House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Thursday said President Biden ignored his request to meet up and discuss the crisis on the southern border.
“Last week, I sent a letter to the president asking to sit down with him, to work on ideas to reverse some of the misuse and misdirected policies that he had attempted at the beginning in creating this crisis,” McCarthy said during a press conference. “As of this day, he has not answered our letter to attempt to meet.”
The Republican on Friday wrote to the Biden administration, requesting a meeting to discuss the rampant surge of migrants that has overwhelmed border facilities.
“I feel compelled to express great concern with the manner in which your administration is approaching this crisis, but with hope that we can work together to solve it,” he wrote at the time.
“We must acknowledge the border crisis, develop a plan, and, in no uncertain terms, strongly discourage individuals from Mexico and Central America from ever making the dangerous journey to our southern border,” he said.
KEVIN MCCARTHY LEADING GOP GROUP TO TEXAS TO ADDRESS BORDER CRISIS
McCarthy also plans to lead a Republican delegation to Texas to observe the situation firsthand. His trip would be the second high-profile visit this week as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and domestic policy adviser Susan Rice visited the border on Saturday.
“[Border officials] discussed capacity needs given the number of unaccompanied children and families arriving at our border, the complex challenges with rebuilding our gutted border infrastructure and immigration system, as well as improvements that must be made in order to restore safe and efficient procedures to process, shelter, and place unaccompanied children with family or sponsors,” the White House said at the conclusion of the visit.
Customs and Border Protection authorities reported over 100,000 attempted illegal crossings for the month of February, with a 50% surge in drug seizures as the Biden administration continues to come under fire for its handling of the uptick in migrants. Authorities estimate an unprecedented 117,000 unaccompanied minors will enter the United States by the conclusion of the year.
More than 3,200 children have been moved to holding centers, which are designed to house adults, under the watch of CBP as detention buildings near a breaking point. Of the sum, 1,400 have remained in custody past the 72-hour limit in small concrete rooms without beds, dubbed “hieleras,” or iceboxes.
As housing becomes scarce, federal authorities this week have mulled the possibility of placing migrants in Moffett Field, California, the home of a NASA airstrip and laboratory that is nestled in the Golden State’s tech hub, approximately 11 miles from Apple’s headquarters. The federal land sits about 500 miles inland from the U.S.-Mexico border.
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White House press secretary Jen Psaki, in late February, said the situation is not a “kids in cages” scenario after Democrats criticized the administration’s reopening of a holding facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas. Other top figures, including Mayorkas, likened the migrant situation to a “challenge” rather than a crisis.
McCarthy’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
