Leading Democrats in the House have released a set of findings that purports to comprehensively refute allegations that have circulated from Republicans about conditions at the southern border of the United States. Democrats relied in this refutation on security agents’ accounts.
The Republican take regarding what’s been seen there has been no secret. Republicans have alleged that the border is “open,” and in proposed articles of impeachment implicating the president himself, sponsor Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and her supporters made the false claim that operational control at the southern border has gone to foreign criminal organizations. And it’s not just impeachment where Congressional Republicans, who currently lead the U.S. House, are hoping to use these claims of unfolding threats to Americans as a basis for action. With sponsorship by Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), some Republicans have gotten behind a proposal to authorize the use of U.S. military force against criminal drug cartels operating in Mexico.
Some have tried to characterize such efforts, if actually undertaken, as not necessarily even challenging the Mexican government, though the geographic areas where the proposed military excursions would be launched are inside Mexico. Those discussing such an idea have ranged from Marjorie Taylor Greene to Lindsey Graham.
As for Democrats’ new refutation, “The Chief Patrol Agents refuted Congressional Republicans’ false claims that Secretary Mayorkas has fostered a culture of lawlessness. Rather, the Chief Patrol Agents explained, U.S. Border Patrol have never ceased its vital security operations and continues to vet all individuals it apprehends for criminal backgrounds or suspected ties to terrorist organizations,” a press release from the leading party members’ teams said.
The Democrats also spotlighted accounts from agents who insisted that resources provided by the federal government were meeting their needs and that they were effectively prepared to thwart the smuggling of drugs like fentanyl into the U.S. Republicans have sometimes attempted to effectively pin drug deaths in the U.S. on the president. The release also noted that reductions in the rates of encountering migrants have been reported since the end of pandemic-era policies known as Title 42 that broadly restricted crossing the border. Yet, Republicans have also been plotting an impeachment of Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
