Katie Britt says that children are paying the price for Biden’s border crisis
U.S. Senator Katie Britt last week participated in a press conference with a group of colleagues highlighting how the border crisis and how it has continued to endanger vulnerable children and empower dangerous drug cartels. Britt was joined at the press conference by Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas), James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Ted Budd (R-North Carolina), John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), and Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin). According to a FOX report, more than 300,000 unaccompanied minors have entered the United States since Joe Biden took office. Nearly 85,000 of these children are now missing and unaccounted for – presumably somewhere in the United States. “Here we are, Senate Republicans, standing here again talking about the very same topic – the toll that the Biden Border Crisis is taking not only on Americans but the migrants that are being used and abused to further someone else’s cause,” said Sen. Britt. “Make no mistake; this is both a national security and a humanitarian crisis.” “Now, I have been to the border,” Britt said. “I went three times in the first two months in office because I wanted the real, unvarnished truth. I asked them, ‘Tell me even what you think I don’t want to hear. I want to know the full set of facts.’ And one fact is that our courageous Border Patrol agents, ICE, National Guard, and local law enforcement are doing every single thing possible to make sure that Americans maintain their safety and that they help end this crisis, but the bottom line is they’re overextended, and they’re under-resourced.” “What has stuck with me the most are the stories that I heard when I was down there,” said Britt. “I saw a little baby, six months old, shivering and wet from just getting pulled out of the river with her parents. I saw a little pair of shoes on the ground next to the riverbank. That little pair of shoes has a story. But we need you to help us tell that story. I looked in the eyes of a CBP agent when he said that one of the hardest days he’s ever had in his entire life was pulling the lifeless body of a woman from the Rio Grande who was pregnant with twins.” “Folks, this is having real implications on real people, and the only people that are benefiting from Joe Biden’s failed policies are not Americans, not these migrants,” said Britt. “We need the American people to stand up and stand with us and say ‘enough is enough.’ When you think about these 300,000 unaccompanied children that have come across — let me tell you something. I’m a Momma. Do you think I’m going to let my child wander in hopes that someone finds them on the other side of the border? Absolutely not.” “I have talked to these young women, and it wasn’t that they were raped every day,” said Britt. “It was how many times a day they were raped. Folks, this has real implications. You look at the real stories of a 13-year-old boy who is being sent to be a day laborer all day long. He’s not living the American Dream. He’s paying back what his parents owe, or he promised to a drug cartel.” The press conference was led by Sen. Cornyn. “300,000 children had been placed with sponsors in the United States… in 85,000 of those placements, the 30-day wellness call that is typically made by the administration went unanswered,” Sen. Cornyn said. “What’s happening to them – whether they’re going to school, whether they’re getting health care, whether they’re being recruited for gangs, whether they’re being trafficked for sex, or just simply neglected or abused – the Biden administration doesn’t know, and the truth is, they don’t care.” “I’ve wondered, as a border state Senator, what’s it going to take to get the attention of the Biden administration to finally do something about the Biden border crisis?” Cornyn continued. “How about 108,000 dead Americans – dead because they consumed some of the drugs that are smuggled across the southwestern border, including 71,000 from fentanyl. How many more people need to die?” During a hearing of the Senate Committee on Appropriations earlier this year, Britt questioned U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra about how the Administration’s cutting of corners and bureaucratic failures have put more children in harm’s way. “[T]he UAC Program is plagued by deficiencies and poor management which, combined with this Administration’s reckless and irresponsible policies, encourage illegal immigration, and, I believe, has put the lives of children and their well-being at risk,” said Britt in the hearing. “I won’t try to refute some of the things you said that are inaccurate,” Becerra said. In a hearing held last week by the House Committee on Homeland Security, border proponents exposed allegations that the Biden administration has “threatened our national security and the safety of every American” with its negligent border policies. These policies include ending a Donald Trump measure known as Migrant Protection Protocols (“Remain in Mexico”), which made illegal immigrants wait in Mexico instead of releasing them in the U.S. pending a hearing that may not occur for years. “The cartels have essentially taken over,” said House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, a medical doctor and Republican congressman from Tennessee. Katie Britt is the Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee for the Senate Committee on Appropriations. Britt was elected to the Senate in 2022. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Mike Rogers and colleagues comment on Annual Threat Assessment
Committee on Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD, Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner issued a joint statement following the release of the non-classified part of the 2023 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community. “As a nation, we are facing a myriad of threats like never before, from foreign malign actors seeking to undermine our way of life to increasingly aggressive adversaries attempting to displace the United States as a leading power on the world stage,” Chairmen Rogers, McCaul, and Turner said. “This ODNI threat assessment only reinforces the fact that China, Russia, Iran, al-Qaeda, ISIS, and North Korea all present grave threats to our national security that demand sustained attention from Congress.” “From cyber threats to attacks on U.S. critical infrastructure and brazen acts of espionage, our adversaries are pushing boundaries to see how far the United States will let them go,” Rogers and the other Congressmen continued. “We have witnessed this in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, al-Qaeda’s growing confidence following the Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan, the rebuilding of ISIS, the Chinese Communist Party’s consistent acts of espionage and cyber intrusions in addition to their military build-up and rapid nuclear expansion, as well as North Korea’s missile tests aimed in the direction of U.S. allies. We have also witnessed this with other transnational issues, including a devastating opioid crisis in the U.S., fueled by the production and trafficking of illicit fentanyl and precursor chemicals by nefarious actors.” “It is evident from this threat assessment that the tactics the CCP uses to accomplish its goals have not worked entirely in its favor, leaving our nation at a tipping point,” Rogers et. al. continued. “The CCP must not be underestimated, but the U.S. can still triumph in a peer-to-peer competition with the CCP if our government acts in a swift and unified manner. Ultimately, this threat assessment only reinforces the concerns we have about the U.S. threat posture under the Biden administration. Our committees will continue working together to combat these threats and strengthen our national security, while demanding the Biden administration hold our adversaries accountable in response to acts of aggression.” The full text of the 2023 edition of the unclassified Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community was presented in testimony to Congress by the U.S. director of National Intelligence. The full report is nearly a 40-page document that provides the best official U.S. summary of both the threats the free world faces and of the combined mix of both military and civil threats now available. According to the Assessment, “Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine has highlighted that the era of nation-state competition and conflict has not been relegated to the past but instead has emerged as a defining characteristic of the current era. While Russia is challenging the United States and some norms in the international order in its war of territorial aggression, China has the capability to directly attempt to alter the rules-based global order in every realm and across multiple regions, as a near-peer competitor that is increasingly pushing to change global norms and potentially threatening its neighbors. Russia’s military action against Ukraine demonstrates that it remains a revanchist power, intent on using whatever tools are needed to try to reestablish a perceived sphere of influence despite what its neighbors desire for themselves and is willing to push back on Washington both locally and globally. Besides these strategic competitors, local and regional powers are seeking to exert their influence, often at the cost of neighbors and the world order itself. Iran will remain a regional menace with broader malign influence activities, and North Korea will expand its WMD capabilities while being a disruptive player on the regional and world stages.” Mike Rogers is in his eleventh term representing Alabama’s Third Congressional District. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
