More than $350 million worth of steel and other materials funded by taxpayer dollars is still rotting away near the U.S.-Mexico border after President Joe Biden's call to shut down construction of the wall, and to see it in person was "very discouraging," Rep. Buddy Carter, who visited the border this week, said Thursday on Newsmax.
"We approved, through Congress, 110 miles of border wall to be constructed, went ahead and bought the materials, and have it sitting there," the Georgia Republican said, sharing photos of the materials on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "You see $350 million worth of materials of hard-earned taxpayers' money right there just rusting and deteriorating."
The waste, he said, is the result of the Biden administration canceling the border wall soon after the inauguration, and now, "what we have is all these contracts that are costing us $6 million every day to cancel [to] pay off these contracts that were already in place."
Carter added that there is no question that the wall construction was stopped because Biden and his administration wanted to reject what Trump had done.
The Biden administration, he added, not only didn't want the wall, but also it rejected the "remain in Mexico" policy even though the Supreme Court has said it should be endorsed.
"[They] want to do away with Title 42," Carter said, referring to the health policy not allowing people with communicable diseases to enter the country. "Let me tell you, the Border Patrol agents are very, very concerned about eliminating and canceling Title 42. They told us that people, that groups, are congregating just south of the border, waiting for Title 42 to be canceled so they can come across.
"They estimate now that we've got 8 to 10,000 people crossing that border every day and that that number will go up to 18,000 or 20,000 if Title 42 is canceled.
Carter further spoke out about the administration's decision to stockpile baby formula at the border, considering the nationwide shortage.
"You can't find it on your grocery shelves but if you come down here, you can find it on the shelves at the processing facility, for people who are breaking the laws, breaking our laws, and coming into this country illegally," he said.
The immigration situation also continues to result in the massive amounts of drugs, particularly fentanyl, coming into the country, said Carter.
"Those drugs are going to our communities," he said. "Don't think it's just a border problem. Those drugs are infesting communities in Georgia and New York and Illinois, all across our nation, and they're having an impact on our communities."
As a result, overdoses are higher than ever and crime is on the rise, he said.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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