Graham says Biden should apologize to Border Patrol officers

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that President Biden should “apologize” to Border Patrol agents for the conditions at facilities where the agency is housing thousands of migrant children who arrived at the border unaccompanied by parents or guardians.

Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Graham told host Chris Wallace that Biden’s decision to end the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy was behind the latest surge, adding that Border Patrol agents told senators during a visit to the border by a congressional delegation last week that they had warned Biden’s transition team that such a surge would occur if the policy was ended.

“They were told this. They did this anyway,” Graham said. “He needs to apologize, President Biden, to the Border Patrol agents and their families for putting them through this.”

“These facilities are being overrun. Ten percent of these kids are COVID-positive,” the senator added. “You’ve got a facility designed for 80 kids with about a thousand in it, so that’s pretty bad.”

The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency has said the rate of COVID-19 among migrants at the border is 6 percent, a little less than the 7.4 percent rate in Texas earlier this month.

Graham went on to add that the current situation represented a “complete loss of sovereignty” at the border.

His comments come as the White House has remained firm in its vow to not deport unaccompanied minors without adjudication of their asylum claims, a position the administration has argued is the only humane response to children and teens who make the arduous journey to the U.S., often alone.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki argued Sunday that the White House was seeking “a different approach than the last administration” on immigration.

“What we’re really talking about is children, and we’re handling that in the most humane … way,” she said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Updated at 1:02 p.m. to correct a quote where Sen. Graham referred to 1,000, not 2,000, migrants being held in a shelter originally built for 80.