Squad member Rashida Tlaib calls to defund Homeland Security and all border and immigration agencies as migrants continue streaming across the border
Rashida Tlaib called on Congress in a Wednesday interview to defund every federal enforcement agency tasked with protecting U.S. borders as Joe Biden's administration continues to struggle to address a growing migration crisis at the southern border.
'We must eliminate funding for CBP [Customs and Border Protection], ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and their parent organization DHS [Department of Homeland Security],' the progressive 'squad' member demanded.
Tlaib insisted during a virtual interview published Wednesday with Just Futures Law, an immigrants rights group, that advocates and human service agents 'continue to see over and over again that these agencies are inept.'
The Michigan representative said that rather than 'humanely guiding migrants through our immigration system', these agencies 'continue to terrorize migrant communities located within our communities.'
President Biden plans to increase spending on border technology for CBP and on Tuesday it was revealed the administration is reallocating $860 million in COVID-19 relief funds to cover the expenses of housing unaccompanied migrant children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.
Tlaib’s office did not immediately respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment.
A family from Ecuador walks in the water upon arriving on the bank o the Rio Grande River in Roma, Texas on July 7, 2021
Asylum-seeking migrants scale a fence to exit private property as they encounter National Guard officers in Roma in the early morning hours of Thursday
Migrants wait as they begin processing procedures after crossing the Rio Grande River illegally from Mexico into Texas
DHS has asked for $665 million to modernize land ports of entry and another $47 million to invest in detection and border surveillance technology.
The budget increase request comes as the number of illegal border jumpers has sky-rocketed in the last few months, leading to overwhelmed and under-staffed border protection agencies and facilities along the southern border.
Tlaib's demand to defund these agencies seems to run counter to stopping the flow of migrants.
Another few hundred migrants were pictured crossing the Rio Grande River into Roma, Texas from Mexico overnight.
Seven different states, all with Republican governors, have also pledged law enforcement and National Guard troop deployments to assist with securing the border.
Republican Governors Ron DeSantis of Florida, Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska and Kim Reynolds of Iowa are all sending law enforcement officers to the southern border – but not National Guard members.
North Dakota’s Doug Burgman is deploying 135 National Guard, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is sending 185 members and South Dakota’s Kristi Noem is sending 175 soldiers.
Numbers released by CBP show there was a record 180,034 encounters with illegal immigrants in May, up from the previous month's high of 178,854 in April.
These numbers are also a huge increase from the 2019 highs under Donald Trump where in May 2019 there were 144,116 encounters.
Customs and Border Protection numbers show there was a record 180,034 encounters in May 2021. The blue line shows the huge spikes in illegal immigration during Joe Biden's presidency. The orange line represents encounters in 2019
Migrant families wait to turn themselves over to immigration officials for processing after crossing into the U.S. illegally
Tlaib said that the request for more money to further secure the border is a 'distraction' from the real problem.
'This is a distraction to what is really needed, which is full comprehensive immigration reform policies in our country,' Tlaib said. 'We are far from even getting to that conversation because people are distracted with these for-profit, corporate greed approaches that are coming to experiment on our immigrants and our border.'
'And I say 'enough.'
In two separate polls over the last few weeks, Biden and Kamala Harris both earned only 33 per cent approval when it comes to their handling of the southern border crisis.
Biden put his vice president in charge of the crisis in March, and since then Harris has garnered intense backlash from those who claim she isn't doing enough.
In early June, Harris visited Guatemala and Mexico to address 'root causes,' but was criticized by those on both sides of the political aisle – from progressives for claiming the border is 'closed' and for Republicans for refusing to visit the border.
Seven states with Republican governors, North Dakota South Dakota, Florida, Arkansas, Ohio, Iowa and Nebraska are sending law enforcement and National Guard members to help secure the southern border
On June 25, Harris finally caved to pressure and visited El Paso, Texas – a border town with Mexico.
Republicans were still perturbed, however, because she didn't visit 'ground zero' of the migration crisis in the Rio Grande Valley.
Five days after Harris' trip south, former President Donald Trump visited McAllen, part of the Valley, with Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
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