US House GOP Whip Steve Scalise has condemned the situation developing on the country's border with Mexico following his trip there.
"It's a humanitarian crisis. It's an international disgrace on the southern border," Scalise said in his interview with Newsweek.
The Republican whip said he was "alarmed" and shocked by what he saw during his visit to the border this week alongside several other GOP Congresspeople – Rodney Davis, Michael McCaul, Devin Nunes, Richard Hudson, French Hill, Bob Latta, Nicole Malliotakis, Steve Stivers, Ann Wagner, and Steve Womack.
Scalise and his fellow GOP members witnessed children five at a time trying to cross the border illegally in boats before being caught by the authorities and put in cramped detention facilities like "sardines." The Border Patrol agents were "overwhelmed," he said.
Biden, Harris Still Not Planning to Visit the Border
The surge in migrants that started soon after Joe Biden's inauguration has attracted the attention of both the media and Republican Party – politicians from the latter have already undertaken several trips to the southern border to assess the situation.
However, the Democrat POTUS has so far avoided making the trip himself with the White House refusing to call the situation on the border a "crisis." He also has no plans to journey to the south in the immediate future, according to his official schedule. Scalise and other Republicans have condemned him as a result.
"The president needs to come see this. When there is a national crisis anywhere in the country, the president has a responsibility to go and see for themselves what is happening," Scalise said.
Instead of travelling to the border, Biden has sent White House officials to evaluate the situation. He also appointed Vice President Kamala Harris to tackle the issue, however, not only she also avoided making the trip, but also laughed off questions asking if she's planning to do so.