CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings chuckled when former Democratic South Carolina state Rep. Bakari Sellers suggested on Monday that President-elect Donald Trump is inheriting a secure border from President Joe Biden.
Biden presided over the highest level of net migration in American history, according to The New York Times’ December analysis of government data. Despite this, Sellers on “CNN News Central,” claimed that net migration under Biden has dropped to a lower level than it was before Trump’s first term.
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“If you look at the fact that something like net migration at the border, [it] is lower than it was even before Donald Trump took office,” Sellers said, prompting Jennings to laugh and shake his head.
Jennings apologized but suggested that “the idea that immigration is under control” is laughable.
“Two things can be true,” CNN anchor Kate Bolduan chimed in. “The border needs to be secured further and his numbers can be accurate.”
Annual net migration, the difference between individuals entering and departing the U.S., averaged 2.4 million from 2021 to 2023, according to the NYT.
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Since Biden unveiled an executive order in June restricting the number of illegal crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border, encounters between ports of entry have declined, according to a September press release by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The Biden administration touted the reduction in illegal border crossings, despite the latest immigration data at the time also showing that over 500,000 foreign nationals have been flown into the nation via a mass parole program.
Trump has committed to oversee a large-scale deportation operation during his second term. Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan in December told the Daily Caller News Foundation that any individual or jurisdiction that directly impedes the work of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent should prepare to face repercussions.
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“There are federal statutes on the books for knowingly concealing and harboring an illegal alien away from ICE officers,” Homan told the DCNF. “There are statutes on the books about impeding federal law enforcement officers – they’re all felonies.”
“Now these sanctuary cities cannot assist – ok, that’s fine. They can stand aside, that’s fine, but they cannot cross that line,” he continued. “If they cross that line, we’ll be asking the attorney’s office to consider prosecution.”
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.