Military Cites Complex Problems for Border Emergency as GOP Blames Biden – By Paul D. Shinkman (US News) / Mar 16 2021
The four-star chiefs tasked with securing the Western Hemisphere cite problems months in the making to explain the current crisis at the southern border. The GOP takes a narrower approach.
A DRAMATIC SURGE IN migrants at the southern border, particularly children seeking refuge, is the result of months-long and complex problems spanning the hemisphere, the top U.S. military officers for securing North and South America said Tuesday, at a time Republican leaders in Congress appear eager to tie what they call a “crisis” to the administration of President Joe Biden.
“It’s a symptom of a broader problem that manifested itself over the last year or so,” Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, chief of U.S. Northern Command, told reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday afternoon. “I’m not going to go into the politics of whether we name it a crisis or not.”
VanHerck, who was appointed to his position last year by then-President Donald Trump and is tasked with overseeing the military role in protecting North America, cited two of last year’s strongest storms, Eta and Iota, that ravaged parts of Central and South America killing hundreds, combined with the devastating effects of the spread of the coronavirus pandemic that has hammered developing countries in recent months. Transnational criminal organizations have exploited the subsequent humanitarian disaster, he said.
“What we see on the southern border is a compilation of multiple things. It’s not a single thing that has driven what we’re seeing as far as migration into this country,” VanHerck said.
