Rick Scott drills Homeland Security about Joe Biden’s ‘amnesty’ push

Sen. Rick Scott. Image via AP.

The Joe Biden era is one of “amnesty and open borders,” according to U.S. Sen. Rick Scott.

The Florida Republican has railed against the new President’s repudiation of former President Donald Trump‘s charged stance on undocumented immigration, and on Wednesday memorialized those concerns in a letter to the Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Biden intends to establish a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country. However, Scott’s skepticism is indicative of the position of at least a good portion of the Republican caucus.

Scott wrote to Acting Secretary David Petrosky.

“This Administration is already pushing a radical immigration agenda of amnesty and open borders. Last week, President Biden announced a 100-day pause on deportations of most people living in the country illegally, along with a new priority system for those who will still be subject to removal.”

“It has been reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was also instructed to release illegal aliens awaiting deportation from federal detention. This week, a federal judge temporarily blocked the move to halt the deportations, but these actions are still very concerning for the safety of the American people. Any plan to change our immigration system without any mention of border security makes no sense,” Scott added, before going on to pose a series of questions that may or may not ever be answered.

Scott wonders, for example, if “all of the illegal aliens who were released while awaiting deportation no longer qualify for deportation under the federal immigration law” and if the administration is “simply declaring it will no longer deport illegal aliens who qualify for deportation under the law?”

Other questions include if law enforcement has been “communicated with,” and a request for a “list of all illegal aliens who are now eligible for release,” as well as whether or not victims of crimes “perpetrated by illegal aliens” were notified.

The Senator, no stranger to the power of the Executive Order, also wondered if “statute” backed up the presumption that the administration “has the authority to make these kind of sweeping changes.”

The letter memorializes concerns expressed by the Senator throughout the first six days of the new administration. On day two, for example, he issued a statement bashing the Biden approach to the border crisis.

“Surely substantial changes to our immigration system are needed, but blanket amnesty is not the answer,” Scott said, clearly aware that the approach of the last four years will not be the approach of the Biden/Harris administration.