With Title 42 ending, it's alarming that the White House isn't taking the expected border surge more seriously, including with President Joe Biden's threat to veto the Republicans' Support the Border Act, which is expected to pass in the House on Thursday, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald told Newsmax.
"Over the last couple of days, we've had conversations, specifically with members that represent border states, where they were starting to hear real specific numbers of those that are expected to hit the border sometime today, before midnight," the Wisconsin Republican said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America."
Fitzgerald added that Guatemala's president is saying that 80,000 people will hit the U.S. border sometime Thursday.
"They've tried to reach out not only to the White House but members of Congress," said Fitzgerald, noting that lawmakers are trying to talk to the Department of Homeland Security and the Border Patrol about the numbers of people coming, but the situation is "not being taken seriously. It's a real concern."
The Republicans' bill is scheduled for a vote Thursday afternoon after some concerns are worked out in the House Rules Committee, said Fitzgerald.
According to reports, the bill aims to restrict asylum and build more border wall, while cutting a program allowing migrants a chance to stay in the U.S. lawfully for two years.
The White House, though, said this week that Biden would veto the bill because it "would make things worse, not better. Because this bill does very little to actually increase border security while doing a great deal to trample on the nation's core values and international obligations, it should be rejected."
Fitzgerald said it was "unbelievable" to see Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas's warnings to migrants Wednesday to remain away from the U.S. border, as the end of Title 42 restrictions does not mean the border is open to cross.
"It was unbelievable to see him with a straight face continue to tell everyone that, Listen, there's not only not a crisis here, but you know the border is not open just because Title 42 is going away," said Fitzgerald. "You don't have to be a member of Congress to understand that certainly there is a message being sent globally to anyone who may want to come in and just claim asylum that this is the time to do it, and if you don't get under the wire, you know it's going to get more difficult again."
Further, Fitzgerald said cartels are talking about how it will cost more for an individual to work with them to get their passage across the border.
"It's a lot more formal, I think, than what many people understand," said Fitzgerald. "It's not just immigration is in a form that people show up at the border, they go to the Border Patrol, they go wherever the lights are, and just kind of cross the border.
"This is organized. It's organized at a high level, and I think that's something that the administration just hasn't acknowledged."
Further, Fitzgerald said that Homeland Security has seen another escalation in the amount of fentanyl coming into the U.S.
"That tells you right there that it's the cartels," he said. "This isn't just kind of an ad hoc group of people migrating to the border."
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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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