Exclusive — Tom Emmer: Joe Biden Only Talking About Immigration Because It Has Become a ‘Political Liability’

President Joe Biden is only talking about immigration now because it has become a “political liability,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) said during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily following Thursday evening’s State of the Union (SOTU) address.

Biden opened up the speech not talking about the state of the union but the state of Ukraine’s union, showing how deeply removed Democrats are from issues at the center of Americans’ minds.

Emmer said Americans “know that the real state of the union has been defined by unprecedented crisis at our borders, total chaos overseas, and lingering economic struggles thanks to this president’s failed policies.”

He also took issue with Biden asserting that “America is safer today than when I took office.”

“Tell that to the parents of Laken Riley, Mike. I mean, it was obnoxious. It was disgusting, and frankly, it was tragic because it didn’t deliver at all,” he said, noting that it took Biden 40 minutes to bring up Riley, the young woman whom an illegal immigrant killed. And even when he did mention her, Biden called her by the wrong name, he noted.

“And when he did, he called her Lincoln…No one’s buying what Joe Biden’s selling,” the House majority whip said.

WATCH — Say Her Name! Biden Calls Laken Riley, Nursing Student Allegedly Murdered by Illegal Alien, “Lincoln”

U.S. House of Representatives

While he said it was great that Biden referred to Riley’s killer as an illegal immigrant, he highlighted how some Democrats — namely, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) — were offended and disappointed in Biden’s description.

Emmer also discussed the passage of the Laken Riley Act, which essentially requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain illegal immigrants who are charged with theft, as the illegal who killed Riley was arrested before her murder. Sadly, Emmer acknowledged that no matter what Congress does to help Biden on the issue of immigration, “he refuses to undo his executive orders” to fix the problem.

“That should tell everybody everything they need to know. He has caused this problem. His administration is directly responsible. For goodness sake, Mike, Secretary Mayorkas was impeached for what — first Cabinet member to be impeached in over 100 years — he was impeached because he refuses to enforce U.S. immigration laws on our borders. He has instructed his subordinates to circumvent those laws, and he’s lied to Congress repeatedly,” Emmer explained.

“So anybody who thinks we can pass something that these guys will actually enforce, you know, I would hope they would, but I’m not confident of that, Mike, and I think this is why elections have consequences. This is the number one issue for Republicans, Democrats, and others in this country,” he said, adding that “the only reason Joe Biden is talking about it right now is because it has risen to the level of a political liability that is going to cost him his election.”

“Show up and vote next November. Vote [for] Republicans; they will protect your borders. They will protect this country and get these crazy, left-wing, Marxist, socialist, progressive Democrats out of office,” he added.

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