Tipsheet

Blackburn On Her Visit to the Border: The Biden Administration Won’t Let Border Patrol Do Their Job

Madeline Leesman
Madeline Leesman  |  October 12, 2021 4:45 PM

This week, Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican, visited the southern border to see the ongoing illegal immigration crisis firsthand. In a Fox News interview on Monday, Blackburn discussed her visit and how the Biden administration’s “open border” policies have left Border Patrol agents unable to do their job.

“The Border Patrol are fantastic. They want to do their job. The administration is not allowing them to do their job,” Blackburn said in the segment, mentioning that the National Guard and the Texas Highway Patrol are helping to secure the Texas-Mexico border. 

This year, Blackburn noted, there have been 1.1 million apprehensions at the border. During her visit, she spoke to Border Patrol agents who shared with her that the “criminal element” at the border has upticked enormously. In addition to illegal drugs, Border Patrol is highly concerned what other items – weapons, and so forth – illegal immigrants might be bringing into the United States.

“We’ve got people from 150 different countries that have crossed that border so far this year. We have apprehended two individuals on the terrorist watch list. And after the disaster in Afghanistan, people along the border, whether they’re ranchers or property owners, or local law enforcement, they’re very concerned about who and what may be coming across that southern border and coming into our communities.”

Previously, Blackburn has pointed out that illegal immigration is a pressing issue for her constituents in Tennessee. In her interview, she reiterated that stance and noted that “every state’s a border state,” echoing the same sentiment Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said this weekend in an interview.

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“Every town’s a border town. Every state is now a border state because of this open border,” Blackburn concluded. “And the fact that by the time we get to the end of the year, we will have apprehended 2 million people. This is not slowing down at the border.”

Watch the interview here.