Gov. Mike Parson and 25 other Republican governors have asked for a meeting with President Joe Biden to discuss the southern border.
As first reported by Real Clear Politics, the GOP chief executives requested to sit down with the president at the White House for a meeting regarding the “national security crisis created by eight months of unenforced borders.” The governors said the situation at the southern border has impacted every state — not just those in the south.
“The months-long surge in illegal crossings has instigated an international humanitarian crisis, spurred a spike in international criminal activity, and opened the floodgates to human traffickers and drug smugglers endangering public health and safety in our states,” the governors said.
The letter sent Monday requested a meeting within the next 15 days.
Most recently, more than 12,000 Haitian migrants have fled to the U.S. where they are enduring extreme heat and a lack of food and water in makeshift camps. U.S. officials are expelling the migrants from Texas back to Haiti.
In their letter, the Republican governors said border apprehensions have climbed about 500 percent compared to last year, and about 9,700 individuals who have been apprehended at the border have prior criminal convictions. The leaders also warned of an increased amount of fentanyl seized at the border this year.
“Not only has the federal government created a crisis, it has left our states to deal with challenges that only the federal government has a duty to solve,” the governors said. “Our immigration system may be complicated and complex, but the solution to ending the border crisis is simple and straightforward. As president, you have the ability to take action to protect America, restore security, and end the crisis now.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials apprehended nearly 209,000 people along the southwest border in April, a 2 percent drop from July.
GOP Congresswoman Ann Wagner traveled to the southern border earlier this year and told The Missouri Times then “it’s only going to get worse.”
Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.
Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.
She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.
Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.
