South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott, a 2024 presidential candidate, sounded off Friday over the increasingly dire situation at the Mexican border, telling "Hannity" that Democrats are not concerned with anything but their own accumulation of power.
Scott reacted to recent reports of high-profile threats to the homeland being arrested inside the United States long after they illegally crossed the open border, including a 29-year-old "unlawfully present Mauritanian or Senegalese citizen." He was arrested in October 2,600 miles away from where he allegedly crossed the border in Lukeville, Ariz.
The suspect is wanted in Senegal on terrorism-related charges, and was taken into custody Oct. 17 in New York City, but had originally been captured near the border and given a notice-to-appear document by Border Patrol and released, according to I.C.E.'s Enforcement and Removal Operations.
"It's a simple concept: The president has sent a signal to the entire world that our border is insecure, unsafe, wide-open and undermanned," Scott said, adding that Biden's most important prescribed role is to protect the homeland, and he refuses to do it.
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He said Biden cannot keep America safe without either finishing the wall or instituting other advanced technology to secure the border.
"Instead of finishing the wall, they literally have been selling off the construction material for the wall. Instead of using available military-grade technology that sees underneath the ground and above a wall, they simply won't use it. Why, is the question. It's simple."
Scott suggested Democrats are in search of a new crop of voters, and that illegal immigrants present an easy future constituency. He pointed to places like California that allow illegal immigrants to participate in municipal elections.
"[I]n my opinion, the reason why you see this administration so committed to an insecure, unsafe, wide-open border is because it adds to their polls."
Host Sean Hannity agreed with Scott while rejecting leftist claims that such ideas are products of a White nationalist "Great Replacement Theory," which posits that White Americans should or do fear increased immigration of non-European individuals.
Hannity said he does not care what country immigrants come from, so long as they come legally.
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Scott said the dissemination on the left of claims that the right is engaging in such White nationalist sentiment is party to one of the far left's "founding philosophies."
"They are interested in one thing: power. They will manipulate people to control them. They are not interested in racial progress. They're not talking about how we can all get along."
"Here's what they want: They want a monopoly in America that allows for socialism to be the finance system of our nation, that allows for their conversation around equity — give it away, not earn it," he said.
"They're talking about finding ways to eliminate personal responsibility. This Democratic Party, led by Joe Biden and the radical left, are more interested in power, so they weaponize race. They weaponize immigration. They weaponize the countries where they come from."
Scott said it is ridiculous to believe Republicans intend to be or by-definition are prejudiced or racist.
"How about this: We love America as it is, not how they wish it was. We have to stay committed to making sure there's a front door and not a back door."
Scott concluded that the reason Biden is beginning to appear to notice the border crisis is not because of the fentanyl epidemic, the deluge of illegal migrants streaming across the Rio Grande or the terror suspects being caught inside the homeland, but poll numbers ahead of his re-election bid.
"It was 2024 and the election that caused him to even turn the conversation toward our southern border," he said. "This is just ridiculous."
FOX News Digital's Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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