Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) on Wednesday contrasted President Joe Biden’s “open border” policy with his ambivalence towards government-decreed school closures in the context of the White House’s ostensible concern about the spread of the coronavirus.
“The Biden administration has really upended our immigration policy [and] all of the policies that were put in place by the Trump administration,” Ernst said on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow. “[The Trump administration’s policies] really did slow down the flow of illegal immigrants coming across our border. All of that has been thrown out the window, and of course, the door is wide open now.”
“Our schools [in Iowa] have been open since last August, and I feel so badly for the children in a number of these blue states,” Ernst stated. “They are going to be so far behind their peers in the states that have opened, and what do we do about that? That’s another crisis on the verge. So it’s very unfortunate that we have such discrepancies out there. We know we can get these kiddos back to school.”
An unsecured southern border draws illegal immigration from beyond Mexico and South America, Ernst noted.
“What we’re seeing is not only immigrants coming from Mexico — as most people typically think — but up to 54 countries are accounted for in those illegal immigrants, so I see this not only as a humanitarian crisis but also a crisis to our national security.”