Press Releases
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made this statement after the Senate Republican lunch with Vice President Pence, which discussed the emergency declaration issued by President Trump to address the crisis at our southern border.
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote today to support overturning President Trump’s emergency declaration, and a Senate vote is expected later this week.
“We had a great presentation from Vice President Pence and his team regarding the emergency declaration and the need for additional spending to protect our southern border. The Vice President made a compelling case that the border crisis is real and President Trump has both the authority and legal backing to declare a national emergency.
“In 2014, President Obama declared a humanitarian crisis at our southern border because 120,000 unaccompanied minors were apprehended. As of today, we have already apprehended 120,000 in Fiscal Year 2019. The problems of 2014 are only getting worse.
“For years I have worked across the aisle and with any willing participant to reform immigration. During this time, I never heard any Democrat – in either the Senate or House of Representatives – say there was not a crisis at our southern border. In fact, they agreed and were willing to spend billions to fix it. That was their position, grounded in fact; at least until Trump became President.
“The only thing being manufactured is Democrats arguing there is no crisis at the border. Why? They don’t want to recognize Trump as the legitimate president. Democrats’ refusal to acknowledge the problems and crisis at our southern border is pure political hypocrisy.”
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