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In January, Republicans took management of the Home of Representatives. After a prolonged combat over the Speaker of the Home resolved, the brand new majority wasted no time in holding a number of hearings on the present scenario on the southern border. Sadly, the hearings, held within the Judiciary and the Oversight Committees, centered extra on pursuing partisan narratives than on understanding and dealing to handle the complicated points occurring on the border.
At each hearings, conversations round fentanyl smuggling dominated. Home Democrats supplied laborious knowledge and years of proof displaying that the overwhelming majority of fentanyl that enters the nation is available in by way of ports of entry, usually smuggled by US residents. Home Republicans, against this, insisted, with none proof, that fentanyl was pouring throughout the border in backpacks.
All through the hearings, each time Home Democrats would plead for the give attention to fentanyl to be on the locations we all know the drug is coming into the nation, Home Republicans would insist that knowledge on drug seizures was irrelevant. This antipathy continued even after the listening to, with the Home Judiciary GOP’s Twitter account smearing a Washington Post report as a liar for fact-checking Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ)’s claims about the place most fentanyl was coming into the nation.
Equally, Home Republicans and Democrats sparred over the needs of the hearings, with Democrats calling out xenophobic narratives and Republicans insisting the hearings had been nearly oversight of a scenario that some described as both whole incompetence or a deliberate plot to open the border for nefarious causes.
Home Democrats used the chance to take a victory lap over the Home GOP’s ongoing failure to cross Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX)’s invoice that may basically finish the asylum system. Democrats repeatedly learn off quotes from average GOP representatives who had referred to as the invoice unacceptable, and highlighted bipartisan opposition from non secular leaders.
On the Home Judiciary Committee listening to, two witness chosen by the GOP majority testified. First, Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels, a so-called “constitutional sheriff”, testified a couple of rise of drug smuggling in his area of southeastern Arizona. Though Dannels started his testimony by acknowledging that the scenario in his area was comparatively distinctive because of geographical migration patterns, the Home majority repeatedly got here again to him as to validate their numerous theories concerning the scenario occurring throughout the border.
Dannels acknowledged that few migrants had been arriving in his area to hunt asylum. Not like Yuma in western Arizona, Cochise County has not seen document ranges of migrant arrivals, and apprehensions all through the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector stay lower than half the peaks seen 15-20 years.
Subsequent, Brandon Dunn, a father who misplaced his 15-year-old son to an unintentional fentanyl overdose, informed a heartbreaking story of the methods through which his son’s demise has affected their household and group. All through the listening to, members of either side thanked him for his braveness in testifying and supplied to fulfill with him.
Home Democrats referred to as El Paso County Decide Ricardo A. Samaniego, who acts as a type of county commissioner. All through the listening to, Samaniego talked concerning the methods through which the El Paso group had labored with the federal authorities to answer elevated migration. He additionally emphasised {that a} sturdy working relationship between the federal authorities and state and native governments can assist diminish disruption brought on by the discharge of some migrants on the border.
As somebody who ceaselessly works with regulation enforcement within the area, Decide Samaniego additionally introduced a wanted dose of on-the-ground actuality to the listening to. He confirmed that in El Paso, almost all of the fentanyl is smuggled by way of the ports of entry. He additionally pushed again in opposition to GOP efforts to smear the work of NGOs within the area which help newly arrived migrants, emphasizing that the Border Patrol has repeatedly praised their cooperation and considers it a important a part of border administration.
This theme continued within the Home Oversight Committee’s listening to on February seventh, the place two Border Patrol Sector Chiefs testified. Gloria Chavez, Chief of the Rio Grande Valley Sector, testified together with John Modlin, Chief of the Tucson Sector. When questioned by Democrats, each Chiefs gave their full-throated endorsement to the help that NGOs present the Border Patrol in helping migrants who’re launched on the border.
The Home Oversight Committee listening to largely mirrored the primary listening to, with either side once more sparring over primary details and the broader narrative. However maybe probably the most revealing trade got here from freshman Congressman Maxwell Frost (D-FL), who asked each Chiefs a easy query; had the Biden administration in actual fact ordered them to open the border and cease implementing immigration legal guidelines? Each Border Patrol brokers resoundingly denied the allegation.
These hearings confirmed the brand new actuality in Congress; whereas either side have vital disagreements about what is going on on the border and what the answer ought to be, some members see much more worth in weaponizing the scenario than in working towards sturdy answer. Sadly, with a divided Congress, that’s a foul signal for Congress’s potential to get something completed on immigration.
FILED UNDER: Border Coverage, Congress
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