Senate Democrats Block Jim Inhofe’s Resolution Calling Influx of Migrants a Border Crisis

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 20: Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) makes opening remarks at a hearing title
Kevin Dietsch/Pool via Getty Images
Wendell Husebø

Senate Democrats blocked a resolution by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) which stated the current influx of migrants at the southern border constitutes a crisis.

Though Democrats shot down the resolution, it was an uncontroversial one according to a recent poll finding 76 percent of registered voters believe the surge at the border is a crisis that must be addressed immediately.

“It’s obvious to just about everyone outside of Washington that the situation on our southern border is a crisis. I can’t believe that anyone wouldn’t believe that it’s a crisis,” Inhofe began his floor speech. “But there are some who would answer that it isn’t a crisis. President Biden and the DHS Secretary refuse to call it a crisis.”

“They [the administration] call it a challenge. This isn’t a challenge. This is a crisis,” Inhofe stated.

Twenty-one Republican senators cosponsored Inhofe’s resolution on a day when Republican senators also announced they would travel to the border, drawing attention to what the White House press secretary only called “challenges on the border.”

Inhofe’s speech indicated a 173 percent “increase in border apprehensions compared with one year ago,” with February’s apprehensions being “the highest total for February in 14 years.” Despite the increase, the Republican senators willing to examine the “challenges” at the border will not be accompanied by the media, stated Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) Wednesday.

Inhofe also highlighted the administration’s cagey denial of media coverage. “That’s so that people, the media, can’t tell the people of America what is going on down there.”

He continued, “the DHS secretary claims that he’s committed to openness and to transparency. This is not openness and transparency. This is hiding from the people what is going on.”

“Maybe this administration is doing this and refusing to call it a crisis because their policies have invited this surge,” the Oklahoma Senator concluded.

The crisis at the border became obvious Monday when James O’Keefe of Project Veritas  released photos of a border facility where migrant children are being held. A Rasmussen poll on the same day, March 22, which surveyed respondents days before the photos were released, indicated that 57 percent of non-Republican and non-Democrat individuals agreed that “President Biden himself … has caused the [border] crisis with both his rhetoric and his policies.”

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.