GOP Lawmakers Insist on Closing Border or Shutting Down Government
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Republican lawmakers insisted Wednesday that continuing to fund the government without securing the southern border in effect subsidizes modern-day slavery and a national security threat.
“Law enforcement officials down on the southern border no longer call this an immigration problem. They call it a slave trade problem,” Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., said at a Capitol Hill press conference.
“I’ve talked to them personally,” Rosendale said. “Every single person that comes to this country illegally has a financial obligation to pay to the cartel, and they are being forced into slavery and servitude for years to come.”
Fellow Republicans from the House and Senate joined Rosendale, dubbing the press conference “Shut Down the Border or Shut Down the Government.”
Rosendale also talked about 100,000 U.S. deaths per year from the drug fentanyl coming across the southern border.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., reached a deal with congressional Democrats on a spending framework for fiscal year 2024 that other Republicans complain won’t advance the goal of securing the border.
“It’s nothing short of terrifying that during this administration, 279 known terrorists have been admitted into this country, along with the 10 million illegal aliens who have come here,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said.
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