FINALLY: VP Harris to Visit Border After Nearly 100 Days

Finally, Vice President Harris plans a trip to the border nearly 100 days after being tasked with dealing with the surge in illegal immigration. 20 year high surges in illegal immigration. We'll talk about that more today on Sekulow.

Live from Washington DC, Sekulow Live. Why is the Vice President visiting the border this week when earlier this month she dismissed a trip like that saying it would be a grand gesture? She also said in an interview with NBC that she would be open to going to the border if it was an appropriate time. She said that after she said that. So that's important context. Phone lines are open for your questions right now.

Call 1-800-684-3110. Important context, I've got the NBC interview right here. She was talking about how she hasn't been to the border, she hasn't been to Europe either.

So does she think that these two things are the same? And again Peter, I think she also said in the same interview that she would be open to going to the border at an appropriate time. And what I'm conveying to you is that well as a part of her assignment, she has of course hosted a number of bilateral engagements. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. Now there's this other guy going to the border and he announced nine days ago about his border trip, it's former President of the United States, President Trump, who announced on June 15th that he would be at the border with a group of members of Congress as well as the Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, on June 30th.

So next week he was going to be there. So after months, nearly 100 days since being tasked with leading the White House response to the surge in illegal immigration on the southern border, the humanitarian crisis on our southern border, when I go through these new statistics for you, it is just staggering when you add this up, you're talking about nearly a million people since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took the oath of office, nearly a million people have been encountered by Border Patrol. That does not include people who got through and weren't caught or were let go.

This is, again, this list goes on and on, but why is, the big question is why now and why El Paso instead of the Rio Grande Valley, which is, and we'll play sound from a Democrat Texas Congressman who talks about how going to El Paso is like checking the box in this crisis and if you want to see where the real problems are, the kids, the cages, the mass influx of people, you go to the Rio Grande Valley. The numbers are staggering. So in January it started out with 78,000 encounters. In February it went up to 100,000. But then in March, when Biden was really solidified, he started announcing those plans like Remain in Mexico, like that was going to go, that's gone. Remain in Mexico.

Or a catcher releases back. All those, once that was all being announced, the numbers take a staggering jump. March, 173,000 people. April, 178,000 people.

And in May, of course, that'd be the last month we have, we don't have June's numbers yet, 180,000 people. Those last three months are three months of the 20-year highs. They are three months of 20-year highs of this going on at our border. But there's no good explanation from the White House about why now.

What happened? And one thing I will point to is more and more attention was being put on former President Trump's trip. And of course, the actions by Texas that was announced by the Texas governor about building the border wall on their own. All of this was happening. And finally, I think they realized, you know what, we better make the trip.

But it was, we're going to play for you. They've chosen a location that is specifically, specifically going to be kind of a watered down version of visiting the border. And so far, that's the only location you're talking about the Vice President, the Vice President visiting. Senator John Cornyn from Texas Senator said, it's not even fair to say that she's a day late, a dollar short. She's nearly a hundred days late and a thousand miles short. What's he talking about those thousand miles?

That's the difference between going to El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley. But it also just describes the massive land area that border patrol is trying to patrol and ICE is trying to handle as well. And you heard those numbers.

So you put the numbers on top of the land mass that you're dealing with. When you hear the sound from the Democratic Congressman, not a lot of faith in this administration. We'll be right back. The challenges facing Americans are substantial at a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack. It's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the frontlines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress and in the public arena.

And we have an exceptional track record of success. But here's the bottom line, we could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms. That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side.

If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org where you can learn more about our life changing work. Become a member today, ACLJ.org.

Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. So the question is, of course, why now? You know, it's one thing to say, well, all of our pressure, all of us saying, you know, every time she wanted to get around visiting the border by having a meeting with, you know, one of the Central American leaders and going to Mexico, but not going to the border. And she went to Mexico City, which was another via 1500 miles away from the border, but she had to fly over it, of course, to get there. That wasn't enough.

And that the lines of, well, she hasn't been to Europe either made no sense. And then it was all piling up and they knew these new numbers. Obviously the main numbers are staggeringly bigger. We're now hitting 180,000 plus people that are, that are being again, having these encounters. I love this term that they've used.

That is, that is coming up with a special word because the, what they're not telling you there is whether or not any of those people are apprehended or returned or if they're just encountered and catch, you know, caught and then released. So dad, I think that's where, again, it's clear they want to try to outdo the former President and they realized he was about to bring significant amounts of attention. He still may because he's going to be going to parts of the border. She isn't.

Well, here's what you got. June 15th, President, former President Trump announces he's going to go to the border with Greg Abbott and a number of congressmen on, and he's gonna make that visit on June 30th. Kamala Harris has been saying the entire time she's not going. You know, she'll go when she needs to go. She's not going. And then all of a sudden on the 23rd of June, she shockingly announces, oh, I am going to go to the border and I'm going to actually go there before President Trump goes.

Although she's going to a portion of the border that really is not the problem zone. So this is like if you're trying a case and you're going to go to the scene of the crime, but instead of going to the scene of the crime, Andy, you go to the scene of a crime. It's a similar crime. It's not the crime. It's a crime.

It's a similar one. Well, I mean, that's the, that's the, the, uh, I wouldn't even say the irony of it. That's the political expediency of it. It's like I've said by analogy, if you want to see poverty in Georgia, you don't go to the Okefenokee swamp.

I mean, you go to the Okefenokee swamp, you don't go to sea Island where all the millionaires are living. And that's exactly what she's doing. She's peaking and choosing the sector that's going to be the least offensive to her and to those who are going to be around her, not to the Rio Grande Valley. So, I mean, it is a really, uh, uh, politically checking by checking in the box. And as representative Cuellar say, politically safe trip.

This is a safe trip to make. I was going to ask you this Jordan, politically, let's look at the politics of this. Why did they wait so long? I think this, this, there's probably a lot of infighting if I'm guessing between the vice President's team and the President's team. I don't think that they liked that she was tasked with this. She's being tasked constantly by President Biden with everything that you don't want to, people don't want to deal with the most politically fraught issues, which is unique. So instead of putting her kind of like in an offensive role, she's been put in a defensive role the entire time in her vice presidency. And it hasn't been good. I mean, those, those trips and those speeches she was making down at the, when she was doing her first foreign trip to those, uh, Northern triangle countries in Mexico, that didn't go well.

Remember that was all botched as well. Then we got the European trip from the President, uh, which, which also, you know, you cannot make the statement CNN that, you know, Putin's happy and we're happy. That's not how the world works. I mean, so if it, again, I think all of this goes down to a pretty mismanaged, uh, mismanagement by the white house. Ultimately the buck stops with the President. Uh, the vice, we don't know if vice President Harris has wanted to make this trip and the white house was blocking it, but I'm guessing is she didn't want pictures with a bunch of kids in cages.

She doesn't want to tour those facilities or look at those facilities, which is why even a Democrat Congressman will say, this is the safe place to go. Well, fan, this is what's interesting. In the last few days of the Southern border, Jordan mentioned this early. This is just in the last few days. We're not talking about talking about the last few weeks. I'm not talking about the last few months. I'm talking about in the last couple of days, this is what's happened. Four convicted sex offenders, uh, were apprehended.

A man wanted on child sex related charges. Two MS 13 gang members convicted of aggravated assault and domestic violence. These were not like they've already been convicted of this.

Then you had a C shipment of meth worth over half a million dollars. Uh, there was stash houses and in the Del Rio sector has seen over a 900% increase in train apprehensions, a sector that she then is not going to visit. Jay, it's why we've been yelling as loud as we can that this was coming. I mean, look, this is why we filed a lawsuit against the department of Homeland security because they were hiding the information that known terrorists were coming across the border. This was known. They took that press release down. We filed a lawsuit to make sure to, to, to demand answers as to why that was a J.

This is also what happens when you do things like suspend operation talent. The Trump administration had an operation in place that was looking for sex criminals illegally present this, this administration, the Biden administration suspended that J. So when you take actions like that, the kind of stats that you're reading are just going to happen. And you know, you ask the political question, Jay, I think it's the right one because I think the answer to why she didn't go down there for so long was always about the optics. And that's why she's going to El Paso rather than the Rio Grande Valley as well. Uh, but J you can only get away with caring about the optics for so long when the kind of statistics that you are reading are the reality. That's when your party who represent these areas, people like Congressman Cuellar J that's when they turn on you.

Why do they turn on you? Cause their constituents are suffering the consequences. Congressman Cuellar is not too happy about this.

Take a listen. I don't know what she's going to see there. And you, you pointed pretty, uh, paint a pretty vivid picture for perhaps a trip that may not show her much.

Why do you think this administration has waited so long for this? Uh, I have no idea, but I'm sure her planners told her that if you're going to go down to the border, go to a, uh, something that's safer to go to that is politically safer. How do you lead in it? And when you're in charge of this, when you're refusing to go to where the action is, where the significant problem lies, how do you lead? Well, the answer to that is you don't, you're not a leader. If you do that, you're not a leader at all. You're taking the follower approach.

I mean, you cannot, like we said, well, if you're a prosecutor, you go to the scene of the crime, you don't discuss the root causes of murder. You go and you look at exactly where the killing took place and what she is doing now is choosing what is the most politically safe and expedient, uh, route to take. And even her own, uh, party of Congressman Cuellar has said, uh, she's just checking the box and going down the border to El Paso instead of going to the region where the real problems lie. And that is the Rio Grande Valley.

Give me, take a listen. This is the Congressman again, this is a Democrat Congressman from Texas, a US Congressman. He represents part of the Rio Grande Valley. Take a listen where he talks about the Rio Grande versus El Paso and making the visit there. If you go down to the lower Rio Grande with a high activity and you're there with kids and families, prosecutorial discretion where people are being released, high numbers of people crossing the border, uh, you know, politically that's, it's harder to do that. I know that, I mean, that's part of my district, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

You just can't, uh, you know, just go to one place, but she does do the check the box and go down to the border by going to El Paso. So again, the check the box that again is a Democrat Congressman and fan. I mean, I think for, I know he's been outspoken, but for him to make the statement so clear that basically you don't want to see the kids, you don't want to see the families. So you want to go to something more bland and for him to say, you know, this is checking the box politically safe for Democrats to speak like that. Also to me, it tells you how bad the crisis is that they are willing to risk their relationship with the white house. It's incredibly significant.

Jordan. Look, he's always been a little bit stronger on border security than some of his colleagues. It's cause he lives it by the way. That's why he's stronger on it.

Have a look. He doesn't want to be cross rise with the vice President, but here's why he feels like he has to be right now. Uh, Jordan, because he knows it's not about the optics. He knows Jordan, that vice President Harris could accomplish a change that would actually make a difference in this. If she would advocate to the President to reinstate either a portion or all of the migrant protection protocols, especially the remain in Mexico, his constituents Jordan would benefit. So I'm sure every time he goes back to his, to his district and does town halls, he hears from angry Democrats, Democrats who are having their communities suffer because of the inaction of this vice President. So look, I just think he's had it, Jordan. I don't think he wants to be crosswise with her, but he realizes just how wrong she is. And he, he he's insisting now, uh, he's fed up. I think Jordan, he says it's time for action. You know, Jen Psaki claims that, uh, the vice President did not go to the border before now because it wasn't the appropriate time.

You're tasked with running this whole operation and you're waiting now a hundred, a hundred and whatever plus days. And why is she going? Is it possibly she's going because Donald Trump said, I'm going, I would suspect that may have played into it. Yeah.

I mean, I think it's a hundred percent. Listen, they realized, wait, next week Trump goes, he's going to go with members of Congress. He's going to go, uh, you know, with his entourage, the governor of Texas, and they're going to put on to the American people to show, Hey, this is how bad this is. We need to show you how the reversal of the Trump policies, what it's causing the humanitarian crisis, the overwhelming, uh, our own border patrol officers, not being able to carry out their job unclear about what the rules are for them about who should you talk. Listen to the Congressman's statement. He talks about prosecutorial discretion. Some people being left out, some people get kicked out. I mean, the list goes back and forth. So she doesn't want to be around that. She doesn't want to have the families walking behind her as, as she approaches.

So again, it's the idea of if you're not going to see the problem and you can actually go and look at this problem with your eyes, then you are, then you're kind of burying your head in the sand saying, I don't really want to know how bad the problem is. Uh, we can still criticize the past administration and we'll do that as long as we can. I think that time has run out on just trying to blame Trump policies and by the way, worked. They are the ones who reversed these policies.

They are responsible for this surge of the border. We'll be right back with Rick Renell on secular. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected.

Is there any hope for that culture to survive? And that's exactly what you were saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack, it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress and in the public arena. And we have an exceptional track record of success.

But here's the bottom line. We could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today. ACLJ.org.

Welcome back to Secular. Rick Grenell, our senior advisor with the ACLJ, is joining us now to discuss this latest announcement by the Biden White House that they will send Vice President Harris to the border. They are sending her to a part of the border that does not get as much action. It gets about half as much action, or even a little bit less than even half as much action as the Rio Grande encounters, which was up to 51,000 plus in May just in that area.

El Paso is at 20,000, around that number in May. But I want to go to Rick on this because, Rick, we know that President Trump is going next week. We know that that was announced about a week and a half ago with members of Congress, with the governor of Texas, and I'm sure he's not shying away from going to the hot spots. But now we have this announcement yesterday, after nearly 100 days, that Vice President Harris is actually going to go see the problem for herself.

And what do you think was the final, I mean, I know the pressure's been high on Harris, Rick, from the conservative world, and I mean from some Democrats who have said they're not taking it serious enough. What do you think was the final reason why they said, okay, we're going to make this trip? Follow the leader. She's following Trump. There's just no question that she is going because President Trump is going into the hotspot, going exactly where this crisis is. To highlight the fact that this border crisis is new. We had fixed the border in the Trump administration.

There's no question about that. Their rhetoric, the Biden administration rhetoric, Democrats rhetoric, became unbelievably welcoming for illegal immigration. And we've seen the individuals wearing Biden shirts. The crisis has been manipulated and made by this team. And so I think that they're seeing the pressure of the crisis unfolding and getting worse every single day. And they've got to stop it. I think some politicians, Rick, are calling this the Biden border crisis, which I think is probably at this point an accurate assessment, but here's what's interesting.

And one of our associate producers pointed this out. We had, just a couple of weeks ago, babies thrown over the wall, all right, dropped. And that wasn't a significant enough crisis for the vice President of the United States, Vice President Harris, to go to the border. But what seems to be motivating to go to the border is the fact that the former President of the United States is going, and as you said, your policies, when you were the acting DNI, those policies worked. These policies are not working. That's why you have the increase.

Going to a sector, as Jordan said, that is less than half, less than half of the encounters in let's say the Rio Grande area. So this is, to me, it's been a poor excuse, but this is a real crisis on the border. And you've said before, it's a national security crisis. It's a national security crisis. And what is really shameful is that the Trump administration always had pressure from the media to not politicize issues.

And I think that's a very good warning. And for those of us in government, it's always a really good kind of reminder. Don't politicize.

You're working for the American people. And I think the Trump administration did a very good job of focusing on the issues and not letting the politics get in the way. Matter of fact, sometimes when the pressure came because the politics weren't working that hard, the Trump administration stood firm in the face of bad news or confronting crises because sometimes problems need to be fixed.

And you have to go in and things get messy. But what we've seen from this Biden administration is a constant politicization of so many issues. Look at prosecutions and DOJ. That's completely become political. We know the border crisis has been political.

We had it fixed. But their rhetoric of the 18 months in the lead up. And then once they were in charge of the border, there was a rush by illegal immigrants to come over the border because what they heard for 18 months was that they would be welcomed and that the laws would be pushed aside. A sanctuary country. That's exactly what they heard. And then when faced with the humanitarian crisis and all of the problems, the Biden administration is clearly having second thoughts of their rhetoric.

Ambassador Grinnell, I'd like to ask you a question. Senator Blackburn of Tennessee has made a statement that I agree with totally, but I'd like to get your your your viewing your take on it on a broader plane. She says every state is a border state. Do you agree with that?

And can you just comment on that for us? That's a good point, because I think those in the media and many because really just focus on those border states. And we assume in that in that that that analysis, we assume that those coming across the border are going to just stay in those states. And I think that's a really naive assumption to think once someone gets over the border, they're going to stay in Texas or California, Arizona. No, they actually get out pretty quickly because they know that there's a saturation of the problems that are happening on those border states. And so what what now we see are illegal immigrants crossing the border in those states and quickly going into the Midwest, going into the north.

They're trying to get to places where they can get jobs and get as far away from the border control authorities as possible. You know, Rick, instead of you've been in politics a long time and government a long time, instead of just going right away, things were bad. It was early on in the administration going on right away. And if you see the problem, maybe making a couple of trips, don't make it such a big deal by making it such a big deal. And this this feel that it's been like the American people and Republicans use that's kind of been politicized.

And it's a few handful of Democrats who actually have to deal with this because they represent the border districts have finally said. But then I think it actually increases the weight of this trip. I mean, it's now a very, very serious trip.

It is nice if it was done early on. I think this could have been something normal is because she was tasked with it. But instead, they've drawn all this attention to all this focus, which makes it, again, fraught with peril for the vice President. This keeps happening to the vice President over and over. She keeps making political mistakes. And I really chalk it up to the fact that when she was in Sacramento and even when she's in Washington, she was largely just covered by the California media.

And the California media is worse than the Washington, D.C. media. They have given her a pass for a very long time. She's not accustomed to really tough questions. When you're a Democrat in Sacramento or in California in a political office, it's a cakewalk.

You don't get any tough questions. And so when you finally get on the national stage, you're not prepared because you haven't been roughed up. And I think that this is the case with Kamala Harris. She is clearly not ready for the national stage because she hasn't had the scrutiny.

Even when she was running for President, she dropped out too early to get the real scrutiny. Yeah, Rick, I absolutely agree. Thanks for joining us. As always, Rick, I mean, and this idea that putting it, putting any everybody understands the policy. We put things off.

You put things off your bill. You're building it up and you're making it a huge deal. They're trying to play that down. And I think you did Saki. You've tried to make it sound like normal business.

So now it was the right time. But she was President. She's you know, she's visiting bakeries in Chicago. She's, you know, marching in parades, which is all fine. But go to the border to do all that.

And while you're out, take the plane down Air Force Two down to the border and say, what is going on down here? I got to get a better handle on it. I have no problem with the other stuff she did.

I just think it's obviously a political move to stay out of it. Thanks, Rick. We appreciate you being with us. Yeah. Well, okay, folks, we'll be right back.

Second half hour coming up of secular. Go to aclj.org. As always, that's aclj.org. Stay up to date on all the latest issues, even many of those that we don't get to on this broadcast. There's so much going on at aclj.org.

We'll be right back. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms defending your rights in courts in Congress and in the public arena. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at aclj.org, where you can learn more about our life changing work.

Become a member today at aclj.org. So just to recap in case you're just joining us, so Vice President Harris, the White House has announced, will visit the border tomorrow. She's going to El Paso.

That's about all we've got. We haven't got a lot of detail yet about how this visit, how long it will be. Will there be multiple stops along the way? Listen, they still have time right now to be taking in the criticism they're taking and saying, you know what, maybe we need to make this a multi-stop.

They have the plays, they've got the resources to do it. And instead of just seeing one location, since you've waited so long, how about see multiple locations, go to where it is worst. And so you can see what your federal agents that you oversee, you're their boss, are having to deal with on a daily basis. You know, it's interesting, Bill Haynes, our executive producer points this out that, and this goes back to something that Andy and I have been talking about for a long time, which is, this is not just a, we call it the border problem. It's the problem originates at the bottom.

It originates in these countries of origin, but it's of course the entry point is the border. But then it becomes very quickly a national problem because I'm not talking about coyotes running, which is a problem, up the express, you know, up 85, up 65, down 10, over 20, the highway system and spreading out. The Biden administration is flying these people that are coming in illegally to various cities in the country. Well, once you do that, Andy, that's it.

It's gone. Yeah. We just heard about a little while ago that they were flying them to an airport in Chattanooga, Tennessee, you know, to disseminate them and disperse them all over the place. And it's something that Senator Blackburn said that I really agree with and Ambassador Grinnell commented on it. There are no such things as a border state, as just a border state. Every state is a border state. Our borders have become porous. You come in, you go up by 95.

As you said, you go up the interstate highway system. These people who come across from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and so forth are not going to stay in the city, in the country states that they just entered the first time. They're going to disperse throughout the United States, sometimes not only on their own initiative, but because the United States government sends them there. I am for comprehensive immigration reform. We are a nation of immigrants.

My goodness, I'm the second generation of my family born in the United States. I think immigration is great. Naturalization is great.

The whole process can be great. That's how America was built out of many, one. The problem is when you've got this system, people that are legitimately trying to get here legally, guess what happens to them?

The system can't even handle it. Now on top of that, and I think this is worthy, Jordan, Senator Cornyn from Texas, and we talked about this earlier, but let's hear from the Senator's voice because it's not just that Vice President Harris is going late and the wrong place. Again, President Trump announced on June 15th, he's going to go to the border on the 30th. On June 23rd, Vice President Harris shockingly announces she's going to go to the border too, and she's going to go on the 25th in just a couple of days or just a day. And the reality is, and I think this is what John Cornyn says, which Congressman Cuellar said, who's a Democrat, they're voicing the same level of concern.

Take a listen. It's not even fair to say that she's a day late and a dollar short. She's nearly a hundred days late and a thousand miles short. I mean, there it is because it's been nearly a hundred days, 92 exactly, 92 days exactly when she was tasked that day at the meeting at the White House by President Biden to lead the administration's effort to tackle. They didn't want to use the word crisis then. Remember, they wouldn't even use the word crisis at the border. So the issue's at the border.

And still didn't make the trip. It'll be 92 days when she goes tomorrow. But even that, as Senator Cornyn says, as Congressman Cuellar says, so Democrats, Republicans are all saying the same thing. Even now that she's going, she's not going to the right place. She's going, as Congressman Cuellar, a fellow member of the Democrat party, like Vice President Harris said, she's going to a place that's politically safe. It's the check the box, go down to the border. So you go, you pick El Paso if you want to just check the box because it's not as bad. You won't see what's also, you know, is going on as an administration.

You won't have to see with your own eyes. But again, I think they put themselves in this troubling box every single time with her. Rick, we talked about this as well, by putting her in a situation to elevate the situation, put all this pressure and attention on her where it's all nitpicked because it felt like it took the whole country saying you need to go before they actually would schedule a trip.

Be right back on Secular. The challenges facing Americans are substantial at a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack. It's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress and in the public arena.

And we have an exceptional track record of success. But here's the bottom line, we could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms. That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side.

If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life changing work. Become a member today ACLJ.org.

Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected, is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v Wade 40 years later, Dan Parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. The White House, they're being pressed and rightly so. Why now? Why after all this I don't need to go there right now.

I haven't been to Europe either. You know, it's not the right time. It's not the right time. President Trump's going next week. Ah, it's the right time this week. We're going this week. It's got one day out. Well, one day to plan it because it comes out last night. Yesterday you get, yeah, two days at most of planning because did other Democrats know this was on the right? Were they planning this with local Texas Democrats, congressmen who represent these areas who maybe you would include?

Take a listen by 31. You extended an invitation to her for months. Did you ever hear back from her? Uh, no, we didn't. Uh, we heard about it from the news.

Uh, like everybody else. In fact, I talked to some other, uh, Texas Democrats. They had no idea until they saw it in the news. So again, uh, it doesn't matter if it's a Democrat or Republican, you got to pay courtesy to the members of Congress or down there at the border. You know, fan, I'm trying to figure out politically. I mean, you've got congressmen where obviously very upset about this. It's his district that's impacted by this among others. And how does this play out for her or for the admin?

Forget her. I mean the administration. Yeah, I think politically it's extremely had hazardous for the administration.

I mean, congressman Quay wire is right that you do have to pay courtesy to the local officials. But look, I'm, I don't even think that's the most pressing issue. The most pressing issue is if she's actually going down there to accomplish any change, she needs to talk to the officials that are tasked with this. But Jay, this, this is why I think there are cracks inside the Democrat party on this issue because when you start to stand down law enforcement and we've talked about it on this broadcast, customs and border patrol, Jay has been told not to do its job. So when you look at these numbers that Jordan is talking about, these all time highs every single month since she got this job, there have been more than 173,000 encounters during that month. Uh, Jay, you're getting those all time high numbers when law enforcement is being told to stand down.

So what's the real number when that happens? People who represent the constituents that are being harmed by this, they start to walk away from your policy. I think this is just the beginning of it, Jay. Well, I was gonna ask you this Andy cause you work with law enforcement. This is not law enforcement not do it, trying to do its job. Law enforcement wants to do its job. They're not being allowed to do their job. Yeah, this is like really handcuffing the police instead of the police handcuffing the criminals. You are telling law enforcement essentially stand down, don't do your job. Imagine that since Biden took office today and we don't have the June figures, so this is the end of May, how many encounters there were 711,000 and you're expecting the border patrol to do those, to deal with those kinds of encounters and that quantity of numbers and those kinds of months, you know, over that period of short period of time and then basically stripping them of the authority and telling them to stand down and not to do it.

I don't think it's going to work. You know, it's interesting on YouTube, a copy came in that they, maybe they believe that if they go to the border, they can place the blame elsewhere, but then they come from an administration and the Obama years that made sure in court that the only place to blame is the federal government when it comes to immigration, because they stopped any state efforts and they were successful in court, but any state efforts from getting involved with border security and less tasked by the federal government. So states can't do it on their own. And so that's the same people that get put into this administration. So they may try to place blame elsewhere, but this issue, I mean, it starts with our constitution. It starts with the way our federal government is set up. This lies directly with the executive branch. The policies put in place, like they talk about prosecutorial discretion and where to place people and where to put people and catch and release. This is all done by policy makers. Yeah, this is on their doorstep, Jordan.

I have no doubt they will try to play that game, but here's the problem they have with that. The policies of the last administration, they were working, Jordan. We didn't have 180,000 encounters a month. There was a flare up. The President responded accordingly. He put the migrant protection protocols into place, the remain in Mexico problem, and the surge went away. Jordan, it was the lifting of those policies that caused this flare up. And here's why, here's why I think they really have a political problem that is going to explode on them.

Because if they would put those policies back in place, the American people know that the problem would start to diminish. They could take that action on its own. They don't need the house. They don't need the Senate. Now I think there are some things, Jordan, that the Democrats and the Congress should do as well. Like for example, we've talked a lot on this program about trafficking. They should partner with Senator Blackburn and require DNA testing of adults that come across the border with a minor to make sure that that child does not be in traffic. But Jordan, for most of these things, the administration doesn't even need the Congress.

They just need to do what the last administration was doing. And the trafficking issue doesn't affect, again, it's not just the borders. The border's the gateway on trafficking. I mean, you dealt with trafficking cases.

I mean, I have to. I mean, and one of the Georgia Supreme Court wasn't a trafficking case, but it was that kind of situation. And it's, when you're dealing with this kind of problem, it's a, I just want to reiterate that this is a national problem. That's something that we really need to focus upon and realize, again, every state is a border state. This doesn't limit the problem that we are facing that President Biden created by leaving the policies of President Trump and not keeping those intact is to create a porous border for all of the United, continental United States. This is something that affects Maine as well as it does Arizona. It affects Georgia as well as it does Texas.

It affects every state in the union because the tentacles of illegal trafficking just enter through the blood veins of the border, but then spread throughout the entire body. You know, Deborah on Facebook said, Jordan, that Vice President Harris is going to the worst problem, is not going to the worst problem areas because she doesn't want to see what the real problems are. Yeah, well, I think that this is the issue is that you don't want to actually own the kids in the cages that you were so critical about the previous administration. You were so critical about all of their policies, yet now you've got a humanitarian disaster and you point to it and say, what was the change? The change was the leadership of the United States and the policies. So it wasn't just that Biden and Harris got elected. It was that they, they, they went in and quickly changed the policy so quick that the numbers went from January at 78,000 to February at 100,000 to last month, 180,000 policies, elections.

They all have consequences. They, when you change a policy, it will change things. And then it's changes made a humanitarian crisis at the border, which was already a problem that the previous administration didn't have a problem acknowledging, but you've made, you turned the problem back into a crisis again. The problem was being dealt with. It wasn't perfect. There were still problems, but it was, it was being dealt with in a way that worked for our agents on the border for the American officials on the border and for other Ford governments as well.

But then you, you, you switch everything up and then you don't want to take ownership of it. Well, that's not how it works because they're still blaming the previous administration. This is again, this was in March of this year when, you know, when, by the way, you had 173,000 encounters in March. This is what she said. This is what vice President Harris said. I mean, first of all, we were left with a very challenging situation and I'm looking at it. I'm saying even in January it was, it was 78,000, which was too many.

And a lot of that happened at the last 10 days of the month after the President, President Trump was out. So she said, she's left with a challenging situation. We've got to treat this issue in a way that is reflective of our American values and do it in a way that is fair and is humane, but we have to meet the moment. I mean, again, we were presented when we came in with some serious challenges, so serious that she wouldn't go down and reveal what the situation was because she did not want that photo. Van, at the end of the day, she didn't want that photo. It was always about optics, Jay, and good grief.

If you're going to say that you were presented with some very serious challenges, then why did you stand down every effort that was ongoing to combat that challenge? You cannot have it both ways. And Jay, this goes back to the conversation you had with Andy. The longer you wait to reel the problem back in, the wider it spreads and the bigger it grows. Not only do the victims of trafficking end up all over the country, the perpetrators of trafficking end up all over the country as well. And Jay, I know I sound a little bit like a broken record here, but this is the one that really, really gets me. The suspension of Operation Talon, which was actually trying to go after those traffickers who are illegally present all across the United States, find them and get them out of the country. Why in the world, if there is a serious challenge and you acknowledge that there is, and there are these traffickers all over the country, why would you suspend that operation? She can't have it both ways, Jay.

Especially when she says she wants to get to the root of the problem. And part of the root of the problem is, much more so than climate change, are coyotes and traffickers. That's right, they are. Those are the ones, the smugglers of children, the bringing in of children for illicit purposes, which occurs daily, the bringing in of women for sexual activity in these safe houses that they put them into. I've seen that. I've been involved in those cases, Jay. I know where they come from.

And it's from these regions in Central and South America. And this is being facilitated by the abandonment of the very therapeutic policies and the working policies that President Trump had in place. Yeah, I mean, this is, again, to me, it goes to bottom line this. And we can take your calls too and your comments next segment, final segment coming up. 1-800-684-3110 if you want to talk to us on air.

That's 1-800-684-3110. But now, because of all the attention to this, the fact she is sitting now in Lester Holt, trying to deflect from not visiting the border and say, well, other people have, but you haven't gone. Well, I haven't gone to Europe either. All of that, it comes to a head. So instead of it being something maybe she does quarterly since she was tasked with this and she makes that trip while she's making other trips, this becomes this huge contrast between her and then President Trump coming in the next week.

So she puts even more pressure on her and her staff to be able to pull this off and they're doing it politically in 48 hours versus planning out a trip because no other Democrats had any idea this was even on the books. Think about that. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, Planned Parenthood's role in the abortion industry and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack, it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress and in the public arena.

And we have an exceptional track record of success. But here's the bottom line, we could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life changing work.

Become a member today, ACLJ.org. So I just, for everyone to understand, by the way, this has just been announced. I think we need to cover, let me go to Thad Bennett. Thad, because vice President, this is breaking right now, they have a deal on infrastructure. We saw a bipartisan group of senators just leaving the White House. Do you have any more on that yet about if this is a deal, an idea of a deal, of what the bill actually looks like or what the deal actually looks like?

Because this is just breaking right now. Those are the right questions to ask, Jordan. I don't know what they announced as they left the White House other than the fact that they had a deal. But as you well know, until you see it on paper, you've got to be a little bit cautious on how final that deal is. I do think it's important, though, to note this, Jordan, and we've said it on this broadcast this week, that there was always a deal to be had on infrastructure if they're willing to continue the bipartisan talks. Plenty of Republicans are willing to pass a meaningful infrastructure bill if it's actually focused on infrastructure.

Here's my concern, though. Just this morning, Jordan, Senator Schumer said that he was going to continue parallel tracks. He was going to continue the bipartisan negotiation, but he was also going to begin the reconciliation process for a second infrastructure bill. So what that would mean, Jordan, maybe they have a deal on, you know, a narrower common sense infrastructure bill. Then he's going to put all of his wish list items in a second bill and he'll run that on the reconciliation course, which can pass with only 50 votes in the United States Senate. So that's something that we need to watch. We need to see what the details of this bipartisan bill are.

But then we also need to see if they're going to tack on a second bill that is wish list projects that can pass with only 50 votes. So we'll probably know that later today, Jordan. I think also we want to pass our thoughts and prayers over to the people of Surfside, California, Florida, with this tragic collapse of a building that right now there are 51 people unaccounted for. Andy, where's Surfside? Surfside is, if you're taking Miami Beach, it's north Miami Beach up near Bell Harbor in the northern part of the area of Miami Beach. So anyways, our thoughts and prayers with the governor DeSantis is down there now. Which is a point to make, not to, again, to underscore this tragedy that's still unfolding there, but this happened in the wee hours today. And Governor DeSantis, which, Florida's a big state, is based in Tallahassee. He's already in Miami, which is the most southern tip of the state.

So if you could make the furthest plane, that's about as far as you could do inside Florida. But Vice President Harris, it took 100 days to go to a crisis area. See, that's what leadership is about, not being afraid of what he might see. I mean, he's going to a building which, we don't know if the rest of the building's going to stand up, we know people have been evacuated. We know it collapsed on its own. There doesn't appear to be any foul play. We don't know the death toll yet. But it looks like a, I mean, it looks like it was a bomb went off. Yes, it went off.

But there's no indication of anything like that. No, but it went off. It happened when people were inside.

It happened in the middle of the night. So he's already there. It's leadership. It's what leaders do.

You're not afraid of what you're going to see or what you might find. It's not that he, anyone, that he's responsible, the state government's responsible, but it's their role to go in with as the emergency management and as the governor to put the pressure on those to make sure they're doing their job. You go there, it's symbolic, yes, but it's symbolic because as the leader, you're saying, hey, thank you to everyone who responded so quickly.

Keep it up. There's a lot more work to do. Well, leadership is, includes the ministry of presence and that we've said that often on this broadcast and that is you've got to be there.

Some, I mean, some situations require you to actually be there. And here's what I think we have. It is a terrible situation on the board, the US border. I mean, it is, and it's affecting the entire country, as we've said, and we wanted to highlight that on today's broadcast and we have.

The tragedy of all this is that young kids are the ones really impacted by, I mean, it's not just young kids, but young kids are really impacted by this and that horrible photo and the pictures of those kids being dropped over the wall. And I mean, this is, you know, you know, and we are the United States of America. We could do better than that. And, and, and part of doing better than that is to get to the real problem and to see the real problem. But you know what I don't see in any of this right now, fan, what is the proposed solution with, with the, with the previous administration, they had a plan, they were border security wall being built, customs and immigration, aggressive enforcement, no more catch and release. What is the plan here?

There isn't one, Jay. I mean, there's not a plan or even a desire to solve the problem. I don't think that's unfair to say, and here's why the, the proposals, the solutions, the plans that were in place, uh, Jay, they were working.

And to the extent that there's additional layers needed for the things that you're talking about, there are proposals out there that would solve them. And they're not things that would necessarily be partisan. I mean, you should check when an adult comes across the border with a minor to see if there are trafficking them or if that is their child that's basic common sense. And I would say this to the larger question, Jay, I mean, look, this is the job. If you don't want to be the vice President, don't take the job because your job here is to look for the problems and then to address them and find solutions. And by the way, nowhere does a President or a vice President have more latitude than in the issues of foreign affairs and border security. When you talk about some domestic issues, Congress certainly has a lot more to say about it, but on these issues, Jay, it is the administration's job to come up with a solution. And right now, I think it's very fair to say they don't actually want to solve the problem. They can put forward infrastructure deals. They can put forward all, all of this idea of, you know, takeover of the election system, maybe try to get rid of the filibuster.

We'll see about that. But when you know that there's a problem, and listen, there was still a problem on the border. When the administration shifted, it's not like the Trump administration officials would tell you, oh, everything was done and it was all great, wonderful. It was that it was under control. The problem was kind of at, you know, we saw these kinds of numbers stabilizing.

There'd be peaks that would kind of follow seasonal peaks. There were resources being spent, a lot of resources, so that ICE had their resources they need, border patrol, customs had the resources they need, new facilities being built, new sections of wall being built where, where appropriate and necessary. And then the administration comes in and all they've done to, to is politically got rid of policies that they made into political arguments. And then as you said, where is the solution to this crisis? 180,000 people a month. I mean, so now we're getting close to, first it was getting close to 100,000. Within a few months, it's now getting close to 200,000 people. And those are just the people that are actually being tracked.

I mean, that, if that's true, I would say there's probably another couple hundred thousand that aren't at least. And, and the problem here is this. And when you, when you put it into the human casualty here, the human dilemma here is that people are really hurting. And it is true that these countries of origin are in rough shape, but these coyotes that take these people over charge tens of thousands of dollars. And it's a business and it's an illegal business.

And that's the root cause of this. So sure you could say the economic situation in their home country is, is bad and that could be helping and maybe you could provide economic and to make it better. That's a political decision. But what I see lacking right now is, you know, they talk about how they were going to be the compassionate group coming into office. They were going to be the ones with compassion. They have so much compassion. So loaded with compassion that they're going to El Paso instead of the Rio Grande. So much compassion that they did not decide to go to the border until the former President of the United States announces he's going to the border. So much compassion that they still offering no solution to this problem, whether they keep their head in the sand or not. Where's the solution? And that solution apparently, at least politically with this administration does not exist. And that's what's going to happen now.

So now that vice President Harris, if they made a political decision here thought, okay, we got to take President Trump's wind out of this into the attention office and we'll go or he does. Well, then you're going to get asked after that, what are you going to do about what you've seen? What are you going to do about the crisis? What are you going to do about the numbers that you've been briefed on by the border patrol agents who we need to support exactly who you're kind of undercutting and defunding at this point? What are you going to do? So the questions are going to get tougher after she goes.

And you have to wonder with this team, are they ready for that? We'll talk to you tomorrow. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines, protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress and in the public arena. The American center for law and justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org where you can learn more about our life changing work. Become a member today. ACLJ.org.