YUMA, Ariz. — Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL) blasted President Joe Biden at a press conference on Tuesday after touring one of the hardest hit sectors along the U.S.-Mexico border. The tour was part of a trip to the Yuma Sector by members of the House Oversight Committee, where they saw hundreds of illegal crossings during the night and day. The members also visited a Border Patrol's processing facility.
Donalds said that the trash leftover from illegal immigrants crossing into the states, which included airplane tickets and travel visas from Mexico, proves the whole situation is a "con job" incentivized by the Biden administration under the guise of being "safe" and "humane."
"The border's been wide open. We've had major surges across every section of the border, not just here in Yuma and the President has refused to change course," Donalds said, adding the Biden administration has "bureaucratized" the Migrant Protection Protocols by increasing the enrollment times from an hour to eight hours.
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— Oversight Committee Republicans (@GOPoversight) April 12, 2022
"You can't process & release your way out of this crisis."
Yuma Sector Border Patrol tell us we need policy fixes that end catch & release.
This failed policy only encourages more illegal immigration. pic.twitter.com/hVtdVLp6ZG
Illegal border crossings totaled 2 MILLION last year for a simple reason: Joe Biden's open border policies.
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) April 12, 2022
There's a simple solution to the #BidenBorderCrisis: finish the wall. pic.twitter.com/24aWo5wRpp
As with the Rio Grande Valley and Del Rio Sectors, the Yuma Sector consistently experiences large groups of illegal immigrant crossings. As a result, Border Patrol is then regulated to mainly processing the people and not patrolling the region. This leaves many miles of the southern border in the area unsecured.
"They can fix it tomorrow, they chose not to. So you don't get the benefit of the doubt. If I have that information as a freshman member of Congress, you're damn sure the commander in chief has that information and he does nothing," Donalds said.
"You have people flying into Mexico from all over parts of the world, they say coming for vacation but they're not," Donalds told Townhall at a popular crossing trail. "We found travel visas from Mexico that were dumped here and they're dumping here because if they show their ID here to Border Patrol, Border Patrol will send them back to Mexico."
So far into fiscal year 2022, Border Patrol agents in the Yuma Sector have made over 118,000 arrests, with the vast majority being from countries other than Mexico.