Former Democratic Senator-turned-Independent Kyrsten Sinema frequently demonstrates why she is no longer a member of her former party these days, and did so again on Wednesday.
The fiesty senator, who is up for reelection next year and already has a Democratic challenger, called out Joe Biden’s resident flak, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, after the latter laughably claimed that under the president, illegal immigration has fallen 90 percent.
That’s worse than absurd, but that’s about the strongest word we can use here. It also really ticked off Sinema, whose state, of course, borders Mexico and has seen a wildly dramatic uptick in both illegal immigrant traffic and smuggling of deadly fentanyl under Biden’s watch.
Sinema hit back at Jean-Pierre’s claim during an appearance on Fox News’ “Special Report” with anchor Bret Baier.
“Obviously, the border is not secure. Anyone with eyes can see that,” Sinema said. “And anyone who lives in a border state like I do, born and raised in Arizona, actually takes offense at comments like that because they’re just factually not true.
“The reality is, is that border communities in my state are suffering already, and that’s before the end of Title 42” next week, she added.
“Just last week, I held a hearing in our border subcommittee and brought a Republican mayor and a Democratic mayor, both representing small border towns from Arizona,” she said. “And we just asked them, what is it like every day in your town? And Bret, there are high-speed chases going on through the city of Sierra Vista right now with young teens driving cars and sometimes being killed or causing the death of others transporting drugs and other migrants through these communities.”
“It is not secure,” Sinema added. “It is not safe.”
Later, Sinema expressed her belief that President Biden should take action to address the crisis he has been accused of creating by “enforcing the laws that are on the books.”
“There are a lot of bipartisan plans that we’ve been working on with some of our colleagues in the Senate and the House that could actually make a difference,” she said. “It would be most helpful if the administration would start by actually enforcing the laws that are on the books, that would provide confidence, particularly to Republican members of the House and the Senate, that we could get something done.”
WATCH:
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) blasts White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre for falsely claiming that the U.S. southern border is secure: “just factually not true” pic.twitter.com/O4ZH8vxDCK
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) May 3, 2023