The troubled effort by the White House and congressional allies to foist off a “border security” bill that cloaks tens of billions of dollars in giveaways to Ukraine has led some lawmakers to point fingers, one of them being Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) who is one of its architects.
The Senate bill which has yet to be publicly revealed has drawn strong criticism from conservatives, most notably, from GOP frontrunner Donald J. Trump who has urged Republicans to reject it, putting the prospect of passage in as President Joe Biden has promised that he would sign it.
As the “border” bill slowly circles the drain, the narrative has been put into place that Trump and pro-America Republicans are tanking it to hurt Biden’s election chances and the talking points went out in time for the Sunday morning political talk shows.
Lankford appeared on “Fox News Sunday” where he rejected the idea that the bill would allow for 5,000 illegal aliens a day to enter the country, a provision that was ripped by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and host Shannon Bream asked him about his fellow Republican’s remarks.
(Video: Fox News)
Lankford said that the big problem is that the bill has so far been hidden away from scrutiny and suggested that critics are being influenced by what they see online.
“Right now these internet rumors is all the people are running on,” he told Bream, denying the numbers that are being reported. “It would be absolutely absurd for me to agree to 5,000 people a day.
“This bill focuses on getting us to zero illegal crossings a day,” Lankford said. “There’s no amnesty. It increases the number of border patrol agents, increases asylum officers. It increases detention beds so we can quickly detain and then deport individuals. It ends catch and release. It focuses on additional deportation flights out. It changes our asylum process so that people get a fast asylum screening at a higher standard, and then get returned back to their home country.”
“This is not about letting 5,000 people in a day. This is the most misunderstood section of this proposal,” insisted the pro-amnesty senator, explaining what in his words, is really in the secretive legislation.
Bream later noted that many Republicans are saying that the bill does nothing that Biden can’t already do through the use of executive orders and by simply enforcing the existing laws.
“So why give him this in an election year? The cover of this deal that critics say is still going to let a lot of people in, but he gets to take a victory lap that he’s gotten something done,” she said.
“It’s definitely not going to let a bunch of people in,” the senator responded. “It’s focused on actually turning people around on it. It is interesting, Republicans four months ago would not give funding for Ukraine, for Israel and for our southern border because we demanded changes in policy.”
“So we actually locked arms together and said, ‘We’re not going to give you money for this. We want a change in law.’ And now it’s interesting, a few months later, when we’re finally going to the end, they’re like, ‘Oh, just kidding. I actually don’t want a change in law because it’s a presidential election year,'” Lankford said, accusing his fellow Republicans of deliberately tanking the bill to hurt Biden.
“The so-called border security deal Biden is gushing out and pushing out is not designed to stop illegal immigration,” Trump told supporters at a rally in Nevada on Saturday. “It’s designed to continue the invasion of America while sending billions of dollars to Ukraine and other countries.”
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