Missouri U.S. Senator Roy Blunt says there’s been a dramatic decline in the number of people coming to the U.S. through the Mexico border. During a Senate Republican press conference in Washington, Blunt says he traveled this month to the border to see for himself how things are going.
“Border crossings are way down, they’re 56% below where they were in May. There’s always a little of that in the summer, but these numbers are lower than where they would traditionally be. I personally think that barriers, fences – those things make a difference – are part of what we ought to be doing, where they make sense.”
Blunt credits President Trump and Mexico’s president for working together to reduce the flow at the border.
Blunt says 15,000 Mexico National Guard soldiers are also working along the northern border between the U.S. and Mexico. He says another game-changer has been an agreement with Mexico to send immigrants crossing the border to Mexico to await their court date, instead of staying in the U.S.
“No more than 15 out of 100 people from El Salvador, or Guatemala, or Honduras, will ever qualify to stay at their asylum hearing. Most of them figure that out. Many of them are being flown back home.”
Missouri Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver has said walls would be helpful in some locations along the southern border, but it’s not the only tool that should be used.
