GOP Senators Accuse Biden Of Breaking Law, Sparking ‘Humanitarian Crisis’ With Border Wall Halt

Forty Senate Republicans have accused President Joe Biden of breaking federal budget law when he suspended the construction of a southern border wall, and say the halt contributed to the current crisis involving illegal border crossings, according to Bloomberg.

On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) ad 39 other Senate Republicans demanded that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate Biden for a potential violation of a 1974 act forbidding the executive branch from refusing to spend Congressionally-appropriated funds.

“On Jan. 20, in one of the first official acts of his presidency, Joseph Biden suspended border wall construction and ordered a freeze of funds provided by Congress for that purpose. In the weeks that followed, operational control of our southern border was compromised and a humanitarian and national security crisis has ensued,” states the letter. “The President’s actions directly contributed to this unfortunate, yet entirely avoidable scenario. They are also a blatant violation of federal law and infringe on Congress’s constitutional power of the purse.“

The letter, organized by Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV) who sits on the Homeland Security spending panel, asks GAO head Gene Dodaro to render a legal opinion on whether Biden violated the Impoundment Control Act.

“We have to recognize that words have consequences and actions have consequences,” said Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY). “When the Biden Administration refuses to enforce our immigration laws, when they refuse to build the wall, when they pass legislation like the bill that we passed yesterday that includes money for illegal immigrants, this is what happens.”

Former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens says Biden’s border policy has created a ‘national security crisis’ and a ‘public health crisis.’

President Trump’s Border policies kept Americans safe.

Under Joe Biden, terrorist cells are exploiting the southern border.

This is not only a national security crisis, but it’s also a public safety crisis, and a public health crisis. pic.twitter.com/coiAaGo66k

— Eric Greitens (@EricGreitens) March 17, 2021

On Tuesday, former President Trump told Fox News‘ Maria Bartiromo that the borer crisis was going to get “much worse.”

“Frankly, our country can’t handle [the increase in migrants]. It is a crisis like we have rarely had and certainly we have never had on the border. But it is going to get much worse.”

In 2019, Trump shifted funds intended for military construction towards building the border wall, however a federal appeals court found the transfer illegal. 

In the time since Biden killed border wall funding and signaled that his administration was migrant-friendly, a surge of individuals crossing the border illegally has created a crisis, with migrant children arriving in the US at faster rates than they can be processed, causing them to be housed in tents and cages beyond legally allowed holding periods.

According to Fox News, “The number of migrant children in federal custody has surged past 4,000 with roughly 94% of beds for migrant children occupied.”