Columbia Standard

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, representing South Carolina and serving as the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, expressed strong criticism of the Biden Administration's handling of border security during a recent hearing. The hearing, led by committee Democrats, focused on former President Donald Trump's pledge to deport illegal immigrants en masse.

Graham highlighted a significant decrease in deportations under President Biden compared to previous administrations. During the Obama and Trump Administrations, annual deportations averaged 263,870 and 233,838 respectively. In contrast, the Biden Administration has seen an average of 131,815 deportations per year.

"When you have people show up by the millions and the number of people being deported goes down by forty-something percent, you are incentivizing more people to come [into the country illegally]," said Graham.

He further emphasized a tough stance on illegal immigration: "If you are here illegally, get ready to leave. If you're a criminal, we're coming after you first. If you have been paroled [into the country] illegally, we're not going to give you the roots to attach yourself to our country because you should not have been here in the first place."

As he prepares to assume his role as Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee in 2025, Graham stated that passing a border security bill will be a primary focus for Republicans through budget reconciliation.

"Most Americans… feel like the Biden Administration was criminally negligent… by having a broken border and allowing drugs to pour into our country to kill tens of thousands of young people," Graham remarked. He added that this negligence allowed "people to come in our country who are convicted felons to do damage to families [that] we’ll hear from today." He assured that this situation is nearing its end with plans for a "transformational border security bill" as a top priority for Republicans in January 2025.