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Congressman Ronny Jackson (TX-13), former physician to President Obama and President Trump, joins FAIR's Matthew Tragesser and Preston Huennekens to discuss the out-of-control border crisis and the health and security implications it holds for border states and for the country.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform's podcast bringing you the most important updates about U.S. immigration. Featuring special guests including members of Congress, journalists, and experts in the field.
Today on understanding immigration - a covid 19 update at the border with congressman Ronny Jackson
Matthew:
welcome back to episode 39 of FAIR’s understanding immigration podcast this is Matthew Tragesser FAIR’s press secretary today we're going to provide a covid 19 update at the southern border now we previously did an episode on this topic in March of 2020 but obviously much has changed since then more people are entering the country illegally now than last year and really more than ever the delta variant is proliferating in the U.S. and all around the world and there still hasn't really been a consistent covid 19 protocol at the southern border for asylum seekers and illegal aliens entering the country so joining me today as always is Preston Huennekens from our lobbying department but also we have a very special guest joining us today is Congressman Ronny Jackson from Texas house district 13. he is a navy veteran and the former white house physician under Barack Obama and Donald Trump and brings a unique perspective to this important issue welcome to today's show congressman and thank you for your service.
Rep. Jackson: thank you guys I appreciate you all having me
Matthew:
so I want to start off with this basic question is covid 19 a legitimate threat at our southern border especially with the number of apprehensions that we're seeing you know it's been six months of continued increased illegal immigration 210,000 apprehensions estimated last month is this a legitimate threat with covid 19?
Rep. Jackson:
oh absolutely you know we've already documented I was down at the border months and months ago and it's even gotten worse but when I was down there months ago I was at an HHS facility at Carrizo Springs they were testing people there they weren't testing them the border patrol wasn't testing them whenever they were retaining them but when they turned them over to HHS or turn them over to catholic charities or whoever they turn them over to to disposition them in this particular case it was HHS they were testing them and they documented that 20% of these immigrants that were crossing the border were copied positive the day they got them and 5 percent were testing positive during their stay there so 25 percent of the immigrants crossing the border are documented to be positive now these are young otherwise healthy you know adults most of them so a lot of them aren't symptomatic they're not in the hospital except that they have it you know they're carrying the virus that can spread it and then we're looking at record numbers on our border right now 188,000 in June alone and it just keeps getting higher and higher every month we're on track right now to have over two and a half million people entering our country illegally this year that's the ones that we know of there's at least thirty to fifty thousand a month that cross the border that are called getaways that they document across the border because they see them on cameras but they don't know who they were where they went or what they were doing so we have a huge huge public crisis a public health crisis at our border that not only did Biden and the Biden administration facilitate and initiate with their policy but they're doing absolutely nothing about it.
Preston:
and congressman that's a that's a great point and I wanted to ask you your thoughts on title 42 obviously it's the only policy that the Biden administration has kept in place since taking over in January and really you know that's the only thing that is keeping this from turning into a real disaster particularly with the health implications of it with all of these people coming over the border many of them are unvaccinated many of them like you said are not being tested for covid so I just want to get your thoughts on that and maybe tell our listeners what you think would happen if title 42 is lifted in the future well they're chomping at the bit to lift title 42 they were going to do it and the only reason they backed down was because this delta variant popped up and over the numbers just kept going through the roof so politically they didn't think they could do it let me tell you this they would like everybody to believe that title 42 is still in place but it's not title 42 has already been exempted for unaccompanied minors and for family units coming over for asylum you go to McAllen Texas go anywhere on the Texas border try to get on a plane get on a plane the plane is full completely full of undocumented illegal immigrants that can't speak English that don't know where they're going that have these tickets around their necks they have no ID they got on the plane without an ID too which none of us can do they get on the plane they just have a note from the border patrol saying I don't have an ID let me fly on the plane I mean that there's that's ridiculous none of us could do that but that once again another double standard for their for their socialist you know policies where they're allowing this to happen but anyways these people get on the plane and they fly all over the all over the country they're going everywhere every time I go out there I can't even get on a plane there's a couple times when I was in McAllen I had to drive to San Antonio so I could fly back to DC because all the planes were full of immigrants
Matthew:
wow so you know this makes me wonder…
Rep. Jackson:
and then yeah let me document here's another here's another example of that let me just throw this in real quick what about the fact you know they would they would like they would think they would like everyone to believe that title 42 is being enacted and title 42 is being followed and people are coming in and then look at the news where 7,000 covid positive immigrants have been released into the city of McAllen from McAllen this year in the last six months seven thousand fifteen hundred last week covid positive they were they were released into McAllen Texas.
Matthew:
yeah that's just unbelievable and you know it makes me wonder why do you think the mainstream media and even the Biden administration continues to downplay the severity of the situation I mean you look at the figures the data it all proves otherwise and they’re not making a big deal about it whatsoever.
Rep. Jackson:
a couple of reasons number one ultimately deep down inside they're okay with this happening they literally view every single person that crosses that border as a voter for them whether that person actually ever votes or not they want to get them registered to vote and they want to get them mailed a ballot if you can take all of these people register them to vote mail them ballots you can have ballot harvesters like they do legally in California go all over the united states and gather these ballots up fill their ballots out and vote for them that's what's going to happen this is just going to lead to unbelievable voter fraud this is an avenue by which they think they will never ever lose another election again they want all these people to come over here and register them as democrats and they think they're gonna have the ability to vote within the next five to ten years and they're probably right because the way they're getting them over here in New York city for example New York is paying every single illegal immigrant in the state of New York sixteen thousand eight hundred dollars I believe is the number that's what they're paying them giving them a check for sixteen thousand eight hundred for every illegal immigrant in the state of New York their rationale for doing that is like well these people work and live here as well but they haven't been able to cash in on the unemployment benefits that you know documented Americans have so we're going to we're going to make it right we're going to give them we're going to give them a lump sum check simultaneously they're registering them to vote in New York in state elections this is crazy this is how this is going to play out you know in a couple of years they'll be saying well look they've been voting in New York elections for years now why can't they vote in federal elections that's where this is headed so number one they're okay with it because it's it represents voters in their mind number two they went in part of the immigration problem that we have right now as a result of Biden's just reckless approach to everything when he first got into office which was anything that had President Trump's name on it or associated with President Trump he wanted it immediately undone so he went and immediately undid all the executive orders that President Trump had in place that were basically had removed all the incentives for people to come up here and basically had solved the border crisis all of those were undone the incentives were back in place word got out expeditiously to these countries all over all over the world especially El Salvador Honduras and Guatemala that if you come up here you know you'll get in no question no there's no question about it and if you if you if you send your unaccompanied minors up here the Biden administration Kamala Harris in Guatemala made a promise to the Guatemalan people that if they if they had a family member that got into the United States that she promised they would reunite them that was a huge incentive coyote started going into Guatemala and gathering up unaccompanied minors and with their parents blessings to bring them to the states so they could dump them here so that their parents could follow because Kamala Harris promised that would happen and in the interim they didn't have money to do this the cartels normally get paid for that service these families were poor they don't have any money so their unaccompanied minor family members that the cartel brought over here are expected to be servants for the cartel for the foreseeable future to work it off so they're going to be taking care of cartel business which is not waiting tables and mowing lawns and any things that we think of for young people might be doing it it's going to be illegal cartel business.
Preston:
absolutely and congressman you sit on the foreign affairs committee I wanted to ask you kind of a point that you alluded to referring to Kamala Harris she's been tasked by the Biden administration to look into you know this quote-unquote root cause of migration which you know their plan is essentially to just dump money into corrupt central American countries I wanted to get your thoughts on that and if you think that is any way a good use of taxpayer resources and maybe also touch a little bit on what you think the actual root causes of this crisis might be.
Rep. Jackson:
well if Kamala Harris really wants to address the root cause she needs to get up from her desk walk down the hall and walk into the oval office that is the root cause Biden and his policies are the root cause of everything that's going on right now that's where it started and that's the problem so that's where she needs to be addressing the root cause as far as giving money to these to these countries to these third world countries thinking that if we give them money that people aren't going to want to leave there anymore that is so ridiculous none of that money is going to go to those people anyways these are the most corrupt governments out there that money will be consumed by the drug cartels and by the people that are in power in those governments none of that money gets to the people anyways plus we don't need to be setting a precedent that we pay people not to come to our country illegally that's insane that we would try to that we would do something like that and make that public and basically set that precedent so yeah they're just like everything else in the Biden administration just unbelievably off base on all of this.
Matthew:
Congressman kind of speaking on that same subject you know we're talking about some sectors along the border releasing covid positive migrants into the U.S. but it seems like there's like an inconsistent strategy or protocol with this along the border you know why aren't all illegal aliens being tested for covid 19 is it a lack of medical resources lack of border patrol personnel or just ineptitude from the Biden administration.
Rep. Jackson:
it's a little bit of all of that I mean obviously their resources are very thin right now the Biden administration is doing everything they can to defund the border patrol you know they've already basically completely defunded and neutered ICE, ICE is pretty much non-existent anymore in the but in the Biden administration they're going to take money away from border patrol as well as a law enforcement agency the recent budget that came out had all kinds of increases for tons of these you know social things that fit into their into their social agenda all these departments and these programs including like you know a huge raise an increase of 87,000 auditors in IRS simultaneously there is no increase zero and potentially a decrease in the budget for DHS for the department of homeland security under which the border patrol operates so they are they are simultaneously defunding the border patrol as part of their defund the police attitude anyways so they're thin as far as resources go as far as personnel go the people that are out there supposed to be patrolling between the points of entry on the border patrol they're not doing that they're at the point of entry because they're overwhelmed with numbers there they're having to help customs and border protection people that normally do that so they're passing out juice boxes changing diapers filling out paperwork accompanying these people to the hospitals all of these other things that they have to do that are not actually securing our border from drugs and sex trafficking and human trafficking and weapons and all the stuff that's crossing our border that's not being done because of it because they're so thin right now so they don't have the personnel to properly test number two the Biden administration doesn't want them testing everybody there they don't want those numbers going out they do not want this to look like continue to look like a growing crisis which if you started testing everybody there you would see the numbers are huge and the Biden administration you know in my mind they don't they can't defend this already but they wouldn't have a leg to stand on so they don't want to ask questions that they don't want the answers to so there's a lot of reasons why they're not being tested.
Preston:
well Congressman we know that you're a busy guy so we're gonna let you go but we again wanna just thank you for coming on and explaining your unique perspective on the crisis and particularly the health implications of it so again thank you so much for joining us today it's been a true pleasure great discussion and I know that our audience will definitely have a better understanding of the situation thank you Congressman
Matthew:
thank you
Rep. Jackson:
thank you guys I appreciate you all having me.
Matthew:
so Preston that was Congressman Ronny Jackson from the 13th district in Texas you always had a lot to say there you know what were some first impressions you had about that conversation obviously you know he is someone who's very experienced not only as a member of congress but also with a medical background remember he was the literally the personal doctor for Barack Obama and Donald Trump so you know he's seen very highly in the medical community but what were some first impressions there.
Preston:
yeah I thought he had a lot of unique perspectives particularly with the medical background like you brought up I really was fascinated to hear what he said at the very end of our conversation where he just where you I think had asked him about why the mainstream media isn't really reporting on this or isn't taking it seriously why the Biden administration isn't taking this seriously and I thought that his perspective that this is actually kind of part of the plan is really unique and it is I think true certainly in many circles of the democratic party that they look at this as a way to get future voters in particularly as they're planning to amnesty tens of millions of people through the budget reconciliation process as we've discussed in the past and I think it also he discussed as well the double standard that is shown towards illegal immigration and health in the United States to where you know we you know like he said he's like I can't get on a flight and yet there are packed planes leaving Texas full of illegal aliens who can't speak English who just have tags on their wrists telling them where they're going so I thought he just brought a very unique perspective from that having seen it he was discussing his you know being from Texas but also his trip to the border recently so I think those are really the topics he brought up that made the most impact with me.
Matthew:
you know you're spot on there I think we can all realize now that this is deliberate policy by the Biden administration they're in full control of it they know exactly what they're doing and the congressman brought that up exactly I thought it was very interesting too that he kind of talked about why certain sectors are not testing migrants for covid you know you know some of these articles are saying well in some sectors they're being tested some they're not being tested at all and then some are even testing them they're still testing positive and then still being released into communities so it's really like an inconsistent strategy right now but he said the reason why it's not being you know kind of mandated across the border these covid 19 tests for illegal aliens and asylum seekers is because the Biden administration pretty much knows that these rates the covid rates are going to be increasing and they don't want to be you know dealing with the PR with that and that would obviously you know create another challenge to this border crisis knowing that you know migrants are bringing covid 19 cases in large numbers to the country especially when we're struggling with it you know you look at these the vaccination rates and some of these countries in central America where the vast majority of illegal aliens and asylum seekers are coming from you know Guatemala two percent of its population is fully vaccinated Honduras three percent El Salvador is better at 26 but that's still you know quite low and even a country like Brazil 21% so you know that is seriously a problem you know and it goes to show you know that's probably why the Biden administration is not fully testing migrants along every sector along the border for covid 19 because they don't want to know the answer to that.
Preston:
that's a great point and it's particularly ironic when the Biden administration has announced that all visitors to the United States will have to show proof of vaccination and yet we don't have to show that at the southern border people can walk in they likely have covid I mean it's like you just said you know Guatemala two percent Honduras three percent vaccination it's and again this isn't this isn't like a personal fault of theirs I’m not saying it is but I’m saying it is highly likely that with a disease this contagious in the conditions that people travel in and the conditions that they're they you know live in when they arrive in the U.S. even that it has to be driving coveted particularly in the southwest border corridor.
Matthew:
right and you know another big thing that the congressman brought up which you know we've actually touched on in the last episode is the importance of title 42 you know just a reminder the Biden administration extended this public health order it was first put in place in March of 2020 under the Trump administration and you know it's proven to be really successful in terms of quickly removing those who have entered the country unlawfully since the beginning of the fiscal year which was in October nearly 770,000 individuals have been removed otherwise they'd be apprehended released into communities as the congressman said you know flown bussed to wherever no one really knows where they're going and that obviously increases the chances of covid spread or the delta variant or you know it's a public health issue all right well that's a great place to end today as a reminder we'll be releasing a new episode of understanding immigration every other Monday our episodes are available on most platforms including spotify apple podcast google podcasts you can also visit our website at fairus.org to access some and also on our twitter feed @FAIRmmigration so please spread the word this has been a fantastic episode and until next time this has been understanding immigration presented by FAIR