"We are in an emergency": Republicans demand more security from Kamala Harris on the southern border.
A group of 26 Republican legislators on Wednesday urged the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris , for the government to "use appropriately" the funds allocated by Congress for border security.
“As you can see from the unprecedented number of arrests reported by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), we are in an emergency that requires action and no delay in the use of funds that Congress has already approved. ” Wrote the legislators.
The signatories are all conservative members of the House Appropriations Committee, where Republicans are a minority.
"We are alarmed by the impressive number of migrants detained while illegally crossing the Southwest border during the first 100 days of this administration," said lawmakers in their letter to Harris, to whom President Joe Biden drew attention to the border situation.
The number of undocumented migrants who have reached the southern border of the United States has been increasing for a year, and in March the Border Patrol reported the arrest of more than 172,000 foreigners.
Lawmakers asked Harris to report the results of the government-imposed 60-day hiatus to review contracts signed by the government of former President Donald Trump for the construction of a border wall.
That pause, according to Republicans, "has now encouraged gangs involved in human trafficking, and has encouraged immigrants to undertake an often dangerous journey, putting the security of our nation at risk."
In late 2018, irritated that Congress was not allocating the funds he required to build the border wall, Trump transferred funds that had already been earmarked for the Defense Department.
Last week the Biden government canceled the contracts that had received those funds and ordered the return of the resources to the Pentagon.
According to a government official, "the construction of the wall committed more than $ 14 billion in tax funds, took resources away from the military, and distracted attention from real security concerns."
In their letter today, Republican lawmakers demanded that Harris account for the criteria used "to determine, by each sector of the border, whether construction will continue."