It’s still unclear if congressional Republicans will even pass a bill to handle the influx of undocumented children from Central America before they leave town for the August recess, but they continue to make demands on how to handle it.
They’re now blaming federally-protected land and wildlife for making the situation worse.
“There is no doubt that the restrictions on accessing land along the border have made it more difficult for the Border Patrol to do their job,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who traveled to McAllen County, Texas, earlier this month to meet with officials about the surge of child migrants into the United States. [...]
“It seems a commonsense reform to say that the border patrol should be able to fully access and patrol the border,” he said.
A House Republican working group led by Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) this week recommended prohibiting the Interior and Forest Service from in any way hampering border patrol.
The great irony of Ted Cruz discussing matters that make the Border Patrol’s job more difficult is the fact that Ted Cruz has been urging his colleagues in the House to vote against any border bill that doesn’t roll back DACA and protections for possible victims of abuse and human trafficking.
The Border Patrol will begin running out of money over the next two months unless congressional Republicans act.
Let’s not forget this all being said and done in the name of deporting children as quickly as possible, and not just those who have recently crossed the border. Congressional Republicans want to deport anyone who is currently benefiting from deferred action, including DREAMers.
Furthermore, the children and families who have recently crossed the border have sought out and surrendered themselves to the Border Patrol. They are not using our environmental regulations against us by avoiding areas that agents supposedly cannot access. They want to be caught.
Congressional Republicans have pulled this environmental regulation canard straight out of their ass.