Some immigrants 'don't have legitimate claims for asylum,' GOP lawmaker says
Several Republican congressmen on Wednesday visited the U.S.-Mexico border at Yuma, Arizona, a day after Mayor Douglas Nicholls declared an emergency in the city due the “imminent threat” that waves of migrants pose to the community.
Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., who was among those visiting the border, sympathized with Nicholls during an interview on Fox Business.
“You have hundreds of people who are coming across the border every single night and the Mayor of Yuma is right, his community can’t take the influx of people,” Duffy told Kennedy on Wednesday.
Duffy called on his colleagues across the aisle to help alleviate the problem.
“I think if more Democrats came [to the border], they would see the light and say ‘This is less about Donald Trump and more about American Security,” he said. “We’ve got to work with Republicans and find a solution to this massive problem.”
Duffy also praised Attorney General Bill Barr’s decision on Tuesday to deny bail to those migrants seeking asylum who cross the border illegally rather than through a port of entry.
Duffy said that the policy “takes away the incentive for the migrants to come to our border.”
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When pressed on how border patrol agents can do a better job of assessing asylum claims, Duffy said they struggle because some migrants “don’t have legitimate claims for asylum.”
“Their lives aren’t threatened, they’re coming for the American dream,” he said. “They want a better opportunity in America as opposed to Guatemala or El Salvador or Honduras. That’s why they’re coming.”