Susan Collins on her border trip: ‘This is a crisis’

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Thursday after a trip to the southern border called the conditions there and the “huge influx” of migrants a “crisis.”

Collins was a part of a Senate delegation visiting the border. 

“I spent the last 3 hours with Border Patrol on night shift in McAllen, TX,” Collins tweeted. “18 Senators learning about the huge influx, 3,000 people per day, including unaccompanied children, illegally entering.”

1 AM – I spent the last 3 hours with Border Patrol on night shift in McAllen, TX. 18 Senators learning about the huge influx, 3,000 people per day, including unaccompanied children, illegally entering.

— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) March 26, 2021

The Biden administration has had to open up six facilities in the past month in order to accommodate the number of migrants crossing the border. Three of those sites are dedicated to housing unaccompanied children.

“Mexican cartels control who crosses the border. A young mother from Guatemala, sitting on an aluminum blanket with her 1-year-old, told me she paid smugglers $6,000,” Collins said.

While Republicans are arguing the influx of migrants is due to President Biden’s policies, Democrats are saying this is a normal influx because it is safer to cross the border in the spring due to the desert temperatures not being too hot. 

Biden at his first press conference as president on Thursday said the situation was unacceptable but said the wave of migrants wasn’t happening because he’s “a nice guy.”

“I’d like to think it’s because I’m a nice guy, but it’s not,” Biden said. “It happens every year.”

Along with concerns about the influx of unaccompanied children and other migrants, Republicans are focusing on human trafficking and the cartels in their push for stricter immigration policies. 

“Border Patrol is overwhelmed, overworked, & discouraged by new policies,” Collins said.

“Agents took us through a dangerous path to the Rio Grande where we could hear the Cartel members taunting us across the river,” said Collins. “Human trafficking, child abuse, & drug smuggling are rampant. This is a crisis.”