Title 42 ends: Ro Khanna calls for bipartisan solution on border crisis
Brady Knox
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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) proposed a list of common principles that Republicans and Democrats could unite around to get immigration reform passed.
In an appearance on Fox News, Khanna said that “nothing has been done” regarding immigration reform since legislation passed under the Reagan administration. The California Democrat accepted that there was a crisis at the southern border, and said that more funding was needed to hire judges and immigration officers.
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“Instead of throwing fingers at each other, why don’t we come together on some common principles; we need a safe and secure border, and we need an orderly and humane process,” Khanna said. “That means Congress needs to provide the money to have judges there and to have immigration officers so that we can actually be quickly processing the claims.”
“The president is saying that these claims should be processed in hours; people who aren’t legitimate should be sent back,” he added. “We need to have more money for Border Patrol, which by the way, the House has passed under Democratic leadership. Two years ago, the Republicans didn’t vote for that. But why not come up with a bipartisan solution? That’s what I want.”
The California representative drew a line in what Democrats would accept, ruling out provisions such as a border wall or defunding non-government organizations working at the border.
“[The Republicans’] bill is extreme,” said Khanna. “I mean, their bill takes away funding from any of the NGOs in El Paso.”
“We will support increased funding for immigration judges to quickly process things; we will support better technology and security on the border,” he added. “So, why not come up with a compromise there?”
Khanna also passed much of the blame on Congress, drawing flak away from President Joe Biden. He said that the current problem lies mostly in Congress, and its inability to come together on a bipartisan basis.
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“But the problem is often with Congress, and we have not provided the administration with the resources for the immigration judges or processing,” he said. “We have not provided the resources for Border Patrol. We have not provided the resources for securing the border, and I don’t believe this is either a Democratic or Republican issue. It’s a both-party issue.”
The crisis at the border has grown worse in recent days as a surge of migrants followed the expiration of Title 42.