Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), running against Republican J.D. Vance for Ohio’s open Senate seat, is refusing to state a position on President Joe Biden’s ending the “Remain in Mexico” program at the United States-Mexico border that cut asylum fraud.
First started by Trump in 2019, the Remain in Mexico program sought to eliminate asylum fraud and end the practice known as “Catch and Release,” whereby border crossers and illegal aliens are briefly apprehended before being released into the U.S. interior while they await their future asylum hearings.
The program required border crossers and illegal aliens to wait in Mexico for their asylum hearings in the U.S. after their arrival at the southern border — ensuring they were not simply released into American communities with the hope that they would show up to their hearings.
After the Supreme Court and a lower court ruled that the administration could end Remain in Mexico, Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced they would finally cancel the program.
Ryan has not made any public statement on Biden’s ending Remain in Mexico and did not respond to a request for comment from Breitbart News on the issue. The silence leaves Ohio voters guessing where Ryan stands on illegal immigration.
Remain in Mexico is popular among American voters. The latest NPR/Ipsos Poll finds that 57 percent of Americans support Remain in Mexico, including 44 percent of Democrats, 54 percent of swing voters, and 77 percent of Republicans.
Vance, conversely, told Breitbart News in an exclusive statement that Biden’s ending Remain in Mexico will make Ohio’s drug crisis even worse and blasted Ryan as a “do nothing” congressman.
“Joe Biden’s open border is wreaking havoc on Ohio as deadly drugs and violent criminals pour into our state,” Vance said. “That problem will become even worse when he eliminates the Remain-in-Mexico policy and Tim Ryan has the power to stop it.”
“Instead, Tim Ryan has chosen to do nothing because he supports Joe Biden’s open border policies and votes with him 100 percent of the time,” he continued.
Remain in Mexico was massively successful in eliminating asylum fraud.
The latest data shows that of the more than 45,000 Remain in Mexico cases adjudicated since 2019, fewer than 740 migrants have been found to have legitimate asylum claims to remain in the U.S. This indicates that only 1.6 percent of Remain in Mexico migrants end up having valid asylum claims to stay in the U.S.
Meanwhile, more than 71 percent of migrants have been ordered to be deported after failing to show they have legitimate asylum claims. More than 23 percent of migrants terminated their asylum proceedings.
Ryan has hinged his political career on portraying himself, like Biden, as a moderate Democrat who is willing to break with his party on a myriad of issues.
“You gotta be able to tell your own party, which I have, and tell the Democrats NO,” Ryan said in December 2021 while also claiming “I don’t answer to any political party” in a recent campaign ad.
Despite those claims, Ryan has voted for Biden’s agenda 100 percent of the time while in Congress, FiveThirtyEight analysis shows. Most recently, Ryan voted for Biden’s “Inflation Reduction Act” which is set to unleash the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on working and middle class Americans, squeezing them out of billions via new audits.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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