A war of words that started last week on Twitter between Rep. Dan Crenshaw and an MSNBC host over the surge of unaccompanied children at the southern border carried over in a combative on-air debate between the two men Sunday night.
Crenshaw and Mehdi Hasan sparred over whether a “crisis” existed and whether the Biden administration’s actions created an “open border.”
The two began to trade barbs last Friday when Hasan accused the Texas Republican of “tearing very young children from their parents’ arms” — a reference to GOP immigration policies.
Hasan was responding to a tweet from Crenshaw in which he linked to a New York Times story that said President Biden was following his predecessor’s lead in pressing Mexico to do more to halt the migrants heading to the border.
“It’s as if we had a solution to this already and then some guy came in and totally screwed it all up,” Crenshaw said in the post.
US Customs and Border Protection agents take people into custody near the Mexico border in Hidalgo, Texas. AP/Julio CortezIn another tweet, Crenshaw accused Hasan of being a “fake partisan ‘journalist'” and a “hack.”
Eventually, Hasan invited Crenshaw on his MSNBC show, where the fireworks continued to fly.
Crenshaw and Hasan discussed whether the border is “open.” AP/Julio CortezCrenshaw defended the policies of former President Donald Trump, namely the “Remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers and the Asylum Cooperation Agreements with Central American countries that Biden rescinded.
He said Biden’s executive orders opened the floodgates at the border and mocked the president telling migrants “not to come.”
“So when you tell people, ‘If you bring a child with you, you’re going to be released into the interior,’ well, then, they’re going to have a bigger incentive to come,” Crenshaw said.
“Now, under the Trump administration, they said, ‘Okay, we’re going to tell you to remain in Mexico and adjudicate your claim there, or even better, you can go to your home country or a neighboring country and adjudicate your asylum claim there.'”
But Hasan disputed that statement.
“Seventy thousand people were sent to Mexico under the Remain in Mexico policy out of 1.5 million people encountered at the border. That’s less than 5 percent. That’s hardly a solution,” Hasan said.
The two also clashed over whether it was an “open border.”
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (center) and Rep. Dan Crenshaw (right) walk with other congressmen in Houston, Texas. ZUMA24.com/Bob DaemmrichHasan asked Crenshaw if he accepted that 72 percent of the people apprehended at the border are expelled, according to Customs and Border Patrol statistics.
“That sounds right, it sounds right,” he said.
“Republicans … Kevin McCarthy — your leader –and others keep saying there’s an open border. That’s false. If 72 percent of people are being deported, how is that an open border?” Hasan asked.
“The vast majority of people are in these family units that do not get deported. There’s also at least 1,000 a day – just got off the phone with the Border Patrol -- listen to what I’m about to say: 1,000 people a day run away. People who get away,” Crenshaw said.
After some cross talk, Crenshaw told Hasan he needs to go to the border to see for himself.
But Hasan insisted it’s “nonsensical” to claim that the border is open when 72 percent of the people who cross it are being deported.
“I would say there’s an effective open border,” Crenshaw replied.
