Senators hammered two top military commanders Tuesday to define the migration surge on the southern border as a “crisis” despite the officers’ attempts to assess other security threats, including from China — which one warned has “stepped ahead” of the United States on “vaccine diplomacy.”

U.S. Southern Command’s Adm. Craig Faller and U.S. Northern Command’s Gen. Glen VanHerck testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee before later speaking to defense reporters at the Pentagon. The growing influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border stole the show.

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