me.
DOOCY: Okay. Stephen Miller paints a pretty gruesome picture about this.
WOLF: Yeah, I think he’s, he’s correct. I mean, this bill is fundamentally flawed. And this is not, in my view, a serious effort at immigration reform. We all know that our immigration system certainly needs some needed reform. This is not it, doesn’t go nearly as far as far as border security measures and enforcement that we need. And so a little disappointed in the Biden administration of putting basically a wish list together of those on the far left, and submitting this as a bill.
DOOCY: Sure. And we’ve heard for years that the administration, the Trump administration tried to do something about the DREAMers after the Obama administration essentially created that program via executive fiat. Going forward, though, a lot of people on the political right are saying when you look this, this new bill, it’s just amnesty, regardless of what they call it, it’s amnesty.
WOLF: Well, that’s absolutely correct. I mean, what you’re saying, what they’re saying, is that the 11, but it’s probably much larger than that, 11 million individuals here illegally, individuals that broke the law to come here to the country are now given a pathway to citizenship and given status. And so I think for the millions of Americans that follow the law every day, the millions of immigrants and follow the process to become citizens, and it’s a lengthy process, just this flies in the face of that, and it sends absolutely the wrong message. And what we know from previous amnesty attempts, is that if you do this, this is an extreme incentive for future population flows to come to the US hoping that they too, will get amnesty in the future.
DOOCY: And as we mentioned at the beginning, the remain in Mexico policy ends today. I know you were a big proponent of that and happy we were doing that. But there are a number of different things that the Border Patrol is doing right now, including, essentially after a period of time and processing. They are releasing people from these border facilities into nearby towns. One of them is Del Rio, Texas, and the mayor Bruno Lozano put together a video letter to Joe Biden and his pleading with him, stop releasing people into our community, we can’t handle him. Here’s the mayor.
[START VIDEO]
BRUNO LOZANO, MAYOR IN TEXAS: I’m pleading and requesting with you to please put a halt to any measures regarding the release of immigrants awaiting court dates into the city of Del Rio and surrounding areas. We do not have the resources available to house and accommodate these migrants within our community. I will have no choice but to the extreme measure under the emergency declaration as the mayor of the city of Del Rio, Texas, to refuse the entry of migrants awaiting court dates into the city of Del Rio. If you do send these individuals into our community, we will be forced to make a decision to leave them without resources under these dire circumstances.
[END VIDEO]
DOOCY: And speaking of resources, we all know from the headlines, Chad, that they got no electricity, a lot of Texas and they got boil water problems and they’re running out of food and things like that. And so the mayor’s saying we can’t deal with the people who actually live here legally and all the this influx of people who are now non-citizens trying to get in the United States.
WOLF: Yeah, it’s really quite remarkable, it seems is though the Biden administration and the officials at DHS and others learned nothing from the crisis that we saw in 2019. So what the mayor just outlined there, we heard from hundreds of border communities along the border in 2019, where we had a massive crisis and influx of individuals, and we put together a patchwork of policies and procedures that reduced that flow significantly. And in just a matter of weeks here since Inauguration Day, there’s been a number of executive orders and policies that have created a border crisis, a humanitarian crisis, the mayor outlines there, they have created this out of whole cloth, it didn’t need to occur, it was under control. But again, a number of these of these policies continue to be very, very concerning. And then, of course, the bill, the legislation that we’re talking about further incentivizes folks with amnesty, they reduce penalties for border crossers. They provide attorneys for those coming into the country. So there is a number of pull factors that the Biden administration unfortunately is sending the signal smugglers and traffickers and others, that it’s okay to come.
DOOCY: That does seem to be the implicit message. Chad Wolf, former Acting Secretary of Department of Homeland Security. So thank you very much for joining us on this Friday.
WOLF: Okay, thank you.