Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., told Newsmax on Thursday night Congress is finally getting an idea of the scope of the crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border now that Republicans have regained control of the House.
Cline was part of the House Judiciary Committee's field hearing on the border crisis on Thursday in Yuma, Arizona, which, according to testimony from Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot, has seen Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal immigrants in the area rise from 40 a day to more than 1,000 a day in the span of two years.
Democrats on the committee chose not to attend.
"Democrats on the Judiciary Committee refused to have a hearing [on the border crisis] for two years when Biden was in office," Cline told "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "They never had a hearing, we never got to hear these stories. Now Republicans have the gavel, Republicans have the microphone, and we are having those hearings.
"This is our second hearing on the border and you're going to see legislation coming soon, and we're going to be working to address these concerns because every community is a border community now."
Cline minced no words in saying who is responsible for the crisis: President Joe Biden. Cline said Yuma's only acute care hospital, the Yuma Regional Medical Center, is being strained because of the number of illegal immigrants that it treats.
Dr. Robert Trenschel, president and CEO of Yuma Regional Medical Center, testified that from December 2021 to November 2022, the hospital delivered $26 million "in uncompensated care" for illegal immigrants.
"We saw firsthand what happens when you have a finite number of hospital beds, and instead of a resident of Yuma getting to use that bed, an illegal migrant gets to have that bed," Cline said. "We heard stories of women giving birth, having to be transported [180] miles to Phoenix, instead of being able to give birth right here in Yuma.
"When it comes to the food bank, we talked to farmers, we talked to residents, all of whom agree it's a border without a border."
Cline is confident the House can pass legislation and use that as leverage to force change within the Biden administration.
"We can pass the legislation in the House and then use that passage as we negotiate our appropriation measures for the fall so that we ensure we use the leverage of the power of the purse," Cline said. "That's what's important."
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