Southern border debate: Are immigrants manipulating the asylum system?
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Wednesday defended the Trump administration's national emergency declaration on the U.S.-Mexico border during a hearing with the House Homeland Security Committee.
Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., was skeptical about the Trump administration's declaration, saying it is a "non-existent emergency."
But Nielsen said that the President is well aware of what she calls a "humanitarian crisis" at the southern border.
"I give him [Trump] the operations reality," she said. "Here’s what we’re facing, here's what we’re seeing, [and] here are the facts. By my read of it, it is an emergency."
But in radio host Richard Fowlers opinion America should be more welcoming to both immigrants and those seeking asylum
"We are a nation of immigrants. We have been, and we will continue to be," he told FOX Business’ Kennedy Wednesday. "We also are a nation of laws, and one of those laws says that if you are an asylum seeker, you have the right to come to this country and seek asylum."
However Ned Ryun, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, said many asylum seekers do not qualify for it.
"Secretary Nielsen has actually testified that when these asylum cases go before the courts, 90% of them are rejected, and they are deported," said Ryan who was also part of the interview.
The House of Representatives has already passed a measure rejecting the President's executive action on immigration.
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Multiple Republican Senators have said they will also vote for the measure to reject Trump's emergency declaration, which will send it to the Oval Office if at least 60 senators vote in favor.
The President will likely then veto the measure, and neither the House nor the Senate appear to have enough votes to reach the two-thirds needed to override Trump's veto.