Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Sunday three Trump administration policies sacked by President Joe Biden would be “simple solutions” to the current immigration surge at the southern border.
In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Cotton said the policies put in place by former President Donald Trump were “highly effective.”
"The Biden administration keeps saying that Trump somehow dismantled the immigration system,” he said. “That's false.”
“It was the Biden administration that dismantled three highly effective policies,” he said.
“First, the public health exclusionary order, they lifted that as it relates to minors,” he said, referring to the order instituted in the early months of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. "Well, guess what we have now at the border? Lots more minors. That's not a surprise.”
He added the second policy that was dismantled was the “Remain in Mexico” policy that kept migrants there while their asylum hearings were arranged in the United States.
The final policy dumped that should be restored is the “safe third country agreement,” Cotton said,.
"The so-called safe third country agreement with countries like Guatemala that says if you pass through a country that's not your own seeking asylum, you have to make that asylum claim in the first country you pass through. That's the international norm," Cotton said.
"Joe Biden could re-impose all three of those things this week if he wanted to,” Cotton said.
As things stand now, however, “the border is wide open,” Cotton asserted.
“There are reports now that [Customs Border Patrol] is simply processing people without appearing in court,” he said.
“Processing all these bogus asylum claims… means we have other kinds of crises,” he added, including drug traffickers and screening for people on the terrorist watchlist, he added.
Cotton also indicated he believed any infrastructure bill pursued by Democrats would be a wish-list of progressive priorities including programs related to the "Green New Deal.”
"This bill is not going to be geared to those needs, this bill will be geared towards big tax increases and the Green New Deal," Cotton said.
"We spend too much money on things that are not roads, or bridges, or broadband access," he added.
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