Democrats wrongly frame the southern border crisis as a problem with illegal immigration rather than with border security, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan said Monday.
In an interview on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," Morgan decried the threat posed by the flow of migrants across the border.
"This isn't just about illegal immigration. That's what the Democrats want this to be about," he said. "And then they just remove the illegal part, [and] just talk about immigration.
"This is about border security," he continued, noting that "illegal immigration drives our borders to be more open because it pulls resources off" from security along the southern border.
"Drugs are coming in, criminals are coming in," he said, calling it a "national security threat."
Morgan took particular aim at Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., for dodging the real issue — until now as he faces an election challenge.
"I think what you've seen ... with this [New York City] Mayor [Eric Adams] the virtue signaling that is done," he said.
"You just had Mark Kelly say it's an embattled Senate race. He's calling it a crisis all of a sudden, so he's come out of the shadow of the past 20 months. He's done nothing, and now he's coming out of the shadows calling it a crisis, because that's exactly what it is."
Morgan praised Democrat Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, saying he's "actually on the border, and he's been a fairly honest broker saying the same thing" about the need for a secure border.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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