Republican lawmakers blasted the Biden administration’s latest idea for how to stem the tide of illegal immigration—sending cash transfers to the Northern Triangle region and COVID-19 vaccines—as “insulting” to the American people.
While details about the idea were scarce, the one promise that Roberta Jacobson, the White House’s southern border coordinator, would make to Reuters is that the “U.S. government isn’t going to be handing out money or checks to people.”
“We’re looking at all of the productive options to address both the economic reasons people may be migrating, as well as the protection and security reasons,” she added.
Roughly 168,000 people were picked up by U.S. Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border in March, the highest monthly tally since March 2001 and part of steadily increasing arrivals in recent months.
Jacobson said no decision has been made regarding whether to prioritize sending vaccines to the Northern Triangle countries, but said that President Joe Biden’s administration would consider how vaccines could help the countries’ ailing economies. She said the vaccine issue remains separate from immigration-related discussions with the nations. […]
Biden, who took office on Jan. 20, has called for $4 billion in development aid to Central America over four years to address underlying causes of migration. On Friday, the White House requested $861 million from Congress for that effort in Biden’s first annual budget proposal. That would be a sharp increase from the roughly $500 million in aid this year. (Reuters)
Reacting to the news, McCarthy and other GOP lawmakers said Americans should not be the ones to foot the bill.
“It’s insulting to the millions of Americans who are out of work or facing despair in our country,” the Republican lawmaker said in a statement.
President Biden wants to try and buy our way out of his border crisis with taxpayer money. The Administration is spending $60 million a week, and now wants to launch a cash transfer program in Central America. This insults millions of Americans who are out of work in our country. https://t.co/Jcav3wYyhf
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) April 10, 2021
This is not a plan. It’s another sellout. Our children and grandchildren will “tote the note” #BidenBorderCrisis https://t.co/hTx7fg7CRN
— Senator Bill Hagerty (@SenatorHagerty) April 10, 2021
I am afraid they haven’t a clue. https://t.co/P6anhpmxCy
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) April 10, 2021
Bribing illegal immigrants won’t solve the border crisis. https://t.co/97D6K4Ucws
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) April 9, 2021
Apparently the Biden Admin's "solution" to the border crisis they created is to send MORE American taxpayer dollars to other countries.
— Brian Mast (@BrianMastFL) April 10, 2021
I'd say it's unbelievable, but it's just the latest in a long line of #AmericaLast decisions by this admin.https://t.co/iDzUe7bUkc
The White House announced Friday that Jacobson is leaving after just two months on the job, noting that she only committed to assisting in the first 100 days of the administration.