Julio reported this month that some House Republicans are threatening not to vote for an impending government funding bill if it does not include provisions to effectively secure the U.S.-Mexico border. The border crisis has heightened astronomically since President Joe Biden took office. A record 2 million arrests along the southern border occurred this past year, The New York Times reported.
A majority of Americans believe cartels have more control over the U.S.-Mexico border than the U.S. government, according to a new poll published Thursday by RMG Research and shared with National Review.
In the poll, 61 percent of registered voters said that cartels have greater control over the border than the U.S. government. Nineteen percent said they believe the government has more control. Twenty percent of respondents said they were “not sure” who has more control over the border.
In a follow-up, the majority of respondents, 54 percent, said that the federal government is not “seriously trying to secure the border and reduce illegal immigration.”
The poll surveyed 1,200 registered voters from Sept. 20-21 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
Townhall covered this month how Vice President Kamala Harris, the “border czar,” said in an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd that the border is “secure” and that the way to deal with the border crisis is to provide a “pathway to citizenship.”
“The border is secure, but we also have a broken immigration system, in particular, over the last four years before we came in, and it needs to be fixed,” Harris said in the interview.
Kamala Harris insists that “the border is secure.” pic.twitter.com/LiEEBtju4r
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 12, 2022
Todd pressed Harris on the subject, pointing out that the U.S. has two million people who have crossed the border, a record high.
“You’re confident this border’s secure?” he asked.
“We have a secure border, and that is a priority for any nation, including ours and our administration,” Harris answered. "But there are still a lot of problems that we are trying to fix given the deterioration that happened over the last four years. We also have to put into place a law and a plan for a pathway for citizenship for the millions of people who are here and are prepared to do what is legally required to gain citizenship."
In an interview with Fox News, Democratic Sen. Joe Machin (WV) said Harris is “dead wrong” about the border being “secure.”
"It's wrong. She's dead wrong on that," Manchin said. “And I have said this: If we don't secure – I voted every time for the wall, but we need the wall and a lot more technology, more agents."
Manchin added that for “anybody” to say that the borders are secured is “not accurate.”
“I’ve been there. It’s wrong,” he added.
.@BretBaier: "Vice President Harris said this weekend the southern border is 'secure.'"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 13, 2022
Manchin: "It's wrong. She's dead wrong on that." pic.twitter.com/O2IIJsNu0E
