Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla. and CNN's Don Lemon engaged in a heated discussion about immigration following President Biden's 2023 State of the Union.

During Wednesday's "CNN This Morning," Donalds criticized Biden's humanitarian parole program, which would allow 30,000 Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans, or Nicaraguans into the U.S. a month if they enter the country at a legal point of entry and have a sponsor. 

The congressman claimed that the new border measures did little to stem the flow of immigration into the U.S. and merely "reallocated" the problem from illegal entry points to legal ports. He also said the Biden administration was trying to "shift the burden" rather than cauterize the issue.

After Donalds claimed that there were 1.6 million migrant entries under Biden in 2021, and over 2 million in 2022, Lemon said those numbers did not match up with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 

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Byron Donalds

FILE: Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., is interviewed on his way to the House chamber, Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, to attend the 14th vote for speaker of the House, on Capitol Hill in Washington.  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

"The president put out a plan, wouldn't a better response be, well we don't agree with this, but we'd like to take this framework and work on it and try and make it better—rather than just saying it's not great, this isn't going to work?" Lemon asked. 

Donalds then shot back at Lemon that he knows his numbers on border crossings add up and said Biden's executive orders on immigration have led to massive increases in people crossing the border illegally. 

"You didn't answer my question," Lemon interjected. 

"I am," Donalds said back before Lemon restated his initial question about working with Biden's framework. 

"We would love to work with the president. We would love to," Donalds said. "But you actually have to secure the border. You have to take care of the issues—

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Don Lemon Fetterman debate

CNN pulled Don Lemon from primetime for a new gig on "CNN This Morning" in late 2022.  (CNN)

Lemon again interjected, noting Donalds was criticizing something that happened in the past and was looking backward instead of forwards. He also compared the lawmaker to GOP members who heckled Biden during the State of the Union over surging fentanyl overdoses. 

Donalds then said looking back was essential to understand that the overall protocols had remained the same under the current administration. He then urged Biden to reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy, including adjudicating asylum before someone reaches the border. The Republican then attempted to propose another change before Lemon cut him off again.

"I don't want to keep arguing with you and I want my colleagues to get in, but is there an answer instead of we don't want to look back that says moving forward, here's what we can do?" Lemon again asked. 

"Moving forward, you have to give border agents the proper tools in order actually secure the border. The president has taken that from them. That's what he did," Donalds said. 

Biden state of the union

President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, in Washington, as Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Calif., watch.  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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Biden's administration has been rocked by a migrant crisis at the southern border now into its third year, with a record 2.3 million migrant encounters and nearly 600,000 "gotaways" in FY 2022. In December, there was a record 251,000 migrant encounters alone.

Republicans have battered the administration over the crisis, blaming the administration's rolling back of Trump-era border security policies and interior enforcement. But the administration has blamed a hemisphere-wide crisis and has hit out at Republicans for not agreeing to funding and reform measures proposed by the administration.

Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.