Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) is refusing to challenge President Joe Biden (D) about the surge of illegal aliens at the southern border, the Republican Governors Association (RGA) claimed Monday.
The group, which views the Michigan governor’s race as one of its top priorities in 2022, noted 26 Republican governors have requested a meeting with Biden “to demand the end to the crisis at the border” and added Whitmer “refuses to acknowledge the crisis.”
“The negative impacts of an unenforced border policy on the American people can no longer be ignored,” the governors wrote in their request. “Border apprehensions are up almost 500% compared to last year, totaling more than 1.3 million — more people than the populations of nine U.S. states.”
“While governors are doing what we can, our Constitution requires that the President must faithfully execute the immigration laws passed by Congress. Not only has the federal government created a crisis, it has left our states to deal with challenges that only the federal government has a duty to solve,” the letter went on.
In addition to the influx of people, illegal drugs have continued to pour over the border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced on Tuesday that officers have seized more than 310,000 pounds of marijuana in this fiscal year alone.
“We have heard directly from our constituents about the damage this crisis has caused in our states, and it is our duty as elected officials to act swiftly to protect our communities, as it is yours,” the governors said.
The RGA pointed to where Whitmer may be coming from on the issue by sharing a video of Whitmer as a candidate in 2018 claiming she supported the elimination of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
“I think that ICE is doing cruel and unconstitutional and undemocratic work,” Whitmer said.
When asked if “we should eliminate ICE,” Whitmer responded, “Yeah, our governor needs to stand up,” before nodding affirmatively when asked again. The governor at the time was Republican Rick Snyder.
“Gretchen Whitmer’s refusal to stand up to President Biden and demand he crack down on illegal immigration is putting Michiganders at risk as crime rises across the country,” RGA spokesperson Chris Gustafson said. “With over 200,000 illegal crossings every month, Biden’s border crisis can no longer be ignored, and it’s far past time for Whitmer to demand action.”
Previously, Whitmer has supported a change in state law that would provide driver’s licenses to undocumented individuals.
We need to ensure that everyone’s got a path to getting a license, so they’ve got identification. That’s something that’s important to me, it’s important to our economy, and it’s important to the people of Michigan,” Whitmer said at the time.
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for The Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Gretchen Whitmer” by Gretchen Whitmer.
