Murphy says Republicans ‘want the border to be a mess’

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday slammed Republicans for not seeming to be interested in fixing border issues after a bipartisan deal that Murphy helped broker was scrapped.

On Sunday, ABC’s “This Week” co-anchor Johnathan Karl pressed Murphy on President Biden’s response to address the flow of migrants at the border. Murphy instead insisted the blame be placed on Republicans.

“Republicans have made it very clear that they have no interest in coming to the table on immigration and border reform…They want the border to be a mess. Donald Trump has told them so,” Murphy said.

Murphy pointed to Biden sending “a comprehensive immigration and border reform” to Congress on his first week in office, as an example of him attempting to act swiftly to address the border crisis.

Karl pushed back saying the bill was to provide a path to citizenship, not a border security bill.

“The president instituted a very tough new regulation that does stop people at the border, does the asylum calculation. It, as expected, was blocked by the courts because he needs legislative action,” Murphy responded.

Karl continued to question Murphy on Biden’s effectiveness on addressing the border, citing polls that show Americans disapproval of how Biden has handled the issue.

Murphy continued to place the blame on Republicans.

“What we also know is that under Donald Trump’s presidency, crossings at the border were at 10-year high, and this is exactly why,” Murphy said. “I think the president and Democrats should go on the offense because the vast majority of the country believes that we should have robust legal immigration, but they want tighter control of the border. And right now, there’s only one party that can deliver that.”