Republican Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) put a CNN reporter into her place after claiming that illegal migrants who cross the southern border illegally are not criminals.
CNN’s Brianna Keilar argued that data doesn’t support the idea that illegal migrants are taking part in violent crimes, property crimes, homicides, sex crimes, and rape.
Van Duyne claimed that the Biden Administration forced Republicans to push for H.R. 2 by ignoring the law and failing to use President Joe Biden’s authority to stem the influx of illegal aliens entering the U.S. H.R. 2 was passed by House Republicans in May and have called on the Senate to enact on it. The bill is more rigorous than the Secure the Border Act, which would “resume construction on the wall, tighten asylum standards, criminalize visa overstays, increase the number of Border Patrol Agents, defund NGOs receiving tax dollars to help traffic illegal aliens throughout the heartland, prohibit DHS from using its app to assist illegal aliens, and more,” according to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
More from the tense exchange viathe Daily Caller:
“I was a mayor before I was in Congress. I was the mayor of Irving, Texas, and we had a fantastic partnership with Immigration [sic]. Customs Enforcement, where we actually worked with them to remove criminal illegal immigrants in our communities because we saw the amount of crime that it was being caused,” Van Duyne said. “We saw the people that they were preying upon was other people that were in our country illegally.”
“As a result of that partnership, our crime rate dropped, and we became the fifth-safest city in the country,” she continued. “Those partnerships work. Enforcing our laws work. What we have seen is the exact opposite under this administration. And you have seen people dying—”
“Well, ok. Let me stop and ask you about this. A couple of things: first off, illegal immigrants’ criminal conviction rate is 45 percent below that of native-born Americans in your state. Just to be clear. When you raise the specter of, ‘They create so many crimes, they’re convicted—’ I mean, when it comes to violent crimes, property crimes, homicides, sex crime, you’ve talked in the past about rapes — the numbers just don’t support that. But let’s focus on catch and release because—”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Van Duyne jumped in. “But your argument is, ‘We’re defending those people who are here illegally’?”
“Can we focus on catch and release because I—” Keilar repeated.
“You brought up the question! I just want to make sure we’re responding to it. It sounds like you’re defending those immigrants who are here illegally, that were beating our police officers,” Van Duyne persisted, referring to a January incident in which illegal immigrants attacked NYPD officers in Times Square and were promptly released without bail.
Meanwhile, during the same interview, the two sparred over the impeachment of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
More from the exchange via the Daily Caller in which Keilar defended Mayorka's handling of the border.
"Which law? Which law specifically was he not following?” the CNN host interjected.
Van Duyne said Mayorkas didn’t approach migrant parole on a “case by case basis” but instead created a “mass parole.” She said Mayorkas’ alleged ignoring of the laws has led to the “deaths” of Americans and “damage untold” to the U.S.
“How so?” Keilar asked.
"I’m sorry?” the congresswoman asked.
“The deaths of tens of thousands of Americans,” Keilar said.
“Yeah, we’ve had over 110,000 Americans who have died of a result of fentanyl poisoning that has come in over our borders,” Van Duyne said. “We have had increases in crime across our country, in cities all across our country, where you’re looking at people who have been killed —”
"Okay, but don’t you mean … no, but they’re U.S. citizens. Ma’am, those are —ma’am, those are U.S. citizens bringing the fentanyl in. Aren’t you aware of this? An overwhelming, the vast majority, like the vast majority of fentanyl, is coming in with American citizens,” Keilar argued.
“I know fentanyl’s coming in through our borders right now because the Mexican cartel —
“American citizens!” Keilar interrupted.
“[The Mexican cartel] are the best friends of Mayorkas and are the ones that want to keep him in power because the Mexican cartel right now is in charge of our southern border, and they are making billions of dollars from bringing in drugs, sex trafficking, human trafficking, and child trafficking,” Van Duyne said.
“Using American citizens,” Keilar said.