With a migrant caravan of 5,000-plus Central Americans moving steadily north toward the U.S.-Mexico border, and news Monday of a second caravan of at least 1,000 now joining ranks, Ohio’s U.S. Senate candidate Jim Renacci says President Trump is justified in threatening to call out the military to guard the border.
One report from a Mexican news agency put the size of the swelling caravan at 14,000.
Fears are that U.S. Border Patrol agents could be overwhelmed.
“If Border Patrol agents are concerned about the large number of immigrants heading towards the border and feel they need additional resources, then I believe it is appropriate for the President to provide them with that support.” Renacci told The Ohio Star in an email Monday.
“We absolutely must secure our border,” Renacci continued. “This is why I’ve consistently fought to build the border wall.”
Renacci points to his opponent, two-term incumbent Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown, as symbolic of the overall malaise in Washington with regard to border security. Building a wall was a central focus of President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign but he has seen little enthusiasm for the project in Congress.
“My opponent has said the border wall is ‘ludicrous.’ And in our debate on Saturday night he actually called for mass amnesty for illegal immigrants currently in the United States,” Renacci told The Star. “Sherrod Brown is so far to the left on immigration, he actually voted against legislation that would require a minimum [five-year] prison sentence for convicted felons who illegally return to our country. That’s not putting Ohio first – it’s putting illegal immigrants first.”
In the debate Saturday night Brown called for amnesty for all illegal immigrants in the United States, excluding “those people who committed violent crimes.”
“But you don’t do raids on people who are working hard and playing by the rules and let criminals who are here stay,” Brown said. “There are a whole lot of workers in this country that don’t have documentation, there are millions. There should be a path to citizenship that they should earn, pay back taxes and all that.”
Estimates on the number of illegal aliens currently in the United States run from 11 million to more than 20 million.
If tens of thousands of people traveling in caravans are allowed to apply for asylum based strictly on economic issues – a lack of jobs in Central America – then Renacci worries about the message that would send to millions of others in Central America who would like a better-paying job. Why apply for legal immigrant status when you can just show up at the border and demand asylum?
An op-ed by Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor in the Cincinnati Enquirer Monday also took Brown to task for his record on immigration.
Taylor writes that Brown’s “devotion to illegal immigrants and blatant disregard for the rule of law has created a breakdown in law enforcement in states like Ohio. Any senator who opens up his or her state to illegal aliens and does nothing to prevent them from breaking the law is unfit to serve another term in the Senate.”
Brown, who has been in Congress for 25 years, has voted against withholding federal funding for sanctuary cities, against a border fence, and against a mandatory-minimums for deported felons who illegally re-enter the United States.
The caravan headed to the U.S. includes people who have been previously deported from the U.S., according to a Fox News report.
“They catch you, and you try to get back,” said Imner Anthony Fuentes, a 29-year-old who reportedly was deported for the sixth time from the U.S. five months ago. He has a son and a U.S. citizen girlfriend living in Birmingham, Ala., the Washington Post reported.
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Anthony Accardi is a writer and reporter for The Ohio Star.
One more reason why we must vote for Renacci in two weeks folks. We have 24% of the Republicans that have been contacted by phone banks that do NOT know who Renacci is folks. It is imperative folks that we tell everyone we know about him. Most of that 24% appear to be women voters so please, get on your phones and let them know we need Renacci elected to send Brown down the road.