With the number of illegal aliens crossing the border continuing to rise, 25 Republican governors have sent a letter to President Joe Biden criticizing him for “incentivizing” illegal immigration.
The governors also called on Biden to “provide honest, accurate, detailed information” about deportations, asylum claim timelines, and where the federal government is relocating illegal aliens in the country.
Every Republican governor except Vermont Gov. Phill Scott signed the letter.
The governors highlighted how the border crisis affects the entire country.
“The crisis at the southern border extends to every state,” wrote the governors. “As a result of your policies which incentivize illegal immigration, our states are carrying the burden of both the years-long surge in illegal border crossings and cartels’ coordinated trafficking of drugs and human beings. States are on the front lines, working around-the-clock responding to the effects of this crisis: shelters are full, food pantries empty, law enforcement strained, and aid workers exhausted.”
They also criticized Biden for his lack of transparency around border issues and his failure to take action.
“Since you have taken office, there have been over 5.8 million illegal crossings at the southern border,” reads the letter. “In addition, your Customs and Border Protection agency estimates 1.6 million crossers have evaded apprehension. Even illegal crossings at the northern border have increased exponentially under your administration, in some areas by nearly 850%.”
In the past two years, 244 people on the terrorist watchlist were stopped trying to cross the southern border—an all-time record. Absent transparency from your administration, though, we cannot know how many terrorists have evaded capture and are now freely moving about the country.
The letter states that the border crisis is costing the U.S. more than $150 billion at the federal, state, and local levels every year.
The governors quoted New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who said, “This is a national problem….[Funding for the influx of migrants to New York City is] going to come from our schools’ services. It’s going to come from what we provide to children.”
Earlier this month, Adams called Texas Gov. Greg Abbott a “madman” for continuing to bus illegal aliens into New York City.
As further evidence, the governors highlighted how Massachusetts’ Democrat Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency over an influx of illegal aliens and referred to the border crisis as “a federal crisis of inaction.”
The governors closed the letter by asking Biden to provide detailed information regarding illegal crossings.
”As we have made clear repeatedly, every state is now a border state,” wrote the governors.
As governors, we call on you and your administration to relay immediately accurate, detailed, thorough data and information to the states about who is crossing the southern border illegally, where they are relocating, how the federal government is processing their asylum applications, and whether they are being deported successfully. Without such information, we cannot fulfill our fundamental duties to protect our citizens while providing our communities with appropriate services.
