'We Don't Have National Security Without Border Security': Democrat Calls On Biden To Act On Border

[Music] hi everybody I'm Britney Lewis with Forbes breaking news joining me now is congresswoman Marie Glen Camp prz congresswoman thank you so much for joining me thanks for having me Britney you along with a handful of Democrats released a statement earlier this week that in part called for President Biden and Congress to quote bring order to the southern border can you talk about that for us yeah you know it's great that we were able to pass the National Security Supplemental and get lethal Aid to Ukraine to stop Putin's aggression but we don't have National Security without border security and in rural communities like mine we have seen just the real damage from fentanyl people are are dying we have got to stop the cartels we've got to stop the flow of fentanyl we've got to have operational control of our Southern border people are dying we can't afford to wait uh around for whatever political you know favor people think they're going to get my community is demanding action right now and it's my responsibility to represent that let's talk about what your constituents are saying about this immigration and border security continue to be top issues facing Americans it sounds like it's top issues facing the constituents in your District what are they saying well you know fenol is so corrosive to so many of the communities and and neighborhoods I know I mean I you don't really have to talk to to very many people before you start hearing very personal stories about it um I mean I the other day I was dropping off some stuff at Goodwill which is like the thrift store we have here and um within five minutes of being in a city I saw somebody smoking fentanyl I had my 16-year-old niece with me I mean no family wants to experience that we don't it's it is so corrosive uh and it's time to act now you know I the president has existing Authority you know and Congress needs to act to empower some of his former Authority that was taken away by the Supreme Court um you know people really like to position Trump as having designed a lot of these policies like title 42 or remain in Mexico but if you look back that is an existing Authority and and we have got to give our border security agents The Authority they need to keep our community safe what would you want Congress and President Biden and the bid Administration in general to do right now well Congress needs to act to as I said support uh President Biden reestablish The Authority that was existed under Co to have uh processing in Mexico but we also need to get things done as a body I mean so many Americans agree with us the strong majority and it is wild to me that you could see HR 3602 pass with a strong majority in Congress and still not become law you've got you know extremists using inside baseball to stop real progress and American families are paying the price you were one of the five Democrats to vote uh yes for HR 3602 can you talk about that vote and what that meant yeah so you know we well you know also previously I voted to uh create one of the highest levels of Staffing for border patrol um and that became law so we know that there's a real demand and a real need to support our agents but um we had seen so much partisan INF fighting and you know candidly a lot of politicians just fundraising off the crisis at the southern border this is a humanitarian crisis it's unconscionable to use it in that way as a football uh when so many families are suffering and being able to come together to negotiate in good faith um that is what my community wants to see out of their elected representatives to your point about immigration border security being used as at political football right now we are in an election year do you think there's going to be any meaningful legislation passed when it comes to the border between now and November I mean we've seen you know extremists try to stop it to try to you get all the credit for themselves you know for their party for their team um that is is morally wrong and I've seen recently speaker Johnson have some real courage of character in bringing forward legislation that he knows is the right thing to do I'm hopeful that we'll come back in a session and and have that same Spirit of Courage to really start solving problems and regain operational control of the Southern border but um you know the I am a freshman in the minority so it is important for me to demonstrate and to build a coalition of Democrats who are invested in border security that's the work that I can do uh committed to stay at the Ander Faith how have those conversations with Democrats been going because you like I said were one of five to sign on to this uh statement do other Democrats who didn't sign on feel similarly to you so many of the Democrats that joined me are are from rural communities where we've seen a real um ravaging or from workingclass communities from the trades um like me and and so I think that perspective is really valuable in motivating people to come to the table and and put their shoulder behind the wheel but we're also many of many of us are from very agricultural uh economies so we to um come to the table and support um policies that would that would not harm our agricultural communities um only 40% of the fresh fruits and vegetables we consume in America are imported so anything that damages our Farmers or our producers or leads to more consolidation is a non-starter for us that said no when Cente Gonzalez who was one of the leaders on this was he's from a border District like he sees it all the time and having conversations with him you know having him talk with his colleagues on both sides of the aisle this is how we get progress made has President Biden the Biden Administration or other members of Congress responded at all to your statement uh he hasn't responded to our statement you know we saw him uh mentioned something about oh we we'll get to the burg security later that's not acceptable we need action now uh we need Congress to empower the president we need the president to exercise his full authority to address the crisis now not later not someday now I've seen or I've had the opportunity rather to talk to members of both sides of the aisle everyone has said there is a crisis at the southern border obviously the solutions how to fix it really based on party where can you see yourself working across the aisle for a tangible solution well the things that are about uh support for nuance Solutions and that that's why it's important that we are Staffing um border patrol agents appropriately and giving them uh the budgets they need to to make decisions on a a up close level earlier this year Donald Trump as well as some House Republicans were blamed for spiking that bipartisan border Bill also under the Biden Administration there have been record high border crossings since the Biden Administration is in charge now what do you think they're not getting right when it comes to border policy well I think in in many cases it's like waiting for the perfect solution and letting perfectly the enemy of good um you know there's this idea of sort of the um invisible graveyard or the idea that like you're you're not seeing the full damage of of of inaction and it's impossible to ignore in communities like mine um you know I talked about like going to Goodwill but similarly like just the levels of crime the levels of uh theft levels of um you know see a lot of just abandoned RVs or or folks that are just deep in addiction and having the resources to get support and get out of that and being able to stem the flow of fentanyl um Curel the power and just the the money that a lot of these cartels are are generating this is things that Demand Action now in my conversations with members of Congress they have said every state is a border state what and this is obviously a national conversation what do you think is missing from that National dialogue I think it's it is important that members I I have sometimes felt like my colleagues might be sort of insulated and and not seeing the impacts up close and personal um you know I have been in Congress for about a year and a half now and one of the frustrating things I've seen is it's like when they can't actually pass legislation or it's politically challenging to do that they'll just get funding for a study and they'll just study something to death and just get all this data and those numbers represent real suffering and we don't um we don't have time to wait I mean it's it's it's a persistent problem right now and do you think there will be a solution right now or do you think like I said earlier this is a political football like you said that will just move down the line until there's potentially a new president or just the presidential election well um I'm hopeful that we'll see um people continuing my colleagues will continue to show up and keep trying and keep pushing I mean it is very interesting to me to see um other Democrats join me and sit down at the table and say hey we're here and to call for a real uh real action now um so many people are pivoting away from this because it's challenging I think it is very interesting that you are now seeing other Democrats from communities like mine uh uh showing persistence even when we're in the minority to get legislation passed in reporting that described this statement you were described as a Centrist Democrat this group was described as a Centrist de Centrist Democrats do you think we could see more Progressive Democrats joining this fight joining your fight well I hope so I mean our job is to try and you know I think think that at times the sort of binary of Left Right is sort of broken um I think that actually these issues are much more three-dimensional up close and in person and so that is part of my work is to make this real and tangible to my colleagues who might not have the same experience that I've seen um you know I work own an autoair and a machine shop with my husband and so just seeing the the poverty and the and the desperation that fentanyl brings to communities um we can't wait and I I don't think this needs to be a left versus right issue I think what we need is is incremental action to to regain operational control I mean countries have a right and an obligation to have a secure border that is not a novel concept congresswoman I really appreciate the time today I appreciate the conversation you're welcome back any time thank you so much Britney I really appreciate your time here

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Length: 13min 43sec (823 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 26 2024