WASHINGTON, D.C. – Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen testified before a Congressional committee Wednesday about the current situation on the U.S. southern border.
Chairman Bennie Thompson said he wanted to use the hearing to give her the opportunity to start a serious discussion, rather than echoing President Trump’s claims of a national emergency at the border.
Nielsen told committee members the crisis was not manufactured and that tens of thousands of families are crossing the border illegally every month, straining resources.
Rep. Thompson (D-MS) said, “The president himself admitted that there is no emergency, even as he was announcing his declaration saying, ‘I didn’t need to do this, I just want to do it faster.’ The president wants to build a wall so there is something to point to, or have his picture taken in front of, to convince the American people he has border security figured out.”
Sec. Nielsen stated, “At the current pace we are on track to encounter close to 1 million illegal aliens at our southern border this year. Our capacity is already severely restrained but these increases will overwhelm the system entirely. This is not a manufactured crisis. This is truly an emergency.”
The Senate is expected to vote next week and join the House in rejecting President Trump’s national emergency declaration aimed at building border walls.
If a vote is successful, President Trump is expected to veto the measure.
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