An Arizona congressman is calling for a shutdown of the border amidst an ongoing crisis due to the influx of unlawful migrants.
U.S. Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) posted on social media that the government should either “SHUT DOWN THE BORDER OR SHUT DOWN THE GOVERNMENT.”
“Democrats are shamelessly lying to the American people by claiming the border is secure — all while streamlining a criminal invasion,” he added in the post.
The post also included a video highlighting the issue with comments from U.S. officials about the border, including remarks from United States Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
These comments come amid the continual arrival of unlawful migrants at the southern border, as U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported more than 300,000 encounters in December.
CBP confirmed these numbers, which broke the previous monthly record of 269,735 encounters in September.
State officials in Texas have attempted to manage the crisis by taking multiple steps, including the implementation of a water barrier placed in the Rio Grande.
These barriers resulted in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, with Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta alleging that “Texas has flouted federal law by installing a barrier in the Rio Grande without obtaining the required federal authorization.”
The most recent development of this case saw the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals determine that the river is navigable and the barriers are an “obstruction,” ruling that the state must remove them, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
However, Gov. Greg Abbott has already said that the state is prepared to take this case to the Supreme Court, claiming that “Texas has the right to legally deploy those buoys in the water to prevent people from entering our country and our state illegally.”
In addition to placing barriers along the border, Texas has also passed multiple border security bills meant to stop the surge of unlawful migrants.
Abbott signed three border security bills in December, including a bill that makes unlawful entry into the state a crime.
Senate Bill 4, scheduled to take effect on March 5, would also allow state law enforcement to apprehend those suspected of violating the law.
The DOJ has also filed a lawsuit to stop this potential law from taking effect, alleging that it would “intrude on the federal government’s exclusive authority to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens, frustrate the United States’ immigration operations and proceedings, and interfere with U.S. foreign relations,” as reported by The Dallas Express.
Despite the claims made by the DOJ, Abbott has stood firm in his defense of the bill, claiming that it “was drafted in a way that does not conflict with federal law.”