Phillips says Democrats ‘have to wake up to the truth’ on border crisis

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) on Friday said his fellow Democrats need to “wake up” and see the border crisis for what it is: ‘A disaster.”

“It is an unmitigated, embarrassing, unforgivable disaster,” Phillips, who is running against President Biden for the White House, said in a forum hosted by NewsNation’s Dan Abrams.

“The more we ignore it, the more we pave a path for Donald Trump to return to the White House, because you know what?” the long-shot presidential candidate continued. “He’s actually listening. And I think it’s time that Democrats do, and I’m afraid that President Biden is at a stage where he has lost the ability to legitimately listen.”

His comments echo a similar sentiment he shared in October, after taking two trips to the U.S. Mexico-border. Phillips called the border insecure, and “inhumane,” at the time.

In Friday’s interview, he accused the Biden administration of mismanaging the border crisis, including demeaning Border Patrol agents for showing mercy.

“It is not fair to our border patrol agents who have shown extraordinary mercy and humanity in ways that I wish more Americans saw,” Phillips told Abrams. “And they’ve been demeaned by Democrats.”

The Democratic hopeful also attacked Biden for not attending the NewsNation forum — and for not supporting Democratic primary debates.

“Where is he? I know he probably couldn’t be here today, but to tell the country that he will not debate a single time in a Democratic primary of such consequence? That’s perhaps the biggest point of differentiation … showing up,” he concluded.

Phillips launched his presidential campaign in October and announced in late November that he wouldn’t seek reelection to his House seat.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), a notable progressive among Democrats, also indicated she has “serious concerns” about Biden’s border policy — but her argument was contrary to Phillips’s.

“There is so much fearmongering going on that it is difficult to know exactly where to start,” she said Thursday during a House Judicial Committee hearing.

“But let me say this first: The Biden administration is enforcing immigration laws,” Jayapal continued. “In fact, the administration has been so heavy-handed in recent months that I have serious concerns about how they are conducting border enforcement.”

In a recent CBS News survey, nearly half of Americans polled said the situation at the border is a concern. The same poll found that 30 percent see the situation as a serious problem, 18 percent see it as somewhat serious and 7 percent said the situation isn’t a problem at all.

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.