Gov. Spencer Cox signs letter to Biden on border crisis
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Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and 24 other Republican governors sent a letter to President Joe Biden Tuesday, asking his administration to provide accurate and detailed information on migrants entering the country.
The letter outlines challenges faced by states across the country — which include overwhelmed law enforcement, infrastructure and aid programs — amid record levels of illegal border crossings. The letter claims the federal government has turned “a blind eye” to the magnitude of the problem and has left governors blind to address it by not providing rapid, transparent data regarding the issue.
“As governors, we call on you to provide honest, accurate, detailed information on where the migrants admitted at the southern border are being relocated in the United States, in addition to comprehensive data on asylum claim timelines and qualification rates, and successful deportations,” the letter reads. “We ask for this information immediately, but also regularly as the crisis at the southern border continues.”
Since Biden took office in January 2021, there have been nearly 6 million illegal crossings at the southern border, the governors say, adding that an additional 1.6 million migrants have evaded apprehension, according to the president’s Customs and Border Protection agency. And of these apprehended immigrants, a record 244 were on a terrorist watchlist.
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This surge is not limited to the southern border. “Every state is now a border state,” the governors say, pointing out that some areas along the U.S.-Canada border have also seen an exponential increase in illegal crossings in the last two years.
While states have a role in enforcing immigration laws and providing care for migrants and asylum seekers, they cannot meet the costs — which exceed $150 billion annually at the federal, state and local level, according to one analysis — or adequately provide for their residents’ health and safety without federal assistance, the governors say.
“States are forced to provide financial, educational, and medical support to migrants entering our country illegally — support that is skyrocketing in cost due to record inflation and the unprecedented influx of migrants into our states,” the letter reads. “The financial impact on the states is staggering, and it is our hardworking citizens who shoulder that burden.”
The Republican signatories — who include, in addition to Cox, presidential candidates Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, as well as the governors of Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming — point to recent comments from New York City’s Democratic mayor, Eric Adams, and Massachusetts’ Democratic governor, Maura Healey, to show that the immigration crisis is not a partisan issue.
At the statement’s conclusion, the governors reiterate their call for the Biden “administration to relay immediately accurate, detailed, thorough data. ... Without such information, we cannot fulfill our fundamental duties to protect our citizens while providing our communities with appropriate services.”
Cox did not provide additional comment for this story.
