Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama blasted reporters for ignoring the border crisis during a Wednesday press conference, citing stories from CBP agents and women who survived multiple sexual assaults.
The Republican senator expressed her frustration with the surge in border crossings by illegal immigrants this month, including a group of over 2,000 at Eagle Pass, Texas, on Sept. 18 that was caught on video; data obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation from United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows that the number of migrants detained is at an all-time high of 22,000. “We need you to start telling that story,” Britt told reporters at the press conference with Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Ted Cruz and John Cornyn of Texas. (RELATED: ‘The Border Was Secured’: Texas Official Rips Biden Admin For Ordering Agents To Cut Fences)
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“I would have never seen the border firsthand if this woman didn’t know that I needed to see it immediately upon entering the United States Senate,” Britt told the reporters at the press conference. “I followed up with a trip with John Cornyn, because they care. These people down there, Senator Blackburn would talk to them, she knew them. Women would tell us their stories and they are brutalizing, and if you are not telling it that’s on you.”
“When a woman sits there and tells you not just about being raped but how many times a day she’s raped. When she tells you about having to lay in that bed while they come in and out and in and out it’s disgusting and it’s despicable,” Britt continued, her voice breaking with emotion. “Folks, you look at the number of people that have died at the border because Joe Biden has made it more and more enticing to come here. Make no mistake, this is a result of failed policies. We could fix this. We can’t throw money at this and fix it. We have to actually change the policies.”
Over 1.93 million illegal immigrants have been encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border during fiscal year 2023, according to data released by United States Customs and Border Protection(CBP), following 2,378,944 encounters in fiscal year 2022 and 1,734,686 in fiscal year 2021.
“I looked in the eyes of CBP agents who said we are exhausted. We are not only having to be paper pushers, we are also trying to do what we took an oath of office to do, protect the border,” Britt said. “When they tell you about finding small children who have drown in that river or pulling a lifeless body of a woman who was pregnant with twins, it changes the way you think about what’s happening. Drug cartels, guys, they have their tentacles all over this country.”
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