President Barack Obama’s request for $3.7 billion to deal with the surge of Central Americans flooding the U.S. border is "dead on arrival," Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar told
Newsmax TV's "America's Forum."
"I mean there's almost $700 million that is placed in here about wildfire, what does that have to do with immigration?" Gosar asked. "And there's really not an outlining plan that the president has presented in which to address this issue. He’s just wanting to throw money at this problem."
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Rep. Pete Sessions, chairman of the House Rules Committee, has already said that Obama’s request must contain
border security policy changes and expedited deportations for Republicans to support it.
On "America’s Forum," Gosar blamed the current crisis – more than 57,000 mostly unaccompanied Central American children have shown up at the U.S. border since October – on the president’s failure to uphold the rule of law.
"People took advantage of that," he said. "It shows … a lack that the president has for addressing an issue that he frankly created and America has growing unrest with him and it’s showing in the polls."
He said there is a "void of leadership" from the president on the border crisis, evidenced by his refusal to travel to the border to see the situation firsthand.
Gosar supports putting the National Guard along the border as a "show of force" but said that enforcing existing immigration law is needed.
"To really stem the tide we have to make sure that people know that we're upholding the rule of law and that what they're interpreting as being amnesty or having a provision to stay is not going to be the case that they'll be going home," he said.
The U.S government should treat Central Americans no differently than people who come from Mexico or Canada, he added, with a very narrow contingency for sex trafficking, he said.
"We are a sovereign country we have sovereign laws and we expect them to follow the same application that we have to follow for them," Gosar said. "This is one of those get tough policies with our neighbors. If they want to have some foreign aid or they want to trade with us there's got to be some provisions in which they're upholding the rule of law, as well...It would be wonderful for the president to get a spine in regards to this issue."
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