Sen. Lindsey Graham said there is no more room in the U.S. for the continued migrants flooding over the southern border as he demanded President Joe Biden provide Congress the tools to stop the flow.
The South Carolina Republican senator said that the U.S. needs to focus on deporting those in the country illegally or awaiting to hear their asylum claims before more can be welcomed through legal avenues.
Graham also said that Republicans in Congress would agree to send more aid to Ukraine if the White House reaches a deal on overhauling the immigration system and border policies.
‘Title 42 authority needs to be applied here on the concept that America is full,’ Graham told CBS Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan on Sunday morning.
‘If you have to wait four years for an asylum hearing, let’s slow down the asylum system. 1.7 million people are ready to be deported,’ Graham added. ‘Let’s deport them before we let new people in.’
Sen. Lindsey Graham said ‘America is full’ and called for the Biden administration to better address the ongoing crisis at the southern border
He said that ‘expedited [migrant] removal is on the table’ during Senate negotiations on a deal that would include an overhaul – but also foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
A deal was not reached before the Christmas holiday like lawmakers were pushing for.
Meanwhile, migration has not slowed – and even spiked – over the holiday months.
With nearly 242,500 encounters in November, there were points at which thousands of migrants were lining up after crossing the border illegally and hoping to be granted asylum claims.
If Republicans in Congress get their way, pandemic-era Title 42 provisions would essentially be reinstated and allow for immediate deportations while they await asylum proceedings instead of being permitted into the U.S. in the interim.
‘To the Biden administration – accept the tools that would change things and we’ll get money for Ukraine,’ Graham told CBS during his New Year’s Eve interview.
Graham, who was an early endorser of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, previewed what the ex-president’s border policies would look like if he got another term.
‘When Trump gets to be president – if he does – if you’re here illegally you’re going to be deported,’ the South Carolina Republican said. ‘There’s going to be mass deportation under Donald Trump of people here in violation of the law who have received a final order of deportation.’
Migration continues to surge at the southern border over the winter months, with Texas bearing the brunt of the crisis
As migration surges through the winter months, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law earlier in December legislation that allows law enforcement to arrest, detain and deport migrants at the state-level.
The law immediately faced challenges from the Biden administration, claiming that Abbott cannot circumvent federal immigration law with state-level laws that allow officers to act like border control and enforcement.
Abbott continues to send buses and planes full of illegal immigrants to Democratic U.S. cities – including Chicago and New York City.
Speaking with Brennan in a joint interview with Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, the Democratic Chicago leader said Abbott is ‘determined to continue to sow seeds of chaos’ by sending busloads of migrants to the city ‘without any coordination.’
He added: ‘Now he’s taken on this very dangerous task of placing individuals on airplanes and flying them into our various cities. This is certainly a matter of not just of our national security, but it’s the type of chaos that this governor is committed to administering.’