Arizona Sen. Martha McSally, citing the humanitarian and security “crisis” on the southern border, is demanding that the Senate move to provide the $4.5 billion emergency funding President Trump is seeking, comparing it to other disasters plaguing the nation.
In a letter to Senate leaders, the Republican said that the surge of illegal immigrants is crushing Customs and Border Protection and local towns struggling to accommodate the thousands crossing the border.
“Communities on the border are facing a humanitarian and public safety crisis caused by an increase in people, mainly unaccompanied minor children and migrant family units, seeking to enter the country without authorization,” she wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and the top Republican and Democrat of the Appropriations Committee.
[Read: Border crisis worsens: 100,000 border crossers arrested in April, highest since 2007]
She asked that the Trump plan be added to the emergency disaster funding plan under consideration.
The letter used the new April numbers of seizures and revealed other statistics.
For example, she wrote, “This influx of family units and unaccompanied minors, many of whom require medical attention after an arduous and dangerous journey from Central America has put a significant strain on the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Health and Human Services resources. Customs and Border Protection (CBP’) officers and agents take more than 60 migrants to hospitals every day and has dedicated over 100,000 hours of officer and agent time to transporting migrants to and watching them at hospitals.”
And locally, the surge is taxing towns.
“The sheer numbers of migrants being released after processing by CBP components has also overwhelmed state and local government and non-governmental organizations that help feed, shelter, and care for migrants,” wrote McSally.
The senator, a former House member, strongly backs the president’s immigration goals.
She faces election in 2020 and has already raised $2 million this year.
