DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“If Katie Britt and the rest of the MAGA GOP were truly serious about securing the border, they would not have put Donald Trump ahead of the American people by blocking the toughest, fairest border deal in decades just to help his campaign. Trump once again put himself first by urging his MAGA minions to play political games, and congressional Republicans were happy to play along. While extreme MAGA Republicans are all talk and no action on the border, President Biden and Democrats are working across the aisle to provide solutions that will improve border security, fix our immigration system, and make our country safer.”

Katie Britt put Donald Trump ahead of the American people by heeding his call to kill the bipartisan border deal, despite previously calling for boosting border security.

Washington Post: “Though [Britt] helped negotiate a bipartisan border security deal, she ultimately voted against it after Trump signaled to congressional Republicans that no immigration policy should pass during the election year.”

Missouri Independent: “Alabama’s GOP Sen. Katie Britt said in a statement that she is not supportive of the bill. … ‘I won’t support it.’”

Office of Katie Britt press release: “​​U.S. Senator Katie Britt Makes Impassioned Plea for Action on Border Security”

Britt: “We have to actually change the policies… We’ve got to do something.”

Britt: “Border security is national security.”

REMINDER: Trump demanded that Republicans blow up the bipartisan border security deal – and his MAGA minions fell in line.

Trump: “Please blame it on me.”

Trump: “I think [Republicans] are making a terrible mistake if they vote for the bill.”

New York Times: “Republicans Against Border Enforcement”

Rolling Stone: “Border Patrol Supports ‘Strong’ Immigration Deal. Republicans Don’t Care”

CNN: “The border compromise would represent a dramatic change of immigration law on lines many Republicans have long supported.”

Vox: “Trump made this clear when he reportedly urged Republicans in Congress to turn against the bipartisan Senate border security bill scheduled for a vote Wednesday so that he could keep the issue alive through the presidential election. His supporters have largely fallen in line.”

Polling shows that two-thirds of Americans support the bipartisan border security deal that Trump directed MAGA Republicans to reject.

Navigator Research: “Two in Three Americans Support the Bipartisan Immigration Deal”

“Two in three Americans supported the bipartisan immigration deal reached in the Senate, but that will not be taken up for a vote in the House… On the Republican approach to the recent immigration package, Americans’ greatest concerns are that they are focused on the wrong issues and playing politics.”

“The immigration deal earns support across party lines, including among three in four Republicans (net +58; 74 percent support –16 percent oppose), two in three independents (net +48; 64 percent support – 16 percent oppose), and three in five Democrats (net +32; 59 percent support – 27 percent oppose).”

Third Way: “Voters like the deal, both as a whole and individual components… Across the board, both swing and base voters are remarkably aligned in favor of the big security components of the deal… It’s not just the tough on the border policies that voters like—they also understand that a major piece of restoring order must be providing orderly pathways for people to come to this country in other ways.” 

Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson called the bipartisan border security bill “dead on arrival” – despite repeatedly calling for action to secure the border and saying it “is a job for Congress.”

Johnson: “Our immigration system is broken. Reforming that system is a job for Congress.”

Johnson: “The crisis at our southern border has deteriorated to such an extent that significant action can wait no longer.”

Johnson: “I do think it’s past time to secure the border.”

Multiple House Republicans have warned their own colleagues against politicizing border security and delaying taking action.

Tom Emmer: “Why does it have to be a political issue when it’s the right thing to do to seal our own border and make sure that good people that want to come here for the right reasons are able to come here?”

Chip Roy: “It’s time to act with urgency. Urgency means not waiting for the next election.”

Michael McCaul: “I think [the border] is a very urgent problem. We can’t wait a year.”

Bryan Steil: “I’m less concerned about who gets the win other than making sure the American people win, and the American people win if we truly secure the US-Mexico border.”

Patrick McHenry: “We have bipartisan support… Take the moment, man. Take the policy win.”

Dan Crenshaw: “I’m extremely disappointed in the very strange maneuvering by many on the right to torpedo a potential border reform bill… It would be a pretty unacceptable dereliction of [their] duty.”

Both parties talked about border security in last month’s NY-03 special election, but Democrat Tom Suozzi won because Democrats have a plan while Republicans are to blame for refusing to secure the border.

NBC News: “Republicans went all-in on the issue of immigration as their ticket to victory — and fell short.”

HuffPost: “Suozzi affirmed his commitment to border security in two TV ads, and in the final days of the campaign, slammed Pilip for opposing a bipartisan Senate deal to shore up the border after Trump warned that it would benefit Biden.”

New York Times: “When Ms. Pilip rejected a bipartisan Senate deal to boost deportations and fortify the border, Mr. Suozzi turned the tables, arguing that she was putting base politics above national security.”

CNN: “Many voters in the swing district pointed to immigration as a top issue, something that could also be true for voters across the country during this year’s general election… Suozzi argued that he was the only person offering solutions in the race and criticized some Republicans in Congress for killing a bipartisan deal on the border.”

Wall Street Journal: “Democrat Tom Suozzi won a special election Tuesday on Long Island, flipping a seat in Congress from the GOP and sending a signal that his party can withstand Republican attacks on immigration in swing districts far from the border.”

NPR: “This race was dominated by GOP attacks on immigration. Republicans spent more than $8 million on campaign ads in this race, a huge number for a special congressional election. They hammered Democrat Tom Suozzi on immigration on the airwaves. Republican Mazi Pilip even held rallies near a makeshift tent city in Queens that houses migrants… Democrats showed they can defend themselves on this issue.”

Washington Post: “The victory also validated Suozzi’s decision to invest heavily in countering the GOP on immigration, suggesting that Democrats in tight races can benefit from talking tougher on the border and highlighting Republicans’ abrupt abandonment of a bipartisan deal on the matter negotiated in Congress.”