The 2024 Democrat presidential candidate believes that Mexican drug cartels are driving the U.S. southern border policy.
As the number of migrants apprehended by U.S. immigration agents after illegally crossing the southern border has soared to near-record levels in September, Robert F. Kennedy chastised President Joe Biden for the “humanitarian crisis” and encouraged unity between Democrats and Republicans to “quickly secure the borders.”
Mr. Kennedy delivered remarks about the border crisis at a Sept. 22 press conference in Austin, Texas, where he will appear at meet and greets over the weekend.
“Since Biden was elected, 7 million immigrants have come across the border illegally,” Mr. Kennedy said. “In the same period, just 3.1 million arrived legally. What that means is the Mexican drug cartels are driving American border policy.”
“We need unity. This shouldn’t be a Democratic issue or a Republic issue,” he added. “The Democrats who have been urging an open border policy need to look at the evidence now and rethink their positions. And we need to quickly secure the borders. Then we can think about work permits or amnesty programs. But we can’t sell those to the American people until the borders are closed and the frontiers are secure.”
Mr. Kennedy held the press conference on the same day that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released an update showing the number of people trying to illegally enter the United States illegally reached the highest monthly figure in recorded history in August.
According to the agency, 304,162 people were either deemed inadmissible at points of entry or were caught by Border Patrol agents after crossing the border illegally in August.
That figure stood at 245,213 in July. The August numbers represented a 24 percent increase.
The previous record was also established during President Biden’s tenure, with 302,412 nationwide encounters in December 2022, according to CBP data.
Even in the midst of surging illegal immigration, the White House announced on Sept. 20 that the Biden administration will allow around half a million Venezuelans already in the United States—including those who illegally entered the country—to file for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). This will permit them to temporarily work and be protected from deportation.
