WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – Since President Joe Biden enacted stricter border policies earlier this month, Customs and Border Protection reports that encounters at ports of entry have fallen by 25%.
“We’ve already seen the number of encounters at the border go down as a result,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said.
Coons said the president took great steps but Congress needs to pick up the slack.
“Let’s put down the tools and find a lasting solution,” Coons said.
The Senate worked on a bipartisan deal for months, but Republicans shot it down. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) blames the former president.
“We were just two days short of voting on it when Donald Trump said no and the Republicans walked away,” Warren said.
Warren called for Republicans to cooperate on an immigration deal with more security at the border, financial support for places housing migrants, and “a pathway to citizenship for people who are here for spouses, for dreamers, for essential workers.”
However, Republicans are frustrated about the president’s latest action shielding undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens from deportation.
“The reason the border is broken is Biden chose to overturn every policy Trump had,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said.
Graham pins the blame on President Biden for the current status of the border and says Republicans are not at fault.
“The largest number of people on the terrorist watch list came in last year,” Graham said.
Democrats argue, if Congress does not step up, there is a limit as to what the president can do with the border.
