The crisis at the border is not only a threat for the United States and its southern border, but one for children who are being trafficked through Mexico, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday.
"This is a real crisis that's taking place on our southern border," Pompeo told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo, anchor of "Mornings with Maria." "(The Biden) administration threw away all the good work that we've done, our entire team. I worked personally to get the 'remain in Mexico' policy put in place. This was a simple policy that said you're not going to be in the United States while we evaluate whether you're appropriately here. It created the right incentives."
But when he hears the Biden administration saying they're telling migrants not to come to the border, "the truth is, they are telling people to come," he said. "They're creating the incentive for these kids to travel, they're being trafficked, they're being mishandled and treated terribly by these coyotes."
He also said he's concerned about the moves the Biden administration has made in foreign policy, as it has already moved to appease Iran and taken other "inadequate" measures.
"I'm a little less focused on the process, but the outcomes, and you have seen them already move to appease Iran, we've seen them take inadequate action in response to the massive hack from China on Microsoft exchange servers," Pompeo said. "These create incentives for other countries to challenge us and attack us and a strong America, an America that's not appeasing, is an America that can secure America's freedoms."
Meanwhile, Biden is set to hold a virtual meeting this week with leaders from the "Quad," which refers to the United States, Australia, Japan, and India, to discuss the actions of China's Communist Party, and Pompeo said that does please him, but he's also concerned.
"This is a big step for these leaders to get together, but more important than them gathering is what they actually do and the actions they take," he said, adding that Bartiromo made a good point about the Trump administration having been strong concerning China.
"We were bold; we were fearless," said Pompeo. "We were the first administration to confront the threat from the Chinese Communist Party, the actions they're taking against the people of Hong Kong."
He said he hopes the four leaders will issue a joint statement and take action to make it clear to China that its treatment of the Uyghur minorities, which he declared was genocide before leaving office, and its other activities are "intolerable" and that "we are going to impose real costs on the Chinese Communist Party as they continue down these paths."
He also called on the administration to "do the right thing" when it comes to the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, including information that has been declassified about China's role.
"The cover-up that took place was massive, intentional, and it harmed the world intentionally," said Pompeo. "I hope this administration will do the right thing. First, you have to call it out. You have to acknowledge that this almost certainly started in Wuhan and quite likely came from the Institute of Virology as an accidental leak."
Pompeo also spoke out about the Biden administration's plans to return to the Iran nuclear deal, as he has "every expectation" that Iran will continue to try to "find a weakness in the United States."
"There's an old saying the Iranians have never won a war, never lost a negotiation," he said. "We need to be very careful before we re-enter (this), and we need to do so from a position of strength, and that's precisely what we left the Biden administration."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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