Kemp urges Biden to crack down on surge of illegal U.S. border crossings

Gov. Brian Kemp joined more than two dozen other Republican leaders who called on President Joe Biden to take more aggressive action to prevent more migrants from surging across the nation’s border with Mexico.

Kemp and 25 other GOP governors urged Biden to crack down on illegal immigration and “return to border operations that respect the laws of our land and the lives of all people, including those in our states looking to the federal government to enforce and protect our nation’s borders.”

After taking office, Biden took steps to loosen some of Donald Trump’s strict anti-immigration policies. A surge of illegal crossings along the border with Mexico has followed, and officials say more than 1.5 million undocumented migrants have entered the U.S. this fiscal year.

Republican critics and human rights advocates have focused their attention in recent days on the Del Rio, where thousands of Haitian migrants are crossing the border freely as they wait in a makeshift camp.

Kemp, who is facing a tough re-election bid next year, has been eager to burnish his conservative credentials as he faces criticism over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and GOP pushback from former President Donald Trump.

The letter requests a meeting with Biden in the next two weeks to urge him to take more aggressive action “before the situation worsens.”

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have thus far failed to secure our border with Mexico, leaving all 50 states vulnerable to drugs, crime, gangs, human trafficking, and a host of other issues from unvetted individuals from around the world. This must stop and this administration must act.”