Rep. Cindy Axne (D-IA) praised Vice President Kamala Harris for her handling of the nation’s ongoing crisis at the United States-Mexico border, even as illegal immigration has continued to surge.
In footage from a town hall with constituents obtained by Breitbart News, Axne said she supported Harris’ approach at the border, which has yet to include a visit to the region.
“I think what Vice President Harris is doing is what we need to be doing, what we should have done ages ago, which is going down and work with those countries where people are coming from,” Axne told constituents.
This month, Harris visited Guatemala and Mexico to meet with government officials in both countries. During her trip to Guatemala, she told migrants “Do not come” to the U.S., even as President Joe Biden’s administration has dismantled the legal wall that had kept a lid on illegal immigration for the last couple of years.
As part of that dismantling, Biden and Harris have thrown out the “Remain in Mexico” program that nearly eliminated asylum fraud and ended the widely criticized Catch and Release policy. Instead, migrants enrolled in Remain in Mexico are being released into the U.S. interior.
In addition, Biden and Harris canceled U.S. agreements with Central America that reduced illegal immigration by requiring migrants to seek asylum in the nearest safe country they enter.
The result has been waves of illegal immigration that show no sign of slowing down.
In May, federal immigration officials apprehended more than 172,000 border crossers — a nearly 700 percent increase in illegal immigration compared to the same time last year.
Axne also suggested that border crossers arriving at the southern border are merely “refugees” who are legally allowed to cross international borders if they are fleeing violence. A federal appeals court last week, though, reaffirmed that fleeing violence is not a legitimate claim for asylum in the U.S. But Axne said:
What these folks who are coming to this country are doing is legal. They’re coming here as refugees and that’s legal … you know what, here’s the deal, there are folks who are fleeing extreme situations where their children are at risk of their lives, their families are at risk.
Axne suggested that amnesty for millions of illegal aliens enrolled and eligible for former President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program ought to be a priority for Congress.
“We’re starting by trying, though, that our DREAMers who are young people, who were brought here, who have gone to school here, who have built … are working, are paying taxes, that they become citizens because this is their country that they grew up in,” Axne said.
Axne is one of nearly 30 House Democrats who represent swing districts and are vulnerable to Republican challengers in the upcoming 2022 midterm elections. Last year, Axne barely won her seat in Iowa’s 3rd congressional district by less than 6,300 votes.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.