Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) dug into President Biden’s border policies Monday, arguing they will result in 9/11-style attacks “every few weeks.”
“The Biden administration … is going to get us in so much trouble,” Tuberville said in an interview with Newsmax’s “The Balance.” “We’re going to have a 9/11 attack every few weeks if we don’t watch it.”
“It is out of control, but this group could care less,” Tuberville continued, adding later, “I was an educator, and I’m up here, watching what’s going on — I’m thinking … who cares? Who cares about the American people? Who cares about the taxpayers of this country? I can’t find anybody on both sides of the aisle.”
Tuberville’s remarks were first highlighted by Mediate.
Pointing to Hamas’s Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel that left more than 1,200 people dead, Tuberville argued the Biden administration should have directed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to send “every available military personnel” to the U.S. border to shut it down in the wake of such attacks.
Tuberville claimed “hundreds” of terrorists cross over the U.S. border, echoing arguments made by several Republican lawmakers pushing for tighter border security.
A report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) released earlier this month showed that from October 2022 to September of this year, officials arrested 169 individuals at the southern border whose names appeared on the U.S.’s terrorist watch list. The previous fiscal year saw 98 arrests of those on the watch list, and 15 in 2021.
The CPB noted encounters of individuals on the watch list are “very uncommon,” though some lawmakers have used this statistic to highlight their growing concern.
The White House has faced increased pressure from both Republicans and even some Democrats in recent months who have expressed concerns about the flow of migrants across the southern border.
Tuberville himself was among a group of 13 Republicans last month who called on Biden to expand the border wall, weeks after the White House announced it was waiving certain environmental laws to allow for wall construction along the southern border in Texas.
Many Congressional Republicans have said their support for additional aid to Ukraine is dependent on it being paired with border security measures. Earlier this month, Senate Republicans specifically laid out a list of immigration reforms they are demanding be attached to any foreign aid package for Ukraine, including the resumption of the southwestern border wall, increased pay for Border Patrol agents and reformed asylum laws.
These demands are setting up for potentially challenging budget negotiations, with Democrats already speaking out against some of their counterparts’ proposal. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the package of proposed border security reforms a “total non-starter.”
The Hill reached out to the White House for comment.