Former Vice President Mike Pence mocked President Joe Biden's decision to continue construction on the border wall, saying it's "too little too late."
Pence appeared on Sirius XM's The Megyn Kelly Show on Thursday to issue a critique of Biden's previous immigration policies in contrast to the announcement of 20 more miles of wall being erected on the Texas border. During the Trump-Pence administration, a "Remain in Mexico" policy was enacted to keep asylum-seekers in the neighboring country while their case was pending, and Title 42 was issued to turn away immigrants at the border simply on the basis of preventing overcrowding and subsequent spread of COVID-19. Pence claimed that these two policies, which Biden rescinded, "reduced illegal immigration and asylum abuse by 90%."
BIDEN REVERSES COURSE AND BUILDS BORDER WALL WITH TRUMP FUNDING
"To me, this is a confirmation that even the Biden administration's come to realize that this is a man-made crisis at our border, and that man’s name is Joe Biden, and we’ve got to get back to what was working during our administration," Pence said.
During Biden's campaign, he promised that another foot would not be added to the border wall if he was elected president. On the first day of his presidency, $8.5 million had been put toward the wall, with another $2 million that former President Donald Trump had redirected from the Pentagon going unspent and ultimately being returned. Instead, the $5 million allotted by Congress toward its infrastructure is now going to fill the 129 gaps in the wall.
"I've been down there four times, which I think is four times more than the current vice president. And standing along the border seeing literally steel girders stacked, like a parked railroad car rusting in the sun, because Joe Biden refused to allow for the border wall, this decision today — it feels like too little too late, but for heaven's sakes," Pence said, "let's just get on with it."
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The total number of people apprehended for illegally crossing the border or reported as evading capture last month was at least 261,327. This was the greatest number reported in August in U.S. history, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data on record.
Pence is facing off against former President Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND), Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), political commentator Larry Elder, businessman Perry Johnson, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy in the race to win the GOP presidential nomination.