Sen. Barrasso: Biden administration ‘hiding’ migrant crisis from American public
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., tells ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ unaccompanied minors are ‘crammed in like sardines’ at the southern border.
This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," April 4, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Good Sunday morning, everyone. And happy Easter to all.
Welcome to "Sunday Morning Futures." I'm Maria Bartiromo.
Today, from the front lines, the attorney general leading the charge against Joe Biden's radical agenda. Texas A.G. Ken Paxton is here on big- tech dominance, the XL Pipeline shutdown, election reform, and the border surge, all a result of Joe Biden's sweeping executive orders -- why a string of states are now following and suing the administration.
And then you saw it here first. Senator Ted Cruz is rejecting Biden's media blackout at the border. Watch what happens when one of Biden handler's try to stop Ted Cruz and 18 other senators from taking pictures at a facility in Donna, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please don't treat the people as such.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): You're right. And this is a dangerous place.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please don't treat the people like this. That's all I ask from you, sir. That's all I ask you.
CRUZ: And your policies, unfortunately, are trying to hide them. I understand.
You were instructed, when 18 senators came down here...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I ask you to please respect the people, give them dignity and respect.
CRUZ: I respect them. And I want to fix this situation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all want to fix this, sir. We don't want this to happen anymore.
CRUZ: And the administration you're working for is responsible for these conditions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: What is the Biden administration hiding from the public? Heartbreaking scenes like this one, 4,000 migrants crammed into unsanitary holding pens under a bridge between the U.S. and Mexico in a holding facility meant to hold 250 people.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott pointed the finger at Biden when he joined us last month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): The Border Patrol officers themselves told me that they informed the Biden administration that, because of the policy changes, it was going to lead to this massive surge that we are just now beginning to see, knowing that it's going to be getting far worse in the coming months.
They also said that the reason for the change, the reason for the increase and the influx is because of the policy change by the Biden administration.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: Coming up, Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, also a medical doctor himself, on the public health crisis Biden has created during a pandemic, migrants testing positive for COVID at rate of 10 percent.
Plus, former acting Secretary of DHS Chad Wolf is here on what the administration needs to do right now to stop the bleeding.
Plus: progressive politics creeping into school curriculums. My interview with author Candace Owens on the critical race theories your children could be taking in.
All that and more, as we look ahead right here, right now on "Sunday Morning Futures."
But first this morning, the story of the year, human heartbreak at our Southern border.
Scenes like this one playing out every day throughout the Rio Grande Valley, families with young children crammed in holding pens for days without sunlight. Customs and Border Patrol agents too overwhelmed to keep up with the surge say that it is a direct result of President Biden's border policies.
Two years ago this month, "Sunday Morning Futures" traveled to El Paso, Texas, to witness the immigration crisis firsthand.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: Where were you going to go? What was your plan? Where are you going to go?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was going to Oklahoma.
BARTIROMO: Did somebody tell you in Honduras that you would be able to stay and get to Oklahoma if you crossed?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people told her.
BARTIROMO: Because they knew exactly where to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what's surprising. I mean, she knew where to cross -- where to cross.
BARTIROMO: She knew where to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For all the...
BARTIROMO: She's 10 years old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe her mother is under our care right now, in our custody.
BARTIROMO: I see.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. I don't know. That is -- it's...
BARTIROMO: Will you be able to find out their accurate names? And, I mean, are there -- do they have any papers?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't -- that I have yet...
BARTIROMO: Nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, I have -- they have yet anything to present to me.
BARTIROMO: There's somebody running there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody running. And, of course you will see, once the group crosses, sometimes, you will see an adult male just run back.
BARTIROMO: How old is the baby?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sixteen months.
BARTIROMO: How long have you been traveling with the baby? Like...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About three months.
Were assaulted several times. They were robbed of their money. The cartel intended -- or attempted to kidnap his sisters.
BARTIROMO: How did you know where to go? You are 10 years old. You are 8 years old. How did you know where to walk?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She says she can't remember how she got to this location.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: Through a series of actions and agreements with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries, the Trump administration was able to get the border under control.
But in just in his first two months in office, President Biden has signed 11 executive orders on immigration, returning the U.S. to square one, if not worse.
Joining me right now is the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton. He's on the front lines of this crisis and has witnessed firsthand the destructiveness of the Biden agenda.
A.G. Paxton, it's good to have you this morning. Thanks for being here.
KEN PAXTON (R), TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: Good morning. Happy Easter.
BARTIROMO: Look, I want to ask you about the broader agenda.
But, first, let's talk about the border and what's taking place at this point. What do you think needs to be done to stop the bleeding, to ensure that this is not a humanitarian crisis, that children, young girls are not making this incredibly dangerous journey, where we understand there's also sexual assault involved in their journeys?
PAXTON: So, I think we have a model for this, because, under President Obama, we had the same situation, and at the beginning of the Trump situation -- administration, we also had the same in -- people coming across the border in massive numbers.
And President Trump put in place a model that I think works. First of all, he said, don't come. Two, he started building a wall. Three, he told people to stay in Mexico before they went through their hearing. And he also let Border Patrol do their job.
And so I think that model, we know it worked, because the surge stopped, and the numbers came down. And with the old policies of Obama Biden has implemented, we're back to square one, as you said, maybe even worse.
BARTIROMO: You know, I just want to know really why they overturned some of these policies.
You mentioned the policies that were most impactful, number one, stopping the construction of the border wall, number two, overturning remain in Mexico. And then there's catch and release.
Can you give us a sense of the practical impact of changing those laws? I mean, you sued the administration because Joe Biden came into office and just started blowing off laws that were signed into law by the president, but agreed upon in Congress.
PAXTON: Yes.
And that's what's amazing is, the president doesn't have the authority to just change immigration law. In this case, he announced that, for the first 100 days of his administration, that you could come across the border, and you would not be deported. That's not his job to change the law.
And I think his policies or his announced policies send the signal to the world, come across the border, and you will be welcomed, you will be taken care of. And I think it's clear that he wants that to happen, because he knows, from past experience and under the Obama administration, that, if you do that, people will come. And it's totally worked.
BARTIROMO: Well, you are also appealing to the Supreme Court in terms of what the public is forced to pay for here and carry the bill.
Walk us through what you're doing there, Ken.
PAXTON: So, we have had a history in this country is that we have had this thing called the public charge rule. It wasn't official for a long time.
And, basically, if you were coming to this country, you shouldn't expect us to put you on public assistance immediately. And so it was unofficial. The Clinton administration actually put a rule in place that made it more official and enforced it. And then I think Trump came in and added to that.
The Biden administration -- well, the Trump administration was then sued by many Democratic attorney generals over the public charge rule. And now the Biden administration has decided they don't want to stand by that. So, we have asked the court, so that we can step in and defend that, because this costs my state billions of dollars and it costs the country billions of dollars.
If we're going to invite people in, we ought to make sure that they can take care of themselves and that they're not going to end up on food stamps and Medicaid and health -- health care insurance from our country.
BARTIROMO: Well, you make a really good point, because we have heard from a number of mayors, and the mayors of border towns are completely overwhelmed.
Talk to that a bit, because you're seeing these border towns and even towns in the interior of our country change completely because of this surge of new people.
PAXTON: Well, it's very unfair to these border towns.
And, a lot of times, they're smaller. Even if they're not, there's so many people coming across and there's so much demand on their services from -- especially with these children, having to take care of these children. And then you throw in the mix of COVID and other potential communicable diseases, and they are overwhelmed.
And they're at risk of getting these diseases, including COVID. And they're also risk of higher crime rates, which is actually happening, with drug- related crimes and the cartel pushing human trafficking and these young women being trafficked and even these young boys being trafficked.
It is a humanitarian disaster. And these border towns are suffering more than any others.
BARTIROMO: It's absolutely extraordinary.
Look, I want to talk a bit about the broader agenda. And we had Senator Ted Cruz on last week, who had just come back from his border trip, and really exposed a lot while on the ground there.
But he also connected what's going on -- in terms of immigration at the border, he connected that to the election bill that the Democrats are putting forth. I know that you also are pushing back on this radical agenda when it comes to big tech, when it comes to the election, as well as when it comes to the XL Pipeline.
Listen to Ted Cruz as he connects the dots between voting and the H.R.1 bill and the migrants. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: I think H.R.1 is actually directly connected to this border crisis. Many are calling H.R.1 the corrupt politicians act, because it is their number one priority to keep Democrats in power for the next 100 years.
And one of the most dangerous things that the corrupt politicians act does is, it automatically registers everyone to vote if you interact with the government, so if you get a welfare payment, if you get an unemployment payment, if you get a driver's license, if you go to a public college or university.
Now they know that will automatically register millions of illegal aliens.
That is the intended purpose of the bill, is to have millions of illegal aliens and millions of criminals, millions of felons automatically registered.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: Wow, that was stunning.
A.G. Paxton, what do you make of that? And tell us about H.R.1. Is it a threat to democracy? And what can you do on the state level to stop it?
PAXTON: Calling it the corrupt politicians act, I think, is apropos.
It is definitely clear that they are trying to register these illegals as they come across. They're also trying to register felons under this law. And it certainly would benefit the Democrats. If you will notice, a lot of these people are being placed in red states, are being placed in places like Texas and Montana and Idaho, which concerns me as well.
But there's no doubt that this bill would allow for current practices that have happened in other states, for fraud to occur in my state and many other states that now are trying to protect against fraud. And, certainly, what Ted Cruz said is accurate.
BARTIROMO: It's extraordinary.
You just mentioned a moment ago that you're leading a group of 14 GOP state A.G.s in this push to allow the Supreme Court to allow you to take over the defense of Trump's policy, which, of course, barred immigrants that were going to be requiring government benefits.
I just want you to go back to that for a minute and explain the cost, because I don't -- I don't know that people understand how much this is costing. And there's a new AP report that's estimating each child in custody is costing the government $775 a day.
PAXTON: Well, and that's just the beginning, because we have those burdens in our state, because we then have to educate them. We have to take care of their health care. We have to figure out their family situation. We have to deal with more law enforcement issues.
It cost the state of Texas billions of dollars. Every time that an administration like the Obama administration or the Biden administration opens up the border, it increases our costs. And we also just have the social cost, the crime, the increased crime.
And I wish President Biden would just talk to a couple of these families that have been affected by the crime, who have lost loved ones because of illegal immigration. I think it might affect him. It would hopefully affect him and give him a different perspective on the downsides of these policies that are devastating to some of the families in my state.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
And real quick on the rest of the agenda, Georgia now with this new voting law requiring voters to present valid I.D., I don't understand why the Democrats are pushing H.R.1, which does away with having an I.D. I mean, you need an I.D. to buy alcohol, and they don't want you to have an I.D. to vote.
It also limits drop boxes, changes the rules and process for requesting an absentee ballot. Tell me about your reaction to the Georgia law and what you think about President Biden calling H.R.1 Jim Crow in the 21st century, un-American.
PAXTON: Well, this -- labeling this the corrupt politicians act is absolutely true, because it would eliminate voter I.D., which we do in my state to verify that you are the right person voting.
It would push mail-in ballots, which are the highest incidence of voter fraud. It would allow for felons to vote. It would allow for illegals to vote. It does everything possible to open up elections, so that they're not credible anymore.
And so I'm more concerned about H.R.1, the corrupt politicians act, as Ted Cruz called it, than I am maybe any legislation that I have ever seen, because I think it will ruin our democracy and it will make our elections totally unreliable in every single state, instead of just a few.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
But you're also pushing back on the closing of the XL pipeline. You have been pushing back on big tech's dominance as well. And this is -- you're taking the lead here. A lot of A.G.s across the country have followed your lead.
PAXTON: Well, we're extremely concerned about what this administration is doing even with things like the Keystone pipeline.
We think that they're in a war against fossil fuel, which we rely on for energy independence, and shutting down all those jobs for really no purpose. And there's no good stated purpose for shutting down the Keystone pipeline. We think he's violating federal law, the president's violating federal law.
But we're losing jobs. We're also now going to have to ship that through railcar, which is not as environmentally friendly as the actual pipeline. And so I have not heard one good reason for shutting down the pipeline.
It's just -- it's virtue signaling. There's no benefit to the American people.
BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.
A.G. Ken Paxton, thanks very much for your leadership. This is all very troubling. And, of course, we will keep spotlighting it. Good to see you today.
PAXTON: Thanks for having me on.
BARTIROMO: All right, thank you so much.
Coming up, Senator John Barrasso is here on the humanitarian crisis he witnessed firsthand at the Southern border when he went last week. We will talk about it.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): But almost everyone with whom I spoke tonight said they came here because they want a better job.
They didn't say they came here because they're facing persecution, because of their race or their ethnicity or their political views or their religion. They want a better job. That's not grounds for asylum.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: That was Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton revealing what border crossers told him about the real reason they're coming to America.
He and 18 other senators visited the Rio Grande Valley last week to see the impact of Biden's immigration policy for themselves. What they experienced was devastating.
This picture taken by North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis shows babies who were smuggled across the border by human traffickers, just one of the perils facing these children each day this crisis continues.
Wyoming Senator John Barrasso was among the senators on this border trip last weekend. He joins me now.
Senator, thank you so much for being here.
And you're not only a lawmaker. You're also a medical doctor. So, I'm very interested in hearing your take, these migrants reportedly testing positive for COVID at a rate of 10 percent. Assess the public health threat for us, Senator.
SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY): Well, thank you, Maria. And happy Easter to you and to your viewers.
BARTIROMO: Thank you.
BARRASSO: You're right. This is both a humanitarian crisis and a national security crisis. I saw both at the border.
And you may have seen the numbers today are the highest in history of unaccompanied minors currently in captivity. They are crammed in like sardines. And this is what the Biden administration is trying to hide from the American public, which is why we took video, and the Biden administration tried to stop us.
BARTIROMO: So...
BARRASSO: When you put this many people so in captivity in this sort of way, and 10 percent of them are testing positive for coronavirus, Joe Biden is turning into the super-spreader of coronavirus in our country.
BARTIROMO: This is unbelievable, Senator.
So, I was told that some of you have take -- had taken pictures, and then the border officials there or Biden handlers forced you to delete the pictures from your camera? Were you part of that?
BARRASSO: Well, we were told to delete the pictures. No one did.
You have seen the video coming out of all of these kids crammed together under the foil blankets, huddling together, and when you have 10 percent of them who are positive already. And I watched them be tested for coronavirus. They had them in a courtyard, all of these young people. This is after they have been there.
They're only allowed to be there for three days by law. You wouldn't want your own kids to be there for three minutes. But there -- many are staying there for up to 10 days. They're being tested the day that they leave.
They put them all in the courtyard. They do the instant test. And then those that have been tested positive are just kind of moved to one side of the courtroom (sic), those negative to the other of this courtyard.
But I will tell you, Maria, they have all been exposed. And then they're sent all across the country. That is the real tragedy of this. And we're not sure what variant of the coronavirus they're carrying. They are carrying it, though, all around America. They're not being quarantined. Every one of them ought to be quarantined.
BARTIROMO: That's unbelievable.
And how does that help by testing them after they have been there a few days? At that point, they have already given it to others.
Senator, I want to get your take on the broader agenda as well, especially H.R.1. You are in the leadership position in the Senate. I want your take on H.R.1, as Democrats are setting their sights on eliminating the filibuster as well.
A lot to talk about with you, including that trillion-dollar spending package, multitrillion-dollar spending package.
Stay with us. Quick break, and then more with Senator John Barrasso.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
We are talking this morning with Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, Republican Conference chairman and a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Senator, we were just talking about the border crisis and the disaster. There are reports that migrants are -- many migrants are being released into the interior of our country without a court date.
I want to get your take on that. Also, Senator Ron Johnson told me that, in one sector, there was 40,000 -- quote, unquote -- "got-aways" -- they got away -- since Biden took office.
The irony here is that we're hearing a lot about Joe Biden wanting vaccine passports to prove that people have vaccines. Meanwhile, the border crossers, they don't even require I.D. We don't know who they are, where they're coming from, what their background is.
BARRASSO: The easiest way to get into the United States today is to do it illegally. You don't have to show proof of anything, and they will allow you into the country. That is the Biden policy.
You talk to the Border Patrol agents. We did more a midnight patrol. They will tell you their job got a lot harder when Joe Biden became president. Only one in three of them is actually on the ground trying to enforce the laws, because two-thirds of them are involved in either providing day care or escorts to the migrants who are being shown by signs on the ground where to go to turn themselves in.
The Border Patrol talked to the transition team from the Biden administration before they came into office. They said, if you eliminate this program that worked that President Trump put in place, the remain-in- Mexico program, we are going to have a massive humanitarian crisis at the border.
The Biden administration ignored them. And that's what we have now, highest numbers of all times coming into the country illegally, no identification, carrying who knows how many diseases, but certainly high percentage with coronavirus that they're then taking all across the country.
BARTIROMO: Yes. And you mentioned we don't know what variant it is.
We're going to talk with Peter Navarro coming up, because there is a dangerous variant from Brazil here now. You wonder how that got here, maybe at the border. We will talk with him about it.
But let's broaden out here, because this migration story, immigration, is just one of the policies that has obviously become a real radical agenda. The Democrats are pushing H.R.1, this election bill. They are also trying to overturn the filibuster.
You're there on the front lines. Tell us how likely these things are.
BARRASSO: Well, it is the Democrats' number one priority. That's why they have named it bill number one.
People know what they want with elections. You want fair elections. You want it to be free from voter fraud. I mean, that's the cornerstone of American democracy. You want to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat. The Democrats in their bill are making it very easy to cheat.
And let me give you a couple of quick examples. Number one is, they ban voter I.D., so that, when people go to vote, they're not allowed to be asked to verify who they really are. The other is, they allow the ballot harvesting, paid political operatives, who can go out and collect hundreds, thousands of ballots, going door to door, going to housing projects, going to nursing homes.
And then they get to decide. These are not observed, not -- they can then decide which ones they want to turn in and which ballots they choose to destroy. That's wrong.
BARTIROMO: Wow.
BARRASSO: And then they're going to have the public, taxpayers, pay for elections. So, taxpayers are going to be forced to pay for campaign ads and Web sites, campaign signs for candidates that they may oppose.
And, Maria, this is an 880-page bill. What I just described is just the tip of the iceberg. This is what Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are trying to foist on the American people. The only way they can do this is to eliminate the 60-vote threshold, the filibuster in the United States Senate, and cram this through on party-line voting.
BARTIROMO: Can they do that? Can they -- will they eliminate the filibuster?
And, by the way, once they get the filibuster out of the way, they could also pack the Supreme Court, put former liberals in there. And then there's no debate at all.
BARRASSO: Well, the -- two Democrat senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, have both said they are going to stay with Republicans in terms of protecting the filibuster.
You know, the Democrats were all for the filibuster before they were against it. But the reason they flip-flopped is exactly what you just said, so they could cram things through along party lines. And those two senators are going to come under immense pressure.
This filibuster, this 60-vote threshold, has been in place over 150 years, because one party is not supposed to be able to steamroll the other. We're supposed to find bipartisan solutions to move the country forward. We have a 50/50 Senate. That ought to be a mandate to move to the middle.
BARTIROMO: This...
BARRASSO: Joe Biden was for the filibuster when he was in the Senate.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
BARRASSO: He had given speeches to that effect.
Thirty-three Republican -- Democrat senators signed a law -- signed a letter when President Trump was in office and the Republicans were in the majority that said, oh, no, no, do not eliminate the filibuster. It's important that we work together to find solutions.
The Democrats are trying to throw that all out, so that they can go forward with a radical, extreme, dangerous, and scary agenda for our country.
BARTIROMO: It's unbelievable.
I want to say, wow, what dirty tricks, but it's so much bigger than just dirty tricks. This will impact every American. And these are really dangerous ideas.
Senator, thanks very much. Really well said. You explained it to our audience so well, and we so appreciate it.
Come back soon, sir. Thank you.
BARRASSO: Sure will. Thank you, Maria.
BARTIROMO: All right, John Barrasso joining us there in Wyoming.
Coming up, former acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf is here on the three mistakes Biden made during his first week in office.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I guess I should be flattered: People are coming because I'm the nice guy. That's the reason why it's happening, that I'm a decent man or however it's phrased, that, you know, that's why they're coming, because they know Biden is a good guy.
The truth of the matter is, nothing has changed. As many people came.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: That was President Joe Biden last week telling America that the situation at the border has not changed.
But the numbers tell a completely different story. And we have those numbers here. This chart shows the spike from just one year ago. And, as you can see, it is spiking.
Senator Ted Cruz told us on this program last week he believes this is a direct consequence of three critical decisions that Joe Biden made during his first week as president. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: Number one, he immediately halted construction of the border wall. And we saw sections of the border wall where literally they're half-done and there's rusted rebar everywhere. They just left it. They just left it with holes in it. And, of course, the illegal traffic is streaming through those holes.
Number two, Joe Biden reinstated the failed catch-and-release policy. In other words, when someone is caught, they end up get being given a court date sometime in the future, released. And everyone knows a very small percentage of them ever show up again.
And, number three -- and this was probably the most inexplicable -- Biden ended the remain-in-Mexico agreement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: And joining me now is former acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf. He was instrumental in implementing President Trump's border policies. And he is with us now.
Secretary, it's always a pleasure to see you. Thanks for being here. Good morning to you.
Do you agree with what you just heard from Ted Cruz as the three most important things that Biden did to overturn Trump policies and, in fact, in doing so, cause this surge at the border?
CHAD WOLF, FORMER ACTING U.S. SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Well, the senator is certainly right.
Those three measures certainly impacted the surge that we see now. And I would add on to that the fact that the administration is not enforcing a Title 42 CDC public health order on minors is contributing directly to the surge that we see in minors today, over 5,000, 6,000 in CBP custody.
We will see historic numbers of minors coming into the country over the next several months because of the Biden administration's specific measure not to employ that public health order for minors.
Remember this, Maria. They're using this public health authority to turn around single adults. They're even using it to turn around some families who have minors. They are even turning around minors back to Mexico. But they will not turn around minors back to the Northern Triangle, put them on planes and reunite them with the families, which is what we did during the Trump administration.
This is having a very significant effect on the surge that we see with minors. And, certainly, the remain-in-Mexico program, or MPP, is certainly contributing to the surge that we see with family units and the catch-and- release that the senator talked about.
BARTIROMO: Yes, I mean, it's so important to go through this.
And we know that Joe Biden carved out an exception for families that have minors, families with a 6-year-old or younger. And like -- you know, just like that, we suddenly see families with 6-year-olds or younger. But they're renting these kids, right? It's not even their kids.
They just are trying to have the cookie cutter that Joe Biden said he will let in.
WOLF: What we know is that the cartels and the smugglers and the traffickers are very sophisticated, and they listen to public pronouncements, and they know our policies and procedures.
So, when the Biden administration starts to carve out different populations and groups of individuals, those are exactly -- as you indicated, those are the groups of individuals we start seeing at the border...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
WOLF: .... because that's who they go and recruit.
But, at the end of the day, the administration right now is not enforcing or not -- there is no immigration consequence to illegal behavior. They're simply treating this as a capacity issue. So, they're building more facilities. They're trying to process more individuals through. And they're not holding individuals accountable for that illegal behavior.
And that's what you have to do at the end of the day to stop the crisis and the surge that we see on the border. So, there's going to be a number of policies that are going to need to be changed and enforced if we want to see an end of this.
BARTIROMO: So, what are the border agents telling you on the ground?
One of my sources on the border told me that there will be 5,000 agents retiring, and that the Biden administration is not going to replace them. It seems like our officials on the ground, those people on the front lines, Border and Customs patrol, are dealing with this with their hands tied behind their backs.
WOLF: Right.
BARTIROMO: Also, Customs and Border Patrol Chief Hastings tweeted this, that, this year alone, Rio Grande Valley sector agents found more than 860 criminal aliens, including 92 sex offenders, 64 members of violent gangs.
So, they're dealing with this on the ground. Representative Henry Cuellar from Texas said thousands are being released into Texas on the honor system, without court information or notices to appear.
So, you have got some really tough dealings that our border agents have to face off. Meanwhile, you have got 5,000 of them about to retire.
WOLF: Yes, it's absolutely frustrating for Border Patrol agents today. And I have talked to several of them.
Those in the Rio Grande Valley, the RGV, which is sort of ground zero for where a lot of this surge is occurring, almost half, half of them are no longer on the border doing that national security mission. They're back at Border Patrol stations caring and feeding for these thousands of individuals in their facilities.
That's not what they signed up for. That's not their training. Their training is to enforce the law, making sure that drugs, contraband and other illegal migrants are not coming into the country. Over half of them in RGV are not doing that today.
So, I think that's why you see perhaps an increase in the number of criminals and others, because we know the cartels will take advantage of that.
But, at the end of the day, I think there's also -- our Border Patrol agents listen to TV, listen to television, and some of the announcements and pronouncements that are coming from DHS leadership, as well as the White House.
And so when they hear that leadership saying the border is closed, the border is secure,they know that's a lie. They know that's a lie. And I believe there's a loss of confidence in both departmental leadership, as well as in the White House, with your line agents at the Border Patrol.
BARTIROMO: Yes. And that has massive unintended consequences.
Real quick, who do you think is in charge? Joe Biden said Kamala Harris is in charge of the border. She said, no, no, no, no, I'm not taking that on. I'm just doing diplomacy.
WOLF: Well, it's very confusing.
You have a DHS secretary. You have a Southern border coordinator out of the White House. You have a vice president. You have an envoy -- envoy -- sorry -- envoy from the State Department. It's all very confusing.
And what this tells you is that there's a lot of high-level individuals from the administration focused on this because of the crisis and because of the historic nature of what we're seeing at the border.
BARTIROMO: Unbelievable.
Well, we will see if they make a change and take a mea culpa and reinstitute President Trump's and your guidelines and policies, which fixed the situation for a time.
Chad Wolf, it's great to have you this weekend. Thanks so much.
WOLF: All right, thank you.
BARTIROMO: Coming up, Candace Owens is here on why she's not buying the Democrats' new effort to turn election reform into a civil rights movement.
Stay with us.
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PETER NAVARRO, FORMER DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF TRADE AND MANUFACTURING POLICY: It's the vaccine development, which we're moving in Trump time. We're going to be able to get -- possibly get a vaccine in half the time it usually takes.
So, bottom line, Maria, is that this administration is moving as rapidly as possible. And my part of the portfolio is to make sure our supply chains are secure and we have what we need.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARTIROMO: That was former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on this program more than a year ago, February of last year, two full weeks before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, promising a vaccine in record time.
He called it right. Thanks to the Trump administration and its Operation Warp Speed, we now not only have one, but three vaccines, with more than 40 million doses administered so far.
President Biden, meanwhile, has yet to acknowledge any of this, which I discussed with Candace Owens, host of "Candace" on The Daily Wire, where she joined me last month.
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CANDACE OWENS, AUTHOR, "BLACKOUT": This is the privilege of the Biden administration. I mean, imagine being a president who never has to answer questions from the press. You can just make stuff up as you go along.
This has been one of the more remarkable things about this administration, is that they are not taking questions. Joe Biden has not taken any questions. They seem to be protecting him and insulating him from any critiques
And I'm -- we are correct to call this out. Obviously, this was a major win of the Trump administration. But people are wondering, how is it possible that Joe Biden gets out there, he gives entire speech, it's been 50-plus days, and he still has not taken any questions from journalists?
We were lucky to have President Trump leading us during this country during the time of the coronavirus pandemic. And I think Joe Biden knows that. I don't think that he believes the things that are coming out of his mouth. I certainly don't believe that he wrote the things that are coming out of his mouth.
And I don't think that he remembers the things that he said that came out of his mouth when he first said it was going to be a long, dark winter. This is largely a man that does not seem to have his mental faculties about him. He's not fooling the American people.
But the more important thing is, he's not fooling anybody abroad. And, right now, America as a country looks tremendously weakened.
BARTIROMO: Well, it's one of the reasons that you had such a big showing from the black community for President Trump in election 2020.
Let me get your take on where you think the community is today under Biden policies and whether or not you see support there from the minorities and the black American community.
OWENS: If you ever want to check the temperature of how the minorities are doing and what party they're trending towards, you need but read the mainstream -- the mainstream media narrative, which is already castigating Hispanic men, black men, and trying to come up with reasons while they're - - why they're starting to vote more conservatively.
They did this right after the election. I remember reading a piece in Yahoo News where they were talking about black American men and why they're breaking from the Democrat Party, and making it seem as if it's because a lot of them aren't good people.
We saw this recently in The New York Times piece talking about Hispanic men, saying that they fell -- they fell for QAnon conspiracy theories.
So, they're realizing that they are losing minority voters. And it's because of their policies. And it's also because they don't feel that they have a leader. They're looking at Joe Biden. He is not a leader. They're looking at these Democrat policies. They are not helping them.
When you say, let's just make the borders porous, and you pretend that it's not happening, as you covered in a couple -- a couple of segments ago, is that going to help black Americans, when they have to compete with illegals for jobs? Absolutely not.
So, all of this makes sense to us. It doesn't make sense to people on the left as to why minorities are breaking. Calling everybody a racist and a white supremacist, it's getting pretty old. It's getting pretty old. You have to deliver, and you have to make their communities better, which Democrats are not doing.
BARTIROMO: Well, it's getting old, but there's a resurgence of it in schools.
I want to take a break and then come back and talk about your take on the critical race theory being added to so many school curriculums and why learning through the lens of race contradicts everything America stands for.
We're with Candace Owens this morning, and we will be right back.
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BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
I'm back with author Candace Owens.
And, Candace, I want to talk to you about what's going on in our curriculums in schools these days.
A friend of mine sent me a piece from her son's seventh grade class, where they're saying, if you identify as white, come to a meeting because we want to make sure you can thrive and strive not to be a racist. They're assuming every kid is a racist, Candace.
OWENS: Absolutely.
And I know that Megyn Kelly pulled out her children from school for similar reasons. And this is a big topic that I cover extensively. I truly we believe that it's time for us to pull our kids out of school.
And I know people say, oh, well, not all of us can afford to do that.
This is -- the country wasn't built on people having a lot of money when they were homeschooling. And we're starting to see this more and more. It's indoctrination that's happening. They're trying to fuel race issues in this country. They're trying to teach this Marxist ideology.
And the bad thing is here, Maria, they're replacing hard academics. These kids are not learning science. They're not learning mathematics. They're learning how to hate white people. They're learning how to hate their country.
And this is problematic for the future. What they're trying to do is guarantee that they have an ignorant group of people that vote based on emotion. This is the Democrat long-term strategy. And it's finally coming into fruition.
BARTIROMO: This has got to stop.
They're also dividing us with this H.R.1, saying that H.R.1 is the answer for minorities to vote.
OWENS: I'm so tired of black Americans, Hispanic Americans being used to further the Democrat -- Democrat power and everything that the Democrats want to do.
And we have seen this time and time again. And it's always a game of linguistics. They tell you that it's going to help you, right. Voter -- it's to combat voter suppression.
Well, votes are not being suppressed. This is what the left always says. They make it sound good, when, in fact, they're actually after the exact opposite. When I hear them saying that they're trying to combat voter suppression, I almost know -- I always know that what they're actually after is suppressing votes themselves and making sure that they stay in power.
H.R.1 is extremely, extremely dangerous. And we need to make sure that we are trying to combat it and fight it every single manner that we can.
BARTIROMO: How do we stop this, Candace?
Real quick. You say take the kids out of school. How do you ensure that the curriculum is not biased, the way it is right now?
OWENS: It is biased. It is 100 percent biased.
Quite frankly, I think parents...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
OWENS: ... need to start suing schools.
They will win if they start suing schools for this sort of stuff, because it is blatant discrimination.
BARTIROMO: OK.
Candace, it's great to see you this morning. Thanks so much, Candace Owens.
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BARTIROMO: That does it for "Sunday Morning Futures." Thank you so much for being with us.
I'm Maria Bartiromo, wishing all of you a happy Easter.
For more, you can catch us once again today at 3:00 p.m. Eastern here on FOX News. And the conversation continues this week on "Mornings With Maria" on FOX Business 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
Have a great weekend.
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