Democrat Sen. John Fetterman broke with his party, stating that the border crisis is threatening to destroy the American dream as another 300,000 people approached the southern border in hopes of crossing into the U.S.
Fetterman voiced his concerns about the ongoing migration crisis and demanded a ‘secure border’ as he spoke to CNN’s The Lead anchor Jake Tapper on Friday.
The Democratic senator, 54, from Pennsylvania said, ‘I honestly don’t understand why it’s controversial to say we need a secure border.’
‘And [what] I think about immigration is, we want to provide the American Dream for any migrant. However, it seems very difficult when you have 300,000 people showing up, encountered at our border, to achieve that,’ he added.
His remarks come as the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol documented more than 302,000 attempts to cross the U.S. southern border in December, the highest total for a single month ever recorded in history.
Democrat Sen. John Fetterman (right) broke with his party, stating that the border crisis is threatening to destroy the American dream as he spoke to CNN ‘s The Lead anchor Jake Tapper (left) on Friday
His remarks come as the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol documented more than 302,000 attempts to cross the U.S. southern border in December, the highest total for a single month ever recorded in history
The Democratic Pennsylvania senator, 54, said: ‘I honestly don’t understand why it’s controversial to say we need a secure border’
Fetterman, whose wife arrived in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant at the age of 7, insisted he’s a proponent of legal migration on Friday’s show.
‘I’ve been very clear, in fact, that was weaponized against me [by] Republicans in my race, that I’m very much a strong supporter of immigration, and you know, my wife’s family, that’s the origin story about that,’ he added.
But he questioned why progressive critics from the left have issues with his pro-border security stance.
‘I honestly don’t understand,’ he responded to Tapper’s question, ‘Why do you think you’ve been criticized by so many progressives?’
‘And I think two things can be true at the same time. You can be very supportive of immigration, but we also need to have a secure border,’ he said.
In recent weeks, Fetterman has broken from the far-left of his party by showing strong support for Israel since the October 7 Hamas terror attack.
He also stated that the U.S. should toughen up its southern border policy, a stance some on the left think is inhumane.
The Democratic senator questioned why progressive critics from the left have issues with his pro-border security stance
Fetterman, whose wife Gisele Barreto Fetterman arrived in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant at age 7, insisted he’s a proponent of legal migration on Friday’s show
‘I’m not a progressive,’ Fetterman told NBC News last month. ‘I just think I’m a Democrat that is very committed to choice and other things.
‘But with Israel, I’m going to be on the right side of that. And immigration is something near and dear to me, and I think we do have to effectively address it as well.’
Fetterman said it was ‘not ideal to have this conversation’ about immigration linked to funding Israel and Ukraine, he added that ‘it’s still one that we should have.’
‘Progressives better do that because we can’t leave Israel – we can’t sell them out, and we can’t sell Ukraine out, and we have to deliver on that,’ Fetterman told the network. ‘I just would very much like to get a deal to deliver this critical aid.’
As for immigration, Fetterman argued he can be both pro-immigration, while also favor policies to restrict the flow of immigrants across the southern border to a manageable level.
‘It’s a reasonable conversation – until somebody can say there’s an explanation on what we can do when 270,000 people are being encountered on the border, not including the ones, of course, that we don’t know about,’ he said.
‘To put that in reference, that is essentially the size of Pittsburgh, the second-largest city in Pennsylvania,’ the Democrat added.
In a December interview with Politico, the lawmaker said: ‘I hope Democrats can understand that it isn’t xenophobic to be concerned about the border. It’s a reasonable conversation, and Democrats should engage.’
Last fiscal year, the Biden administration saw the single highest number of encounters at the border on record
At least 2.4 million migrants streamed across the US’ southern border in fiscal 2023, and that figure just represents the encounters border patrol agents had – there are plenty of illegal crossers who did not come into contact with DHS officers
People camp as they wait to cross the border between Mexico and the United States in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
Last fiscal year, the Biden administration saw the single highest number of encounters at the border on record.
At least 2.4 million migrants streamed across the southern border in fiscal 2023, and that figure just represents the encounters border patrol agents had – there are plenty of illegal crossers who did not come into contact with DHS officers.
The figure breaks down to an average of about 6,575 encounters per day, which means it would take just over two full weeks for 95,000 illegal crossers to enter the US.
Between Dec. 1 and December 31 2023, more than 302,000 migrants were documented attempting to cross the US southern border, which marks the first time migrant encounters have reached over 300,000.
Last week, as New York City braced for a snowstorm and cold front, city executives made the decision to keep students home from school for a day and instead use the Brooklyn facility to house migrants during the storm.
Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly begged governors in border states to stop bussing migrants to NYC, where locals in midtown have been horrified for close to a year at the number of migrants being semi-housed in formerly expensive cosmopolitan hotels.
‘We’re getting close to anywhere from 2,500 to peaking at 4,000 a week,’ Adams said recently in an interview, during which he also proclaimed in no uncertain terms that NYC in ‘out of room’ for the incoming migrants.
‘We were not just saying we’re out of room as a soundbite,’ Adams answered, citing the more than 161,000 migrants who have arrived and sought city aid since spring 2022.
‘We’re out of room, literally’, the Democrat declared. ‘People are going to be eventually sleeping on the streets.’
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