SAUNDERS: There’s a crisis at Southwest border. One party doesn’t care.

WASHINGTON — How bad is the situation at the Southwest border?

I attended a hearing Thursday of the House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border and Foreign Affairs on the consequences of the current “catch and release” policies to observe how members of both parties address an issue that troubles American voters.

The situation at the border is so downright scary, Jessica Vaughan of the pro-enforcement Center for Immigration Studies testified, that Mexican cartels now are making more money from human trafficking than drug trafficking.

From when President Joe Biden took office until Sept. 30, 2023, at least 3.3 million illegal migrants — or 99.7 percent — have been released into the country, according to a House Judiciary Committee study. A mere 10,522 were removed.

Subcommittee Chairman Glenn Grothman, R-Wisc., observed that with Biden in the Oval Office, violations of immigration laws “will seldom be met with consequences. Certainly not, in most cases, detention and removal.”

Democrats don’t have a good argument for the record number of illegal migrants who have entered and remained in America under Biden. So they resorted to ridicule.

Democrat Jamie Raskin of Maryland berated Senate Republicans for failing to pass a bipartisan compromise measure because they couldn’t stand up to pressure form former President Donald Trump. Yes, he had a point.

But then Raskin, who so many times has called for civility in politics, flashed a grin that showcased his utter disdain as one GOP member spoke about the problem. Apparently it is gauche to worry about the millions of unauthorized people entering the country.

Democrat Rep. Robert Garcia of California mocked the GOP approach by prompting an aide to display a graphic of some of Trump’s more outlandish spit-balling on the situation — alligator moats with electrified fences, and shooting migrants in the legs.

According to a 2019 New York Times story, Trump entertained those ideas. “I may be tough on Border Security, but not that tough,” Trump replied on Twitter. “The press has gone Crazy. Fake News!”

For her part, Vaughan recommended Washington spend more money “removing criminal aliens.”

Grothman said he wants to learn more about how much taxpayers must pay for unauthorized migrants who have access to welfare benefits, housing and Medicaid.

In the back of the room sat Kurt Leptich and his wife, Sheila, of the California border town Brawley. They were visiting family and read about the hearing, and figured they’d stop by. Leptich told me he’s seen local hotels, even a country club, turned into housing for migrants in recent years.

Leptich doesn’t think it’s fair that outsiders can break American laws and be rewarded with a “motel room with a flat-screen TV and a telephone.”

The newcomers did not match Leptich’s expectations.

“If they’re escaping persecution, I would think they would arrive destitute,” Leptich told me. He did not expect to see people who looked well-fed and carried working cellphones.

I ask: Were things different under former President Donald Trump than they are under Biden?

Yes, Leptich responded.

“I wish we had some of Trump’s policies with a person that could be normal.”

Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.