"Face the Nation" on May 7, 2023
Interview
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That's right.
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That's right. That's a Band-Aid.
The Biden administration had two years to prepare for this and did not do so. And our state is going to bear the brunt. And migrants will be in crisis as soon as next week. It will be a humanitarian crisis, because we are not prepared.
So, the legislation we introduced yesterday is about tiding this over, giving us some time and space for the Biden administration to do their job and for us legislators to actually create a plan that can get through both the House and the Senate.
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We don't know that yet. We just introduced the bill yesterday.
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Oh, it doesn't solve the problem, yeah.
No, but I don't think that's a criticism. He's right that it doesn't solve a problem.
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Oh, God, no, Margaret. This is the United States Senate.
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I don't think you can get agreement on a restroom break by next Thursday.
The United States Senate is functioning at a fairly dysfunctional level right now. And that's due to the partisanship that is driving both parties. As you and I both know, both parties have benefited for decades by not solving this challenge.
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They use it to bash each other in elections. And what bothers me about that, Margaret, is that, look, they don't live in a border state.
So they don't know that the mayor of Gila Bend has to put migrants in his car and drive them to Phoenix, because they are released in a town that has no bus stop. They don't know what it's like for migrants to sleep outside in the farms in Yuma because there is nowhere for them to go.
This is a crisis for our border communities and for migrants. And so, unfortunately, the parties are thinking about this from a political perspective...
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... rather than a human perspective.
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Well, these steps, which all have been announced in the past week or so, are helpful.
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These are very helpful.
Having 1,500 troops along the U.S.-Mexico border is helpful. It is a border of over 2,000 miles though. So 1,500 troops isn't going to get the job done. And that's just a reality.
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We also are very concerned that all this is happening in the week or so before the rollout.
Just today, I was on the phone with a sheriff of Cochise County. He has gotten no information from the Department of Homeland Security or the federal government about what the flow is going to look like, about what they can expect for processing, in terms of how long it takes to process migrants. He's got no information -- neither have I -- about how many buses that will be available to transport migrants.
Now, he's gotten the information he does have from me, because I call him every few days, but he's not gotten that information from the Department of Homeland Security.
Margaret, what's unfortunate is that I'm asking for that information, and I'm not getting it. And so either -- either the administration has that information and they're choosing not to share it, which is a problem, since we're the ones who are going to deal with the crisis, or they -- or they don't have it.
And that's even more concerning, because how do you prepare for the inflow of migrants when you don't know what you're going to expect?
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It has not been shared with the governor. I spoke with the governor yesterday.
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It has not been shared. So we do not have this information.
There are three nonprofit organizations in Arizona that provide incredible, incredible assistance for our border communities. One is in Yuma. One is in Tucson. One is in Phoenix. They don't have this information. And they're the ones who are responsible for accepting the migrants after they're released from custody.
So while it's wonderful that the administration is announcing things like a 1,500 troop deployment and these new processing centers, which will not be operational by next Friday, those are good things. Those are aspirational. That's not the same as operational.
Rent the buses. Hire the drivers. Build a soft-sided facility so that we can process individuals. We need more holding capacity. I mean, let's be realistic here. And that's what's not -- we're not prepared for that. And that's frustrating, Margaret. And the reason why it's frustrating is because I know that that means that the sheriffs in our southern border are going to be bearing the brunt of it.
And our men and women of the Border Patrol will be working even longer shifts.
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Yes, I have.
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It has not been adequate.
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I do not.
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Yes, that's correct.
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That's what I have been doing. I have been raising the alarm, because...
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Oh, yes. Yes.
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Just not -- right. That's correct. This is a problem. We've had two years to prepare for this.
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No. No, not at all. I don't think it's personal.
I think that there's a system in Washington, D.C. that is deeply disconnected from the real lives and experiences of border communities and the migrants who seek to come to this country.
But what I would like, Margaret, is for them to learn.
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Immigration. It's been part of my life's work.
Folks who've known me for a long time in Arizona know that I started my career as a social worker. And when I started my career as a social worker, I actually worked in the immigrant refugee community. That was many years ago. So this is -- this has been -- it has been really important to me my entire life.
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No, I would like to do it before then.
Our state has suffered for the last 40 years because of the federal government's failure to do anything about it. And we're facing the worst crisis of my life right now with immigration.
So I want to do it now.
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I've been disappointed with the conversations up to date. Both parties are talking without listening to each other. They're just talking right past each other, right?
So, President Biden says, I want a clean debt limit to meet the full faith and responsibility of the United States of America. To be clear, he's correct, we must meet the full faith and credit responsibility for the United States of America. That is our duty.
However, it's not correct to assume or to pretend that either party is used to or always is willing to pass a debt limit without conditions. Both parties have played this game for years. And so we're in a situation where one party is saying they will not negotiate at all with the other party. I think that's a very dangerous place to be because, one, it's not realistic. And, two, that is not going -- it's just not going to happen.
So, Kevin McCarthy, as we all saw, took him a long time to become speaker. Barely squeaked by with the votes. Had to make a lot of concessions to get the job. And he has a very, very, very narrow road to walk. So, he has to thread a needle where he can get the votes he needs to pass a debt limit increase and continue to be speaker.
Now, there have been sounds coming out from the Republican conference in the House for months, Patrick McHenry, who's the chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Patrick has been talking for months about what a deal could look like. People have not been listening. They should be. I think folks should actually say, let's hear these options.
The reality is, the bill that Kevin and his colleagues passed through the House is not going to be the solution.
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The votes do not exist in the United States Senate to pass that. But what the president is offering is not a realistic solution either. There's not going to be just a simple, clean debt limit. The votes don't exist for that.
So, the sooner these two guys get in the room and listen to what the other one needs, the more likely they are to solve this challenge and protect the full faith and credit of the United States of America. We're in really shaky ground right now.
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That's right. That's right.
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They could get it done.
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Yes.
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They could get it done, but it would be a challenge. I think what it would require is both Speaker McCarthy and the president and their representative party machines to kind of drop the facade, you know, like where they're at right now and just sit down and talk about brass tacks. What does Kevin need in order to deliver the votes and what does the president need in order to feel comfortable the full faith and credit of the United States of America. Get to that point and then figure out a way to give each man what he needs.
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I have conversations with my colleagues every day.
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That's right.
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I don't think he can.
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Well, I don't think that a solution that was negotiated by Senator McConnell would carry the kind of weight that is needed with House Republican members.
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I think - I think Senator McConnell knows that.
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That's right.
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That's right. That's right.
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