Christian Smith
(NewsNation) – Many of the central issues raised by NewsNation in a special episode of “Dan Abrams Live” at the border come as no surprise to lawmakers in Washington, D.C.
NewsNation reporters were spread across the country, reporting live on the situation at the border and its impact on communities, education and crime rates.
Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, a Republican, said Border Patrol officers are doing everything they can but are “simply overwhelmed.”
“If there are more than 1,000 people crossing the border in a day, then the Border Patrol is at its limit,” Marshall said. “When you have 10,000 a day, it’s impossible.”
While there are heated debates about how to resolve these major challenges, no one disputes the need to resolve the border crisis.
Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, said he has made it very clear that “we need to continue this conversation.”
“We need a border agreement,” he said in an interview with NewsNation.
It’s been a top agenda item for Republicans throughout President Joe Biden’s tenure, but what’s more interesting is the call from members of the president’s party for him to do more through executive action.
Just this week, 15 Democrats wrote a letter to Biden calling for more to be done on the border, saying: “All of our constituents, regardless of our congressional district, have felt the impacts of the current border situation.”
“Communities across the country are facing the fentanyl crisis and struggling to find adequate shelter and services for those seeking asylum,” the letter said.
Biden has introduced a new proposed asylum rule change that aims to speed up processing at the southern border for a limited group of people believed to have committed serious crimes in order to quickly expel them from the country.
NewsNation spoke to several Republicans about the proposed rule change, and many said they don’t think the Biden administration will go far enough to make any significant impact.
Meanwhile, Republicans created their own immigration law, HR 2, which would revive many of the policies pursued by former President Donald Trump, would build more border wall and impose new restrictions on asylum seekers.
While some Democrats have called the legislation “cruel” and “anti-immigrant,” with Biden promising a veto, Fetterman said there are provisions in it that he supports.
“I feel comfortable voting for many, many other types of conditions in HR2,” Fetterman said, adding that his only “red line” is anything that would harm the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Meanwhile, a high-level Senate source confirmed to NewsNation on Friday that Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is considering reintroducing a failed bipartisan border bill. Although it was negotiated by Democrats and Republicans, a majority of Republican senators voted against the legislation, arguing that it did not go far enough.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
