Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) slammed President Joe Biden during an interview on Sunday for his repeated failure to secure the U.S.-Mexico border as the crisis is expected to intensify this week as Title 42 is set to end.
Sinema made the remarks during an interview with Margaret Brennan on CBS News’ “Face The Nation” while discussing the ongoing crisis at the border and new legislation that she has introduced that would act as a “band-aid” to address the issue.
Brennan highlighted actions that the Biden administration says they’ve taken to address the situation, including deploying a small number of troops to the border and creating a phone app for migrants.
Sinema said the administration’s measures “have been announced in the past week or so” despite an ongoing border crisis that erupted immediately when Biden came into office.
“Having 1,500 troops along the U.S.-Mexico border is helpful. It is a border of over 2,000 miles though,” she continued. “So 1,500 troops isn’t gonna get the job done. That’s just the reality.”
“We also are very concerned that all this is happening in the week or so before the rollout,” Sinema said. “Just today, I was on the phone with a sheriff of Cochise County. He has gotten no information from the Department of Homeland Security or the federal government about what the flow is going to look like, about what they can expect for processing in terms of how long it takes to process migrants. He’s got no information.”
Sinema said that the only information the sheriff has received is from her because she is staying in regular contact with him.
“What’s unfortunate is that I’m asking for that information and I’m not getting it,” Sinema said of the Biden administration. “And so either the administration has that information and they’re choosing not to share it, which is a problem since we’re the ones who are going to deal with the crisis, or they don’t have it and that’s even more concerning, because how do you prepare for the inflow of migrants when you don’t know what you’re going to expect?”
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Sinema said the information had not been shared with Arizona Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs.
“We’ve had two years to prepare for this,” Sinema said of the Biden administration’s window to prepare for the end of Title 42. “I think that there’s a system in Washington, D.C. that is deeply disconnected from the real lives and experiences of border communities and the migrants who seek to come to this country.”
Sinema said she would like those living in Washington, D.C., “to learn” what living in a state impacted by the border crisis is like.
WATCH:
.@SenatorSinema says Arizona border officials haven't received information on migrant processing and transporting as Title 42 expires.
"Either the administration has that information and they’re choosing not to share it…or they don't have it and that's even more concerning." pic.twitter.com/xVNxDRZSfu
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 7, 2023