On Friday’s “CNN News Central,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) stated that to handle the migrant crisis we should spend money on cities dealing with migrants and instead of changing asylum laws, we should spend more on foreign aid because “our dollar goes a lot further in a lot of these different countries than it goes here.”
Co-host John Berman asked, “[Y]ou hear the mayors from those cities. On Wednesday, DHS said more than 7,000 migrants were apprehended at the southern border, how big of a problem is this?”
Crockett answered, “It’s a huge problem, and if anyone is sitting around and acting as if it isn’t, then they simply aren’t aware. I just want the American people to know that Democrats, as well as Republicans, acknowledge this. You talk to a number of Democratic mayors that are complaining about this issue, and I appreciate what was said in that very last statement, which was the fact that the president has actually put forward a supplemental package that would actually provide relief to cities. Republicans don’t want to tell the truth about what the president is trying to push forward, and that mayor absolutely acknowledged the problem. The problem is Congress. The president can’t do this by himself, he can’t just shell out money, it takes action on behalf of the House, as well as the Senate. And right now, the House is in shambles and can’t do anything right. So, when people are complaining about the migrant crisis, and Republicans are saying that they are the ones that can fix it, I want to remind people that basically the Republicans have said the house is on fire, we see it’s burning, but no, we are not going to do our part. That’s exactly what they’ve done while the president is trying to provide some immediate relief, as well as long-term solutions.”
Berman then asked, “What changes, if any, would you be willing to make to asylum laws to relieve some of the pressure here?”
Crockett responded, “So, I don’t think that that’s the problem. So, for me, that’s not the fix. … Republicans simply want to campaign on fixing immigration when they know that it’s not an actual fix. They don’t want to provide the resources that are necessary. We need to make sure that we have the courts that are fully staffed.”
She added that we should spend more on foreign aid and help other countries have better trade agreements to reduce the flow of people on the border because “our dollar goes a lot further in a lot of these different countries than it goes here.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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