The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee is set to hold a hearing in a battleground state this week to discuss the government's immigration policies as they party continues to make the issue a central point of the election cycle.
Concretely, the event will take place in Wisconsin on Thursday. Titled "The Biden-Harris Border Crisis: Wisconsin Perspectives," it will "examine the effects of the current southwest border crisis on Wisconsin's residents and communities.
It will be the latest iteration of the party's effort to turn immigration into a nationwide issue. House Republicans have already conducted similar efforts, with the Homeland Security Committee holding a hearing in mid-September about the "Biden-Harris administration's catastrophic border record."
Ever since Kamala Harris rose to the top of the Democratic ticket, Republicans — led by former President Donald Trump— have also taken the opportunity to dub the Vice President as the "border czar" due to her prior involvement in dealing with the "root causes" of immigration: economic malaise and a lack of opportunities in Central American countries from which a large portion of those seeking to reach the U.S. depart from.
In July, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik introduced a resolution to condemn her role in immigration enforcement. Stefanik, who is also calling Harris the "Border Czar," said in a statement that her "failed leadership led to the most catastrophic open border crisis in history."
Trump has made of immigration the center of his campaign, making inflammatory comments including Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, abducting and eating pets and that many people crossing the border unlawfully are murderers who have that behavior "in their genes." "And we have a lot of bad genes in the country right now," he said recently.
The comment quickly went viral, provoking indignation in hundreds of social media users who compared Trump to Adolf Hitler and labeled his insinuations "pure Nazi propaganda". The White House also joined the chorus of condemnations, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressing the issue during a briefing with reporters.
"That type of language, it's hateful, it's disgusting, it's inappropriate, it has no place in our country," said Jean Pierre. "This comes from the same person that said vile statements about migrants poisoning the blood of our country. That's disgusting," she added.
However, Trump has doubled down on such comments, saying that "illegal immigration is poisoning the blood of our nation. They're coming from prisons, from mental institutions — from all over the world." He has also vowed to conduct the "largest deportation operation" in the history of the country, seeking to remove the some 11 million people living illegally.
An analysis by CBS News looked into the viability of the plan, estimating that deporting 11 million undocumented immigrants (based on the 2022 American Community Survey) would cost the U.S. between $160 billion and $216 billion over a four-year presidency.
The study revealed that apprehending and deporting just one million individuals would cost about $20 billion as immigration enforcement funding would need to increase significantly, requiring approval from Congress:
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