President Joe Biden's open border policy has effectively revived "catch and release" and made it "recruit and release," according to conservative Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
"The Biden administration is literally tracking down illegal immigrants in Mexico that the Trump administration turned around and bringing them back to the border and letting them go," Cotton told Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable" on WABC 770 AM-N.Y.
"That's not catch and release. That's recruit and release."
Biden has vowed to unwind the immigration policies of former President Donald Trump, and it is going to dramatically increase the influx of illegal immigration Trump had curbed, Cotton told host John Catsimatidis.
"Things are not good in Washington because you have a Biden agenda that is extremely unpopular that they're trying to ram through," Cotton said. "When you look at the immigration agenda, we have record numbers of unaccompanied migrant children showing up at our border in February right after a deep-freezing winter storm.
"Imagine what it's going to be in 60 days from now if the Biden administration doesn't reverse course — doesn't reimpose some of the Trump-era immigration policies?"
Cotton lamented the misguided reality someone flying into New York has to test negative for COVID-19, while migrants crossing from the southern border do not.
"If you want to fly into JFK or Newark airport from overseas, you've got to have a coronavirus test, but not if you want to cross our southern border," Cotton said. "What we need is an immigration system that has our borders under control, that makes sure that people leave when their visas are expired. And turn off this magnet of jobs."
Democrats supporting this ultimately are going to pay for this with their House and Senate seats, Cotton predicted.
"If Joe Biden doesn't [reverse his immigration policies] I think the Democrats are going to pay the price at the ballot box," he concluded.