Fox host Laura Ingraham was stunned Monday after immigration attorney Allen Orr claimed that the root of the border crisis was caused by continual failed policies.
Orr appeared on “The Ingraham Angle” to discuss his thoughts on the ongoing southern border crisis as record number of migrant encounters continue. Ingraham began by questioning Orr on how former President Donald Trump was able to have the border under fair control within 2019. However, quickly after Orr responded by citing COVID-19, Ingraham jumped in to correct the immigration attorney. (RELATED: Migrant Caught Cutting Border Wire To Lead Dozens Over Before Being Stopped By National Guard, Video Shows)
Orr continued to state that there has “never” been a border solution due to Congress not acting on policy reforms, leaving Ingraham to question his argument. The Fox host then pivoted to question former acting U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Tom Homan on if he believed Orr’s stance was correct.
“Allen, how is it that Donald Trump had the border fairly under control by 2019? How did that work?” Ingraham asked.
“I don’t think it was under control. I think that COVID played a big role and Title 42 played somewhat of a role in it,” Orr began.
“2019, Allen. 2019,” Ingraham corrected.
“Yeah, even then the numbers were still a little a bit egregious, I mean the issue is there were still people coming to the United States using non-traditional methods to get into the United States,” Orr responded. “So the border has never been a solution, because Congress has not acted on it since the early 80s.”
“Is that your whole argument right now? I mean, that’s just – I like you Allen and I’m so glad you came on tonight. To me, that’s just – I feel bad for you making that argument because it’s not true. The flow in 2019, Tom, I’m going to ask you a tough question next, but is he right? Is the flow in 2019 still pretty high and it’s just immigration reform that we need?” Ingraham questioned.
“Under President Trump, we had the most secure border in my career,” Homan said. “I started with Border Patrol in 1984. You don’t have to take my word for it, go to cbp.gov – look at Border Patrol’s own data. Illegal immigration was at a 45-year low. Illegal immigration was down 83 to 90% depending what time period you look at. Unprecedented success and that’s just a fact. Anybody can look at the data.”
In 2023 alone, U.S. Border Patrol data reported over 1.7 million encounters with illegal immigrants crossing the border occurred, along with more than 824,000 of those migrants released into the U.S. with a court date appearance scheduled.
As the Senate attempted to pass a bipartisan border security legislation in February, Republicans blocked the bill with a 49-50 vote. Before the release of the text, many Republicans had been weary of the bill due to possible legal loopholes concerning illegal immigrants. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and fellow congressional members called out the legislation after its release and warned that it would be dead on arrival if the Senate passed it.
Since the rejection of the bill, Congress passed a $1.2 trillion consolidated spending bill that included increased funding to recruit 22,000 agents for the Border Patrol and increased ICE’s detention capacity by 7,500 beds.