OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Actor James Woods took to social media this week to vent his frustration at President Joe Biden and his administration over an escalating issue that Republicans have attempted to address for years. Specifically, Woods slammed Biden over the worsening crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border, where millions of people have entered the country illegally since he began reversing former President Donald Trump’s immigration and border security policies on his first day in office.
The conservative-leaning actor responded to Fox News reporter Bill Melugin, who has been covering the border invasion for months after he posted a video on Twitter with the caption: “A huge migrant caravan of over 1,000 people crossed illegally into El Paso, TX last night, making it the largest single group we have ever seen. The city of El Paso reports Border Patrol now has over 5,000 in custody & has released hundreds to city streets.”
In a since-deleted pair of tweets, Woods said: “Democrats are allowing the destruction of our Republic by an unfettered invasion of our non-existent southern border. Shame on this president, and shame on any American who voted for this and now turns a blind eye. The open border policy of the Biden administration is rotting our Republic from within. With the unceasing invasion, ignored daily, comes the drug plague and its unadulterated horrors. Shame on this president and his cackling ‘border czar’ VP.'”
Check out the post below:
RT @RealJamesWoods: Democrats are allowing the destruction of our Republic by an unfettered invasion of our non-existent southern border. Shame on this president, and shame on any American who voted for this and now turns a blind eye. pic.twitter.com/TyYbpJM76p
— Joe (@goodday2smile) December 13, 2022
Matthew Kolken, an immigration lawyer, responded to Woods: “As a deportation lawyer with 25 years … experience I can attest that there is virtually no enforcement of the immigration law in the interior of the country, which has created an irresistible magnet.”
Republicans have been blasting Biden and his Department of Homeland Security chief, Alejandro Mayorkas, for the bulk of their terms over the conditions along the U.S. border. In addition to a historic number of illegal border crossings, drug smuggling — mostly highly dangerous fentanyl — is also at a record high, along with overdose deaths.
In addition, law enforcement authorities whose jurisdictions include border regions have ripped the administration’s claims that they are “secure.”
Speaking with “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd in October, Harris — who was assigned the task of dealing with a surge in illegal immigration and drug smuggling by President Joe Biden not long after they took office — was asked about the current status of the border.
The VP gave a somewhat pained response but did say that it was “secure.”
“I think that there is no question that we have to do what the president and I asked Congress to do. The first request we made, pass a bill to create a pathway to citizenship. The border is secure, but we also have a broken immigration system, in particular over the last four years before we came in, and it needs to be fixed,” she said.
However, in an appearance on “Fox & Friends” the following day, Goliad County Sheriff Roy Boyd pushed back on Harris’ claims while also praising Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) for bussing hundreds of volunteer migrants to Democrat-run “sanctuary” cities like Washington, D.C., New York City, and Chicago.
“It was a great ploy by Governor Abbott to bring attention back to something that was kind of fading away from mainstream media,” Boyd said. “He’s put it back in their lap, and I applaud him for what he’s done.”
He then went on to mock Harris’ claim of a “secure” border.
“The border is wide open,” Boyd said. “In Texas, the Border Patrol is encountering over 100,000 illegal aliens. So every month, Border Patrol agents tell me that on a good day, they encounter between eight and 15 percent of the number of people that actually come across.”
Fox News’ Neil Cavuto spoke to another border county sheriff, Maverick County’s Tom Schmerber, who also ridiculed the vice president’s claims about the border. He also said that soon, northern states will begin to see what’s going on as well.
“My priorities is [sic] the security of my county here. But it’s very hard to keep that,” Schmerber said. “We’re having all kinds of people, immigrants coming through this area here.
“I’m very worried in reference to who’s coming through. I know there’s people that want to make a better life, but then there’s people that want to take advantage of the situation, the criminal element. That’s my worry and that’s my priority to make sure it’s secure. But with my number of deputies, it’s very hard to work on it,” he added.
