Rep. Andy Biggs on the Border Crisis and Biden’s Weakness

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BUCK: We have Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona — a border state, of course — with us now to talk about what’s going on here. Congressman, thanks so much.

REP. BIGGS: Hey, thanks, guys. Good to be with you.

BUCK: Tell us, what are you expecting? I’m seeing that the border governors and some folks along the border — Border Patrol, certainly — feel like they’re about to get inundated with illegal crossings perhaps more than ever about in the Biden administration, maybe all-time high.

REP. BIGGS: Yeah, this is no doubt be an all-time high because of the way we count now. What we’re facing — and this is important to understand — you see a group of about 60,000. This is a mass migration, a mass migration of about 60,000 folks of Haitian origin who are living in South and Central America coming up.

They’re organized somehow. This is not organic. Somebody’s bringing them here. At the same time, though, and this is what’s critical, is don’t forget that you’re getting somewhere just between 9,000 and 10,000 people a day, every day, coming across the entire southern border from McAllen to San Diego. That’s what’s happening on a daily basis.

That has already got the Border Patrol in many areas — Tucson, Yuma, Rio Grande, Del Rio — they’re being overrun right now with just higher-than-average number. But now what you’re gonna have is you’re gonna see 60,000 — and that’s just in one migratory group. There will be additional groups that come because this administration has put out the welcome sign for the whole world.

CLAY: Representative Biggs, appreciate you coming on with us. This is Clay. I asked the question; I still think it’s a good one. Would things change if some of the news channels put a daily ticker with illegal immigrants coming into the country like they have with covid for the last 18 months and we actually saw the number?

‘Cause you can say, hey, there’s X-number of people coming in, the forecast potentially 400,000 people this month. Would that change the way that people respond? Because right now it feels like the only time people really get upset about the border is when a situation goes viral and then the Biden administration solves Del Rio, Texas, by just basically letting a huge percentage of those people into the country, and many people pretend that the situation has been solved.

REP. BIGGS: Yeah. That’s a fantastic idea, because I just don’t think people get it. You’re right. If you’ve gotta change the narrative and provide awareness, the way to do it is through constant and repetitive information that shows and demonstrates the severity of the crisis. I mean, a lot of people say, “Oh, it doesn’t affect me.”

Well, the increased opioids and fentanyl deaths that are coming across the border, that affects you in your community, ’cause they’re every place right now. If you go and you talk to folks in the Border Patrol, they’re gonna tell you the cartels have somebody in every place. Everybody’s affected. But you just don’t necessarily feel it.

And if you don’t feel it, then you can’t acknowledge the severity of the crisis. And this is a humanitarian crisis. It’s a national security crisis. It’s a crisis of the rule of law and who we are as the American people, which is based on the rule of law. So I love the idea. And, you know, you’re right. They cleaned up that 15,000 in about eight days. But it wasn’t 15,000. It was 26,000. And they all except for about 2,500 have been dispersed throughout the country.

CLAY: It’s wild.

BUCK: Unbelievable. That’s a number — Congressman Biggs, what was it you said, it was actually — ’cause 15,000 and what they were all reporting on, you say it’s actually 26,000 and the total number of those deported, meaning not let into the U.S., 2,600 out of 26,000?

REP. BIGGS: Something like 2,500 or 2600 they removed or expelled is a better way of saying it. The rest were disbursed throughout the country.

CLAY: So 90% got in. That’s amazing.

BUCK: No wonder when you look at those numbers — we’re speaking to Congressman Andy Biggs, for anyone joining us, from Arizona. HE knows the border issue, the illegal immigration issue and I’ve been speaking to Congressman Biggs about this for many, many years. Congressman, it seems as though obviously the incentive is in place for more illegal crossing which is what we’re going to do this month.

But it also seems like we’re living in two different political realities when it comes to illegal immigration. It feels like the Democrats, as long as they don’t have what looks like an actual refugee camp on the border, they feel like they won’t pay any short-term political consequences. And over the long term, they’re bringing in more likely Democrat voters. Is that how you see it? How do we get things to be different from that reality?

REP. BIGGS: That is exactly the right frame of this thing, because last week in one of our committee hearings I was raising this issue and others on my side were raising the issue, and we had a Houston congresswoman sit there and say, “the border is sovereign and secure. ” That’s a quote, and nothing could be further than the truth.

You can down there now, go down again next week, I was down there last week. You can go down there over and over and over again, like I do, and you’re going to see always how porous our border is. And they want this. Never forget, they campaigned on an open border policy. This is what they campaigned on. This is what they wanted. And, you know, the result is they’re gonna provide all these benefits, less all these people in.

Catch-and-release is up like 400,000% over the previous high ever. This is going to change the political landscape of this country because sooner or later, these people are going to seek for and receiving some kind of amnesty. And when they do, the Democrats will be ones who give it to them and they’ll be the ones hoping to have the votes because they’ve provided the free entry into the country illegally and the free entry into citizenship and voting rights by giving amnesty.

CLAY: Representative Biggs, shifting gears a little bit off the border, you’re in Arizona. We had the viral videos of Senator Sinema in your state at Arizona State being chased. Now there’s videos of her on an airplane also be confronted and harassed about the political issues. Joe Biden said it’s just a part of the process. I know that she is a Democrat; you are a Republican. But what are your thoughts when you see those videos, and what did you think of Joe Biden’s response?

BUCK: Well, Joe Biden’s response was weak as it is on everything, which is why we have such horrific domestic and international policy. So he’s weak on everything. He’s wrong on everything. But in this instance, it’s abhorrent to see these people getting up in Kyrsten’s face, Senator Sinema’s face, while she is in what most people say, “That’s kind of a zone of privacy.”

I have had those experiences, oddly enough, and it is really bizarre. And for people to justify this, in my opinion, is just one more sign that we’re moving to a kind of a protofascist form of government where it is okay to try to intimidate someone who disagrees with your position. Not intimidate politically and say, “We’re gonna remove you from office.”

This is when they’re getting up in your face and they’re intimidating you physically. And that is something that this country should not tolerant. It’s okay to have divergent opinions. It’s okay to express those opinions. It’s not okay to basically follow somebody into the restroom and just, you know, berate them, get in their face on planes in public places. This is absurd. I’m just afraid that this is the bad way we’re going, and it’s a fascist appropriately, in my opinion.

CLAY: Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona. Congressman, always appreciate you coming by. Thanks so much.

REP. BIGGS: Thanks, guys. Thanks, Clay. Thanks, Buck.