Congressman Cohen Says Republicans Won’t Solve Immigration Crisis in Effort to Aid Trump Presidential Bid

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee and its Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, today questioned expert witnesses at a hearing entitled “The Southern Border Crisis: The Constitution and the States.” The hearing established that federal law overrules state initiatives when it comes to immigration policy and that solving the immigration problem is not in Donald Trump’s best interests as he runs for president.

In his remarks at the hearing, Congressman Cohen said in part:

“The main thing about this hearing which is astonishing to me is we’ve got a bill in the Senate that they’re working on which would be the most comprehensive reform of border security ever. President Biden has said that he will sign it. He will close the border. That’s what I think Republicans want. That’s what I think they’ve campaigned on. But now Mr. Trump doesn’t want that to happen. So he talks to Speaker Johnson and tells him ‘stop that bill. We don’t want an immigration bill because it might help Joe Biden say (he) worked on the immigration crisis and helped stem it.’ ”

“So instead of working to help our country – ‘Stop the Invasion!’ ‘There’s an invasion on the Southern Border!’ – we don’t want to stop the ‘invasion’ until Mr. Trump gets a chance to deal with his border issue. And we all know what Mr. Trump’s border issue is: The security fences around the prison he’s going to go to if he isn’t elected president.”

See Congressman Cohen’s entire remarks and questions to witnesses here.

Witnesses at today’s hearing were: 

• Mark Brnovich, Former Arizona Attorney General; 
• Christopher Hajec, Director of Litigation, Immigration Reform Law Institute; 
• Brent Webster, First Assistant Attorney General of Texas; and 
• Omar Jadwat, Director of the Immigrants’ Rights Project, American Liberties Union (ACLU)

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