Flashback: Democrats deny border crisis, place blame on Republicans and Trump
Members of the Democratic Party, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Chuck Schumer, downplayed immigration issues and claimed President Biden was handling the situation.
Democrats are denouncing President Biden's handling of the border and pushing for new security compromises after years of members of the party repeatedly downplaying the U.S. immigration crisis.
Fourteen Democratic lawmakers voted with the House GOP in January on a resolution "denouncing the Biden administration's open-borders policies, condemning the national security and public safety crisis along the southwest border, and urging President Biden to end his administration's open-borders policies."
The move came after more than 300,000 migrants were encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border in December, an all-time record.
Democrats in recent months have made numerous public warnings about the state of the U.S. immigration system, but infighting among the party and disagreements with Republican lawmakers has stalled new legislation regarding stricter border policy provisions.
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Democrats have repeatedly downplayed the migrant crisis, touted President Biden's handling of the situation and placed the blame on Republicans. (Tom Williams/Getty Images/Jose Luis Magana/ Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)
Some progressive Democrats took aim at Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., over the ongoing negotiations and expressed concern that he would make too many concessions to Republican demands.
The political undertones of border talks rose further to the surface last week when former President Trump dismissed a possible Senate border funding deal and claimed it would be "another gift to the Radical Left Democrats."
Lawmakers have been working on a deal on a White House supplemental request that includes border funding as well as aid to Ukraine and Israel. The White House had requested $14 billion in border funding, but Republicans have demanded stricter limits on asylum seekers and whether they should be released into the country.
The obstacles blocking the path to new border legislation underscore long-standing challenges in Congress, as well as past comments and policies pushed by Democrats that critics have argued only exacerbated the migrant crisis.
Over the last several years, some Democrats have denied there is a border crisis outright, placed the blame on Republicans and the Trump administration and claimed Biden was doing everything in his power to stem the flow of migrants.
During a September CNN interview on "The Lead with Jake Tapper," Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., stunned the host when she claimed the border was secure and the country was dealing with a humanitarian issue.
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Rep. Ayanna Pressley defended the state of America's Southern Border in an interview with Jake Tapper. (CNN)
"Yes, the border is secure. And we are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis that is being created by a broken system," she said when pressed by Tapper on her claim.
"But, if you have millions of undocumented migrants coming into the country, how is the border secure?" Tapper continued.
"Jake, this is not a new crisis. It does require more political will and commitment," Pressley replied.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was asked whether the border was secure last April on "CNN This Morning."
"Well, I don't call it a crisis, but it can become one," he said.
North Carolina Democrat Cheri Beasley repeatedly dodged the question when she was asked in an October 2022 debate whether the border crisis was, in fact, a crisis.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has repeatedly downplayed immigration concerns, often using social media to voice her opinion.
As an influx of migrants entered New York last September, Ocasio-Cortez addressed concerns by stating the number of people entering the state is "nothing" compared to the number of immigrants that entered through Ellis Island in the late 1800s until the mid-1920s.
MAYORKAS BLAMES MEXICO, CONGRESS FOR HISTORIC BORDER SURGE; CALLS FOR MORE FUNDING AND ‘REFORM’
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, speaks during a House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, March 28, 2023. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Two years earlier, Ocasio-Cortez slammed politicians who referred to the influx of migrants as a "surge" and claimed the terminology invoked a "militaristic frame."
In March 2021, Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, referred to migrants at the border as a "flood of humanity" and claimed it was "not a new phenomenon." While she admitted the situation has gotten worse, Escobar suggested Republicans sounding the alarm on the crisis was fueling "xenophobia" and "racism."
Schumer and Speaker of the House at the time, Nancy Pelosi, repeatedly told the press in 2021 that Biden was handling the migrant crisis and placed the blame on the prior administration.
"The Biden administration has this under control," Pelosi said during a March 2021 press conference.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams was more forceful in his language when he said in September 2022 that anyone who stated the Biden administration does not have a handle on this crisis "must have been sleeping under a rock."
But attitudes among Democrats have shifted significantly over the last year.
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams and migrant protest split image (Getty Images)
Adams revealed in December that he had not met with Biden in 2023 over the city's ongoing migrant crisis as he repeatedly called for more action from the federal government.
The New York City mayor warned in late 2023 that the flow of migrants was on track to "destroy this city." His warning came after a massive influx of asylum seekers had shifted from being primarily from Venezuela and Latin America to now more arriving across the border originally from African nations and even Russia.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., shocked social media in December when he said Democrats know that it "isn't xenophobic" to be worried about the southern border and argued that the Democratic Party should engage in debates about it.
Standing along the Rio Grande in Hidalgo, Texas, on Saturday, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, emphatically told Fox News Digital the situation at the southern border will "absolutely" be on voters' minds this year.
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"If they're looking at the same polls I've been looking at, the American public doesn't like what's happening," Cuellar said of fellow Democrats.
A recent Fox News poll revealed "a majority of Democrats" are "very concerned" about securing the border, and "three-quarters of Democrats" see the current situation at the border as an "emergency."
The population of illegal immigrants has exploded under the Biden administration. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) report issued last week said the number of illegal immigrants just on the non-detained docket had soared to over 6 million in FY 23 from 3.7 million in FY 21.
Despite the soaring numbers, many Democrats have shared the Biden administration's goals of passing a pathway to citizenship for all migrants who have entered the country illegally.