Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, says President Joe Biden's open-border policies have led to an epic and unprecedented humanitarian crisis and the federal government "is only making matters worse and, in my opinion, aiding and abetting these abuses by the drug cartels who are in total control of our sovereign border."
"There are people that are dying in the deserts across the southern border, but there are women being raped and sexually assaulted according to Doctors Without Borders — one in every three women who take this dangerous journey," Arrington said Thursday during an appearance on Newsmax's "American Agenda."
"Kids are being recycled as passports, people are being held hostage in stash houses by the network of drug cartels who have made their way into our country and the list of atrocities goes on," he added.
"This is not just a security crisis for our nation where border states like Texas are on the front line, it is absolutely an epic and unprecedented humanitarian crisis that should get the attention of all Americans."
Arrington said states along the border are having to step up since Biden and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas won't.
"It's a massive amount of abuses by people from Mexico and Central America that are desperate," he said.
"They not only pay a price financially, they pay a price from other abuses. They don't only pay on the front end with the cartels at the border, then they're held hostage in the United States so they can squeeze even more money out of these poor people.
"This is a huge business for these paramilitary narco-terrorist cartels. It's now become as big, if not bigger, than their drug trafficking business. So, while our Border Patrol agents are taken off their important security missions to process the deluge of people coming, the drug cartels are just pushing their product and pushing their criminal activity deeper into the interior of the United States.
"Biden won't stop it. Mayorkas won't stop it. So, state leaders along the border have to exercise [their] constitutional right of self-defense to defend the border and protect our citizens. We're starting to see that Texas and, I hope, other states will, too."
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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