Fox host confronts Lindsey Graham on why Congress hasn't "fixed" border (2024)

Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, was confronted by Fox News host Shannon Bream on Sunday about why Congress hasn't "fixed" the U.S.-Mexico border.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, there have been 2,222,770 encounters with migrants nationwide so far in the 2024 fiscal year, which began in October. As illegal migrant crossings have rapidly increased, Republican lawmakers have tried to make tougher immigration laws a top priority. However, when a border deal was first brought to the Senate floor in February, it failed to advance in the chamber.

In May, an attempt to pass an immigration reform bill also failed after almost every GOP senator blocked the legislation from advancing in a 50-43 vote. Sixty votes were needed to move the bill forward in the Senate. Six Democrats and two independents joined Republicans in voting against the measure.

Under the border bill, the Biden administration would be allowed to shut down the border if the average number of migrant encounters exceeded 5,000 in a single week or 8,500 in a given day.

In an interview appearance on Fox News Sunday, Bream asked Graham why Congress "hasn't fixed" the border, adding "that's what he [Biden] said right over at the Capitol, that you guys know the problem, agree there is a problem and haven't fixed it" as the two discussed Biden's recent executive order that goes to additional lengths to keep migrant families together through the "Parole in Place" program, which ensures that U.S. citizens with noncitizen spouses and children can keep their families together.

In response, Graham criticized Biden's immigration policies, adding that the president could fix the border "without any congressional action," but "chooses not to".

"The bill they introduced was a joke when it came to parole. Biden has paroled a million people in this country, illegally, in my view...The bill had nothing to do with parole, it allowed 5,000 people a day to come, that just incentivizes more illegal immigration. The reason we are overrun now is because of policy choices of Joe Biden, he could fix this without any congressional action. He chooses not to because he is an open border president," the senator said.

Newsweek has reached out to the White House and Graham's office via email for comment.

Graham's comments come after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, took aim at Republicans for their opposition.

"Just like three months ago, Senate Republicans rejected the strongest and most comprehensive bipartisan border security bill Congress has seen in a whole generation," Schumer said after the failed vote.

Bream continued to ask Graham about the executive order, pointing to the American Civil Liberties Union's (ACLU) reaction, and said, "Most people coming here want a better life, they want opportunity, the ACLU in praising the latest move by the president...the vice president said the same thing that they want to keep families that already exist together."

Graham continued to condemn the "Parole in Place" executive order on Sunday as it will protect roughly 500,000 spouses of U.S. citizens and 50,000 noncitizen children under age 21 whose parent is married to a U.S. citizen, according to the White House.

"From the ACLU point of view that's true. From the average American's point of view what Biden did was a disaster. He took a can of gasoline and he poured it on the fire. He unilaterally gave 500,000 people legal status calling it 'Parole in Place.' There's nothing in our law, he's the most lawless president ever on immigration. There's nothing in our law called parole in place," Graham said.

However, the Biden administration has stood by the executive order pointing out there is "more that we can do to bring peace of mind and stability" to those living in mixed-status families.

"There is more that we can do to bring peace of mind and stability to Americans living in mixed-status families as well as young people educated in this country, including Dreamers," the White House said last Tuesday. "That is why today, President Biden announced new actions for people who have been here many years to keep American families together and allow more young people to contribute to our economy."

This is the second immigration-related executive order issued in a matter of weeks. Earlier this month, the president signed an order that would cap daily southern border crossings at 2,500, not reopening until numbers fell to 1,500 or below.

This comes as Republicans continue to say the uptick in migrants is a direct result of Biden's border policies, which, they argue, incentivize illegal immigration. Other experts have said various factors, including political and financial instability in some Central American countries, drive migration to the U.S.

Immigration is also among the top issues ahead of the 2024 presidential election as Trump and Biden became the presumptive 2024 Republican and Democratic presidential nominees respectively. With some polls reflecting doubt over Biden's border policies, Trump has pledged tougher policies to launch the largest domestic deportation operation in U.S. history.