Congressional Republicans are incensed that President Biden would erect a wall around the U.S. Capitol for his State of the Union address while Americans are suffering from his open-border, pro-illegal immigration policies.
Breitbart News spoke with several members of Congress on Thursday who expressed bewilderment at Biden’s tone-deaf wall construction. Federal authorities constructed temporary fencing around the U.S. Capitol Building the night before Biden’s speech.
Eight-feet-tall steel fencing is put up around the U.S. Capitol the day before President Joe Biden is to deliver the State of the Union address on March 06, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“The President wants to put artificial fencing around this institution, but he’s not willing to actually secure our southern border, Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK) told Breitbart News. It’s sort of a juxtaposition there. You’re willing to secure yourself but not others. And I think that speaks volumes.”
Republicans pointed to Laken Riley’s recent murder allegedly by a Venezuelan national who crossed the border under Biden’s watch. Riley’s murder has ignited national fury over the horrific consequences of Biden’s border policies.
“What is going on on our southern border is something that simply cannot be ignored whether you’re a Republican or Democratic, a conservative or a liberal. It doesn’t matter,” said Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY). “What we see coming across that border is catastrophic.”
Congressional Republicans also called out Democrats’ hypocrisy for hiding behind the safety of a wall while inviting migrants to illegally cross our border into American communities.
“Walls work? Imagine that!” said Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL). “Imagine the message that sends, that we will protect politicians but we won’t protect the rest of American citizens, that we will put more security on banks and federal buildings than we will our schools to protect our children. This a two-tiered, elitist messaging that comes out of Washington, out of the swamp, and the American people need to take notice of that.”
Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) called Biden’s Capitol fence “very self-serving.”
Groups of migrants of different nationalities arrive at the Rio Grande on March 4, 2024. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“The image is that Joe Biden wants security for himself, but he denies it to Laken Riley and all victimized Americans like her,” he said.
Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI) said there was no threat to the Capitol to justify the fence, suggesting that Biden is engaging in political theater.
“It’s an example of much ado about nothing,” he told Breitbart News. “They’re probably trying to keep people in the Capitol so nobody leaves too early… I don’t think there’s going to be too many people trying to break into the Capitol.”
Eight-foot-tall steel fencing surrounds the U.S. Capitol Complex on March 7, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura/Getty)
Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK) compared Biden’s newly adopted open-borders philosophy with his pervious longtime position that walls work. As Brecheen pointed out, during the 2006 debate on the Secure Fence Act, then-Senator Biden supported physical barriers at the border specifically because of the illegal drug trade.
“Then he gets elected president, he says ‘not another foot,’ shutting down congressionally authorized, congressionally funded 200-mile border wall construction,” Brecheen said. “It’s a vacillation of ideology.”
Biden’s speech is scheduled to begin Thursday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
Editor’s Note: This article was revised slightly to add precision around some details.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.