Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, has called for the jailing of ex-Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who was a chief architect of the Trump administration’s draconian immigration policies, including the zero-tolerance approach to migrants that led to the infamous separation of children from their families.
‘I think [Miller] committed heinous human rights violations, and I think that those around him [who] helped plot this out should be held accountable, as well… That is going to be very difficult, but it kills me that these people could potentially walk away and even potentially rebuild their reputations. I find them to be just among the most reprehensible, abhorrent people that our generation could have ever produced.’
The Biden administration has swiftly moved to undo some of the Trump administration’s immigration policy fallout. Biden’s team has, among other steps, stopped border barrier construction and moved to end the so-called Remain in Mexico policy that forced asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims were processed. High numbers of migrants have been encountered at the southern border throughout recent weeks — although, contrary to Republican hemming and hawing about the border, American Immigration Council lawyer Aaron Reichlin-Melnick shared on Twitter that some numbers are on par with past levels.
As Reichlin-Melnick put it in a Thursday post:
‘[It’s] only a record number of unaccompanied kids. Apprehensions of families remain below 2019 levels and single adult apprehensions are looking a lot like what we saw every single year from the mid-1970s through 2007.’
This headline is completely wrong!
The article gets it right: it's only a record number of unaccompanied kids. Apprehensions of families remain below 2019 levels and single adult apprehensions are looking a lot like what we saw every single year from the mid-1970s through 2007. https://t.co/24I4rlZwSp
— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) April 8, 2021
It’s important to keep the facts in mind when confronting GOP fearmongering about the border. A group of Republican Senators recently visited the border, after which Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) insisted that the border was the “worst that [he’s] ever seen it. Cruz noted during an appearance on Fox that some 100,000 migrants were apparently known to have crossed the border throughout February, but he failed to mention that these numbers were exactly on par with figures that were seen during 2019. In other words, he and his colleagues simply were not operating in good faith, and it’s difficult at best to meaningfully work with Republicans on addressing serious issues when they refuse to even adhere to a baseline of reality regarding those issues. They prioritize theatrics.
