Republicans using border crisis as a ‘bargaining chip’ instead of ‘securing the borders’

Cypress College Political Science Professor Peter Mathews says Republicans are using the southern border crisis as a “bargaining chip” instead of spending the money to “secure the borders”. US House Speaker Mike Johnson led a delegation of 64 Republicans to the Mexican border to pressure the Biden administration and the Democrats on an immigration deal. The US Customs and Border Protection said almost 2.5 million people have illegally crossed the southern border in the last 12 months. “It was supposed to look dramatic by getting these Republicans there … and it’s supposed to put pressure on Biden to be able to do something about the border, where many people are coming in now and seeking asylum. “We have to determine who are legitimately qualified for asylum and who are not, because the US has signed up to the asylum law … that we have to grant hearings for asylum for people who are seeking it … but to do that you have to have more immigration judges. “The Republican Congress is not spending the money for the kind of things that we need to secure the borders; instead, they’re just using it as a bargaining chip in foreign policy and saying they won’t fund some of our foreign policy needs.”