President Joe Biden's shift on building a wall on the U.S. southern border is being driven by Democrat-run cities waking up to the harsh realities of the immigration crisis, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Thursday.
The Biden administration announced it waived 26 federal laws in south Texas to allow border wall construction Wednesday, the administration's first use of a sweeping executive power employed often during the Trump administration.
Biden has been pressured recently by lawmakers in Democrat-run states and cities because the influx of millions of illegal immigrants during his administration is straining their financial resources.
New York Mayor Eric Adams, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey are among the prominent Democrats nationwide who have voiced concerns about the administration's immigration policies.
"never shld hv taken Pres Biden this long to agree WALLS WRK," Grassley, 90, the oldest lawmaker in Congress, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. "This admins policies encouraged illegal immigration & created humanitarian crisis+strained town resources across US. Now that big blue cities r facing reality of crisis Biden admin starts 2wake up?? Praise the lord FINALLY."
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, echoed Grassley's comments during an appearance Thursday on Newsmax.
"It's not the deaths of 70,000 Americans in the last 12 months because of fentanyl that's motivating President Biden," Scott told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren," referring to the synthetic opioid that is being trafficked across the border by Mexican drug cartels. "It's when blue-state governors call out and say, You're not doing your job.
"He is more concerned with the blue-state governors on this really important, dangerous issue of an insecure, unsafe, and wide-open border than he is of the evidence that has devastated American families in nearly every single county in our country. It's unbelievable."