Springfield Standard

WASHINGTON – Senator Eric Schmitt issued a statement today criticizing President Joe Biden's recent executive order on the Southern border.

"Americans see right through this election year posturing. In his first 100 days, Biden reversed nearly 100 executive actions, which opened up our border to the tune of 10 million illegal immigrant crossings since he took office. This executive order would normalize another 1.75 million illegal immigrant crossings each and every year and further encourage cartel trafficking of children. Joe Biden has every authority he needs to completely close the border – he just doesn’t want to," said Senator Schmitt.

According to the senator, the executive order will still allow at least 1.75 million illegal migrants per year. He also highlighted that more than 9.6 million illegal immigrants have crossed the border under Biden's administration, including 1.8 million known "gotaways" who evaded Border Patrol.

Schmitt pointed out that fentanyl-related deaths have increased by 94 percent since 2019 and mentioned that at least 80 terror suspects were apprehended attempting to cross the border in FY2024. The FBI has warned that an open border poses a significant terror threat.

Additionally, Senate Democrats have voted against several measures, including the Laken Riley Act (HR.2), which proposes deporting illegal migrants who assault police officers and allowing local law enforcement to detain illegal migrants who commit crimes.

In a related context from 2019, former Obama-Biden DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson stated, "1,000 illegal border crossings per day overwhelms the system. I cannot begin to imagine what 4,000/day looks like."