Fetterman Turns On Fellow Democrats Amid Widening Border Crisis - 'You Essentially Have Pittsburgh Showing Up There At The Border'

On Thursday, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) turned on his fellow progressive Democrats when he condemned them for not being open to negotiating with Republicans on a border security deal, given Republican resistance to greenlighting tens of billions of dollars of more Ukraine war funding. Fetterman's comments come after Customs and Border Patrol agents along the US-Mexico border encountered a record-breaking 22,000 migrants on Wednesday.

"I hope Democrats can understand that it isn't xenophobic to be concerned about the border," Fetterman said in an interview. "It's a reasonable conversation, and Democrats should engage." Fetterman has continued to be a thorn in the side of Democrats in recent months following the devastating terrorist attack in Israel on October 7. It appears that his reputation will also impact the border security talks, with the Pennsylvania Democrat citing the 270,000 migrant encounters during the month of September as evidence of the growing problem on the border. "Honestly, it's astonishing. And this isn't a Fox News kind of statistic. This is the government's. You essentially have Pittsburgh showing up there at the border," he said.

While Fetterman refused to offer any specifics as to what he wants to see in a potential deal, he did demand that the so-called "Dreamers," migrants who entered the country illegally as children and are covered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Fetterman's wife, Gisele Fetterman, is covered under DACA after immigrating from Brazil as a child. Despite these initial demands, Fetterman agreed that the problem on the US-Mexico border is complicated and getting out of hand. "I haven't met anyone that can have a really crisp, cogent solution or easy solution on, 'Well, what do you do when you have roughly a city similar in size of Pittsburgh coming up to the border?'" he said, per POLITICO.

While Fetterman's decision to be more open to negotiations is a silver lining on Capitol Hill, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) issued an ultimatum on Tuesday that demanded funding for securing the southern border in exchange for additional Ukraine aid.

In a letter to President Biden, Johnson explained that Ukraine aid is "dependent upon enactment of transformative change to our nation's border security laws." Johnson's letter comes after the Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young wrote to Congress to explain that U.S. funding for the Ukrainian war effort would run out by the end of the year, per Fox News. "There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money—and nearly out of time. Cutting off the flow of U.S. weapons and equipment will kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield, not only putting at risk the gains Ukraine has made but increasing the likelihood of Russian military victories," the OMB director wrote. "Already, our packages of security assistance have become smaller, and the deliveries of aid have become more limited. If our assistance stops, it will cause significant issues for Ukraine."

As Congress continues to contemplate border security legislation to fix the influx of illegal migrants at the southern border, Fetterman's surprising resistance to the rest of his party could prove to be an important turning point to ending the chaos along the Rio Grande.

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