Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said Tuesday on CNN that there will be “chaos” at the border in the New Year because of Republicans.
The United States Supreme Court on Monday temporarily halted the end of Title 42 after 19 Republican states filed an emergency appeal. Title 42 is a Trump-era policy that allows authorities to expel certain migrants back to their native countries without legal review in order to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
CNN’s Jim Sciutto asked Murphy whether Democrats, who have controlled Congress for two years, bear any responsibility for “failing to enact reforms that would have helped address the situation at the southern border?”
“I think all 50 Democrats in the Senate support immigration reform as you mentioned. The problem is we do not have enough Republicans to get it done,” Murphy said, referring to a bipartisan immigration reform package introduced by now-Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.
The proposal was rejected for several reasons, including opposition to its proposed pathway to permanent legal status as well as Republicans’ demand to curb releases of migrants, according to CBS News.
“We need a handful of Republicans to support immigration reform, and they won’t. Now, the budget includes some money to manage these increased numbers at the border, but it is much less than what the administration needs,” Murphy said. “Why is that? Because not only do Republicans oppose immigration reform, they also are opposing the money necessary to deal with the emergency.”
“So you’re just going to see scenes of chaos at the border in January and February and that is going to be in large part because Republicans aren’t allowing us enough funding to deal with these increased numbers,” he added.
Sciutto again pushed back. “But is that fair?” he asked. “You got the president. The president has things that he could do independently of broader reform which — trust me, I know, and I’ve covered it for years — it is just tough to get it through the Hill. Shared responsibility, is there not?” (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: ‘Unacceptable’: Texas GOP Rep Demands Mayorkas Answer To Data ‘Miscalculations’ After DCNF Reports)
Murphy said President Joe Biden has no choice but to allow migrants to present asylum claims at the border and that Trump “went above is statutory authority in denying many people the ability to make that claim,” in reference to Title 42. Murphy also said that Congress has the responsibility to change the law, not Biden.