Rep. Mike McCaul told Newsmax TV on Thursday that there is a direct cause-and-effect relationship between the Biden administration's rescinding Trump-era policies and the tripling of those trying to cross the border illegally from a year ago.
McCaul, appearing on ''Spicer & Co.,'' blamed not only policy decisions such as President Joe Biden's Inauguration Day executive orders that ended agreements with Mexico and Central American nations to keep those seeking political asylum in their home nation until their case was heard, but also the administration's public statements.
''On day one, he rescinded what I consider the most, one of most historic agreements that the Trump administration achieved in these political asylum security agreements with Mexico and Central America,'' said McCaul, the ranking minority member of the House foreign affairs committee. ''And with the stroke of a pen, President Biden absolutely shredded those agreements. That's when you saw the surge. I mean there is a direct cause and effect.
''I've seen the video before. As a federal prosecutor down in Texas with the border, I was chairman of the homeland security committee. Every time you give them the wrong message, like when the (Homeland Security) Secretary (Alejandro Mayorkas) says, 'We're not saying don't come, just don't come right now,' my God, that's like the worst message.''
McCaul referred to Customs and Border Protection statistics that show 100,000 illegal immigrants were caught attempting to enter the United States from Mexico in February, a nearly one-third jump from the previous month and a three-fold increase from the same month last year.
The 59-year-old, nine-term congressman from Texas' 10th Congressional District between San Antonio and Houston, decried House Democrats' passage of a bill earlier in the day which established a procedure to offer citizenship to children brought to the United States illegally by their parents.
''It's again, a welcome mat, 'Come on in, we're ready for business,''' McCaul said. ''And that's a message, when I questioned (Mayorkas), he knows better. He's been a federal prosecutor in a border state. It was so irresponsible to send that kind of message.
''Deterrents is important here. In the Trump administration, there was deterrents. We didn't have this problem. But within two months, they've absolutely reversed this policy. I've talked to (former Secretary of Homeland Security) Kirstjen Nielsen. She negotiated a lot of these agreements with Mexico and Central America. And it was working. They were applying for political asylum in Mexico, not in the United States. We have catch and release back, once again, and once they're released, as you know, they're given a notice to appear, and then they disappear.''
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