Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., told Newsmax TV on Wednesday that “we’re long past the debate over a border crisis. The question is now whether we have a border at all,” blaming President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
McClintock told “The National Report” that he went on a trip along the Rio Grande river earlier that day and yesterday.
“I've seen the collapse of our border,” he said. “I've seen hundreds of people, just last night they think took in 1,800, many of them coming to surrender themselves because they know that they will be admitted into the United States if they're claiming they're under 18, or they have a young child in their company under six years old. They're essentially granted automatic admittance to the United States.”
He went on to claim that “We saw a large number of these migrants in the company of small children that were literally being loaded on buses at the border to be taken to a bus stop, and a lot of worrying about him going to a processing center instead, they were going to a bus stop to be transported where they wanted to go.”
McClintock said, “we’re long past the debate over a border crisis. The question is now whether we have a border at all, and in large part we don't.”
He added that “the pictures that you've seen,” of the border detention facilities “I think accurately depicted these are cattle pens where you have hundreds and hundreds of young people crammed into enclosed areas. Many of them have COVID, I mean I cannot think of a more effective viral incubator than putting people in that kind of close proximity for a long period in these plastic cattle pens.”
The congressman went on to say that “the numbers are staggering, about 18,000 unaccompanied minors in custody right now, by the way, that's not the same 16,000 that was reported last week. I mean, this is a throughput that's going on and they’re a very valuable commodity. They are automatic entry into the United States and that's been made possible by the Biden administration's policies. There's a reason why all of these children are now being set on this 2,000-mile trail of terror because they're admitted. It is Biden's policies that are literally encouraging this to happen and creating the conditions where we have all of this tragic pictures.”
He added that he expects the Biden administration to resume construction on physical barriers at the border.
McClintock said, “the border patrol has said that the wall is absolutely essential for them to do their jobs because it channels traffic to legal ports of entry where they can actually enforce our immigration laws. So, I think it is inevitable that it has to be done and I’m glad to see that the administration is starting to correct the terrible decisions that have led to this crisis.”
Note: See Newsmax TV now carried in more than 100 million U.S. homes, on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Network Ch. 216, Xfinity Ch. 1115, Spectrum, U-verse Ch. 1220, FiOS Ch. 615, Frontier Ch. 115, Optimum Ch. 102, Cox cable, Suddenlink Ch. 102, Mediacom Ch. 277, AT&T TV Ch 349, and major OTT platforms like Roku, Youtube, Xumo, Pluto and most smart TV’s including Samsung+, Sony, LG, Vizion and more – Find All Systems that Carry Newsmax – Click Here
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.