Republican and Democrat lawmakers have been reacting to the chaotic scenes on Thursday where more than 100 illegal migrants were seen on a viral video bursting through razor wire and surging in El Paso, Texas.
The shocking scenes generated plenty of online reaction, and elected officials have also been weighing in on the incident. The video, published by the New York Post, shows dozens of adult males ripping away razor wire that had been set up by the state and charging past Texas National Guardsmen. They then ran toward a section of border wall, where they were blocked from entering further.
Democrats are at odds with their Republican counterparts when it comes to addressing the issue. It comes as the border crisis sees no sign of abating with nearly 7.3 million migrants having illegally crossed the southwest border under President Biden’s watch, a February Fox News analysis found.
Fox News’ Aishah Hasnie asked Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., what he thought of the astonishing incident Thursday, noting that Republicans are worried that there is no border security provisions in the omnibus spending bill.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS STORM US BORDER IN EL PASO, KNOCK OVER GUARDS AMID STANDOFF OVER TEXAS LAW
“We’re funding homeland security, that’s an important priority,” Aguilar said as he walked to his vehicle.
“Do you think that’s enough?” Hasnie said, pressing Aguilar further. “I mean, when you look at this video, it’s pretty dramatic.”
“Yeah, I haven’t seen the video,” Aguilar responded.
Hasnie played the video on her phone and offered Aguilar to look at it, but he did not stop to watch.
“Yeah. All right. Thank you,” he said before getting into the SUV.
Hasnie also questioned Robert Garcia, D-Calif., about the extraordinary footage, and he pinned the blame on Republicans for not passing President Biden’s border security bill.
“Well, I think the important thing is that the president did put forward a bill to address issues around the border, particularly funding for border security technology,” Garcia said.
“And that’s been rejected by Republicans multiple times. There are border solutions that need to happen. We all agree. Republicans and Democrats both agree that border solutions are important. It’s not just about security. It’s about a humane process to treat folks as they’re coming in, many of whom we know are seeking dire circumstances. Both border security and humane immigration reform both happen.”
CONSERVATIVE LAWMAKERS SLAM $1.2T GOVERNMENT FUNDING BILL AS ‘SWAMP OMNIBUS’
Likewise, the White House told Fox News, “We are grateful for Border Patrol’s quick work to get the situation under control and apprehend the migrants.”
“When the former President told Congressional Republicans to block the bipartisan border security agreement – he said to blame him for it,” a White House spokesperson said. “Well he got his wish, and the result was chaos after Governor Abbott’s Operational Lone Star and razorwire were overrun yesterday. While we cannot comment on individual cases, anyone who does not have a legal basis to remain in the United States is promptly removed.”
Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., a progressive Squad member, also called for more money to be spent on the crisis and said that more legal pathways would ease the situation. The Senate’s supplemental spending deal included around $20 billion to control illegal immigration at the southern border.
“I think we’ve consistently said we need more resources for asylum officers and immigration judges to process people,” Jayapal said.
“We need more resources at the border for technology, but the key thing is we actually have to reform immigration policy, because the more legal pathways we have, the less chaos we have at the border.”
“The fewer legal pathways we have, which is what’s happened now, the worse our legal immigration system is working, the more people will go to the border.”
“Do you think that’s what will stop this?” Hasnie asked,
“I think that is. Yeah, I think that is ultimately the answer.”
Republicans, however, appeared livid with an enraged Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas., blasting the scenes on X Thursday.
“Our border is breached, and Texas is overrun with constant invasion. Voting for the #SwampOmnibus does NOTHING to stop the mayhem,” Roy wrote, referring to the $1.2 trillion government funding bill congressional leaders unveiled in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Former President Donald Trump, who is the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for this year’s election, posted a video of the incident to his Truth Social page last Thursday with the words “CROOKED JOE BIDEN’S AMERICA…” captioned above it.
Meanwhile, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., was so furious by the images that she called for Speaker Mike Johnson to be replaced on Thursday.
“We need a Speaker of the House who will fight to secure America’s border at all cost!” Greene wrote on X.
“Not one that passes a trillion dollar Democrat wish list that continues the border invasion, funds the weaponized government, and breaks our own conference rules. I’m done with this one.”
Roy and Greene also led efforts to impeach Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last month.
Fox News’ Kate Sprague contributed to this report.
