BLUF:
In 2005, a U.S. Senator made a specific statement about what the U.S. policy should be with respect to the southern border: “We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, unchecked, and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently, and lawfully to become immigrants in this country.”

The senator was Barack Obama. He had a point that remains sharp. Tennessee elected officials are on solid ground with their questions.

Several years ago I was in a conversation about the border with a person who worked in government. This individual was critical of Trump policies to enforce U.S. border laws and tighten down the border, saying that people were trying to get to the U.S. to seek a better life.

Acknowledging that to be true, I then asked what local laws could be violated by someone seeking a better life?

The answer on that question? Silence. That’s likely to be some of the answers as well to questions down-on-Biden policy Tennessee elected officials are asking.

‘Every town is now a border town’ says Sen. Bill Hagerty.

The reaction of many Republican Tennessee officials to news that President Joe Biden’s administration is transporting unaccompanied migrant children into and out of Chattanooga is described by an old saying around Tennessee’s Capitol Hill: “If I ain’t up on it, I’m down on it.”

That can happen when elected officials find out that they’re not being kept up on a federal government policy that affects their constituents and communities. A Tennessee senator says current southern border policy means “every town is now a border town.”

A series of questions is being asked of the Biden administration by a trio of Tennessee elected officials following a WRCB-TV, Chattanooga, May 19 report that began, “Chattanooga’s Wilson Air Center is receiving planes carrying migrant children who are being bused to multiple Southeastern cities during overnight hours.”\

U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty and U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann sent a May 20 letter to leaders of the Dept. of Health and Human Services and the Dept. of Homeland Security, asking for a briefing on the status of unaccompanied migrant children being transported into Tennessee.

“The citizens of Tennessee are entitled to more information. After all, their schools, hospitals, and law enforcement agencies will bear the burden of this reported resettlement, which is the product of an ongoing border crisis that is making every town a border town,” the letter said.

In a separate statement, Hagerty said “A new reality is happening in our country – every town is now a border town.”

Gov. Bill Lee and U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett also are speaking on the subject after a report by Chattanooga’s WRCB-TV that migrant children were being flown into Chattanooga, and then placed on buses to be sent to final destinations.

“I don’t think Joe Biden could find Tennessee on a map,” Burchett said in an interview with Newsmax. “We don’t have any identification on them, we don’t know who their moms and dads are. … it’s a disgrace. We’ve magnetized this border; we need to demagnetize it.

“This is a rudderless ship right now, and we’re in some serious trouble in this nation.”

In a tweet, Gov. Bill Lee said, “When we demanded answers, they cut off transparency & emboldened one of the worst human trafficking crises we’ve seen at our border in the last 20 years.”

Through March 21, Homeland Security says 717 unaccompanied migrant children were placed in Tennessee with “vetted sponsors,” described as usually a parent or close relative. Which begs more questions: How are U.S. officials determining that these unaccompanied minors shipped across the country by the thousands are being reunited with parents or close relatives, and are those individuals in the country legally? What about the family members sending them across the border; will they move to the head of the immigration line because their children are here?

From the President:President Biden nominates four new members to the Tennessee Valley Authority board

President Joe Biden
From the moment the Biden administration announced it was undoing border policies of President Donald Trump, wave upon wave of migrants have attempted to cross into the U.S. It’s unlikely Republicans were going to embrace any bountiful Biden border breaks for migrants illegally trying to enter the country. However, the numbers since Biden entered the White House, are daunting.

“The number of kids in Border Patrol custody is double 2019’s peak,” said The Poynter Institute’s “PolitiFact” on April 6. “Unaccompanied minors have been arriving at the southern U.S. border in record numbers since President Joe Biden took office, and Republican leaders in border states have been quick to highlight the challenges the federal government is facing.”

The Guardian newspaper, May 11: “Confidential data obtained by AP shows the number of children in government custody more than doubled in the past two months. The Biden administration is holding tens of thousands of asylum-seeking children in an opaque network of some 200 facilities that the Associated Press has learned spans two dozen states and includes five shelters with more than 1,000 children packed inside.”

CNN said that Internal government estimates it reviewed show the U.S. is on track to “encounter” two million migrants, just under a third of Tennessee’s entire population, at the border this fiscal year.

In 2005, a U.S. Senator made a specific statement about what the U.S. policy should be with respect to the southern border: “We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, unchecked, and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently, and lawfully to become immigrants in this country.”

The senator was Barack Obama. He had a point that remains sharp. Tennessee elected officials are on solid ground with their questions.

Several years ago I was in a conversation about the border with a person who worked in government. This individual was critical of Trump policies to enforce U.S. border laws and tighten down the border, saying that people were trying to get to the U.S. to seek a better life.

Acknowledging that to be true, I then asked what local laws could be violated by someone seeking a better life?

The answer on that question? Silence. That’s likely to be some of the answers as well to questions down-on-Biden policy Tennessee elected officials are asking.