Texas rancher fumes over Biden admin's 'lies they spew to the American people' on the border
Stephanie Canales says the massive uptick in migrants crossing her property puts her in a 'bad situation'
After the White House was roasted for making a bold border claim, one Texas rancher experiencing the migrant crisis firsthand torched the president for his immigration policies.
"You want to laugh, it's a joke. And those of us that live down here every day that are dealing with this, it has not improved at all," Stephanie Canales said on "Mornings with Maria" Wednesday. "It just continues to get worse. And I don't care what lies they spew to the American people. They are lies because it's only gotten worse every day."
During Monday’s White House press conference, a reporter questioned Karine Jean-Pierre on how Biden plans to deal with illegal immigration. The press secretary insisted that Biden has already put forth efforts to address the "broken" immigration system "on his first day in this administration" and touted his alleged successes.
"In the meantime, he has tools that he's used to make sure we do this. We actually deal with the immigration system in a humane way, in a way that actually deals with what we're seeing at the border. And that's why you've seen the parolee program be so successful. When it comes to illegal immigration, you've seen it come down by more than 90%. And that's because of this, the actions that this president has taken," Jean-Pierre said.
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Critics were quick to attack the claim that illegal immigration has decreased by 90%, as illegal border crossings have reached record levels several times during the Biden administration.
Migrants cross through Canales’ ranch property 24/7, as she detailed them coming in by foot and vehicles. The crossings have become a "constant battle" for families and businesses near the U.S.-Mexico border.
"When they drive through our property, that's fence damage. So we're constantly repairing fences, we're constantly replacing gates that they will blow through on their vehicles when they're being chased by law enforcement," she explained.
And amid decades-high inflation, infrastructure repairs have taken a big bite out of the ranch’s budget, the rancher also noted.
"In today’s economy, it’s not cheap," Canales said. "We've also had to install cameras throughout our property... but the cameras allow us to see who's on our property at any given time, so then we can alert the patrol. But it's come at a huge cost to us and it's very, very frustrating. And no, we don't feel safe at all."
On Tuesday, President Biden approved the deployment of 1,500 U.S. troops along the border. The move stems from concerns that the end of the Trump-era Title 42 will fuel a migrant crossing surge.
"God bless our troops, I'm sure they will be a big help to the Border Patrol and to our state troopers that are down here. But, where were they a long time ago?" Canales criticized. "They need to shut the border because people are just coming over here. It's nonstop."
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When Biden first took office, Canales recalled the number of migrants coming across her ranch property was around 5 to 10 per day. Now, she’s seeing groups of 30 to 40 migrants every day.
"The more people they allow to cross the borders, the bigger these groups are going to be coming through our property," she said. "And when you're one rancher out in the middle of a field and 40 people approach you, that's putting us in a bad situation."
Fox News’ Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.