This Congresswoman Says “What Border Crisis?!”

There’s an old joke in the Nation’s Capital that Washington, D.C. is 68 square miles surrounded by reality. This is true enough when it comes to how the left thinks Biden’s border crisis can be fixed; expedited processing and release of all migrants, on-demand work permits, amnesty, or any other “solution” short of securing the border, enforcing existing laws, and returning illegal crossers. But detachment from reality hit a new level of sheer delusion recently when Massachusetts Congresswoman, Ayanna Pressley, appeared on CNN.

Rep. Pressley: “No doubt about it, our border is secure, and we are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, and we have to fix a broken system.”

Jake Tapper: “Just to get some clarity on this, and sure it is a conversation for another day, but do you think that the border is secure? Is that what you said?”

Rep. Pressley: “Yes, the border is secure.”

FAIR has verified that (A) this was not a Babylon Bee satire (B) Ayanna Pressley is, in fact, a duly-sworn member of the U.S. House of Representatives lawmaker (C) the interview took place in 2023 America, and (D) it did indeed occur on Planet Earth.

How common this hallucinatory condition may be within the left remains unknown. The cure will likely occur in the next election — indeed in the form of radical shock therapy — for those of any political stripe who can’t comprehend the magnitude of the border crisis and for those who refuse to fix it. But for now, we offer an antidote to denial; hard, cold facts:

• The number of encounters in August totaled 304,162, up from 245,286 encounters in July. So far in fiscal year 2023, more than 2,860,127 illegal aliens have been encountered at America’s borders.
• Since the Biden administration has been in office, there have been 6.9 million encounters of illegal aliens at the border. An additional 1.7 million are known “gotaways,” i.e., those observed entering the United States but not detained or turned back.
• 151 individuals on the terror watch list have been encountered between U.S. ports of entry so far this fiscal year.
• Customs and Border Protection has seized more than 25,500 pounds of fentanyl so far this fiscal year, twice same period in 2022. While this might appear to be a sign of success, it is quite the opposite. If the drug cartels are willing to accept the seizure of this much product, many more times that amount is making it onto the streets of American cities.
• 16.8 million illegal aliens reside in the United States costing taxpayers $150.7 billion at the federal, state, and local levels.

The border is a lot of things, but “secure” it’s not.

Washington may be 68 square miles isolated from reality, but for responsible lawmakers, there’s plenty of reality outside of it to observe, specifically 2,000 miles of chaos at the southern border. And, for the sadly deluded Rep. Pressley, may we suggest an illuminating trip back to her home state of Massachusetts which is now under a state of emergency declared by Governor Maura T. Healey because of massive numbers of arriving migrants.

After all, when even CNN challenges your assertion that the border is secure, it’s time for a reality check.