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LARRY KUDLOW: We're facing an unmitigated catastrophe at the southern border

FOX Business host Larry Kudlow breaks down the large number of migrants crossing into the country and what can be done to fix the border crisis on 'Kudlow.'

Now, I’m told thousands of illegal migrants are crossing the border and entering the U.S. It is an unmitigated catastrophe. It is lawlessness on a grand scale never seen before in the history of this country. It’s human trafficking, sex trafficking, drug trafficking. The Mexican drug cartels control the border. Not the Biden administration. 

The Bidens stand by doing nothing. Why? Because theirs is an open-border policy. A so-called ‘human rights’ policy. A so-called ‘asylum’ policy. Just listen to what Democratic Congressman Greg Casar told our Hillary Vaughn earlier.

HILLARY VAUGHN: Democrats insist that the borders closed and secure. If this is a closed and secure border, what does an open border look like?

REP. GREG CASAR: Asylum seekers have a right to seek asylum, just like immigrants have all over…throughout our history, and so we are working to provide legal, safe and orderly immigration. And that's what we're working on. Unfortunately, Republicans refuse to actually fix the system and have continuously refused to come up with solutions that actually allow immigrants to migrate in a legal, safe and orderly way. They continue to actually incite these sorts of problems by not creating pathways for people to orderly get in line. They refuse to have those programs. And so that's part of why we are stuck here today. 

Sure they are. Sure they are. You know why Democrats are blaming Republicans? Because Republicans won’t agree to this illegal Biden policy of unlimited migration. We have sovereignty laws in this country that the Democrats are breaking on a daily basis. So far, during the Biden years, at least 6 million illegals have entered the country, and that's not including ‘gotaways.’ We're talking ‘encounters’ or, better put, ‘apprehensions.’ 

But, of course, the apprehended are released into the interior of the country, never to be seen again by the authorities. It’s a policy of catch and release, but it ought to be a policy of catch and deport. Just ask Mayor Adams of New York City. Or Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Here in New York, the border catastrophe is now a city catastrophe, and it’s got Democrat Eric Adams criticizing Democrat Joe Biden. But Adams wants more money. And that is not really the solution.

ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSINGS SPIKING IN SEPTEMBER AS DAILY ENCOUNTERS CONTINUE TO CLIMB

The solution is to close the border, and restore policies from the Trump administration that limited illegal immigration to a trickle. Since the expiration of Title 42, the illegal immigrant tide has worsened enormously. The Bidens are out of sight. Mayorkas of DHS is out of sight. The latest is these work permits proposed by the Biden administration. 

At last count, over 470,000 Venezuelans alone have been given work permits. Sometimes, they seem to be called ‘temporary protected status,’ but ICE – the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency – has been turned into babysitters, not law enforcement. And there’s no telling how many tens and tens of thousands of illegals are coming over the southern border from around the world.

Not just Latin America, but Russian-speaking migrants. People from West Africa, and Asia, and even some terrorists. These migrants are bankrupting towns and cities as well.

Congressman Mark Green, the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee has chronicled the taxpayer cost from the illegals. The opioid epidemic has cost well over $1.5 trillion. Medicaid spending estimated at least $7 billion. Then, you have housing costs and education costs that are spiraling. Each migrant in New York City could cost the city’s taxpayers $383 per day. Mayor Adams is estimating $12 billion over three years. This is all complete lunacy.

VIDEO SHOWS TRAIN FILLED WITH MIGRANTS HEADING TOWARD US SOUTHERN BORDER FROM MEXICO

Former President Trump, in a speech in Dubuque, Iowa, has pledged that he will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history, if elected. Now, Mr. Trump cites the Eisenhower model. What was that? In 1954, something called 'Operation Wetback' was put into place. There was a mass deportation of up to 1.3 million undocumented Mexicans illegally in California, Arizona, and Texas.

It had the tacit approval of the Mexican government, labor groups, and Mexican-Americans who were worried that uncontrolled immigration made the lives of legal immigrants more difficult. Attorney General Herbert Brownell declared that illegal migrants were, and I quote, "displacing domestic workers, affecting work conditions, spreading disease, and contributing to crime rates." Sound familiar? Seems like the only difference between then and now is the size of the catastrophe.

Something’s got to be done here. It's gonna a major election-year issue, as well as something that affects the economy, depressing wages, and damaging native-born workers. Sensible people like myself are all for immigration and we understand its historic contribution to the success of this great country, but it must be legal immigration. That is the truth of the matter.

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