Ex-CBP Commissioner: if GOP can't pass border legislation, voters will hold them responsible in 2024

Former Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Mark Morgan warned that if GOP lawmakers don't use the leverage they have with Democrats to get meaningful border legislation passed, the migrant crisis at the southern border will be on their heads.

"If right now the Republicans – there's been no greater time, they've never had this much leverage right now – to force the Democrats to actually reverse course on their open border policies," Morgan said on the "John Solomon Reports" podcast.

"If they fail to take advantage of this and if they don't pass meaningful border security changes with this new budget proposal and if there's no meaningful changes on Southwest border, the Republicans are going to actually own this crisis in this last election year in 2024," he continued.

While President Joe Biden has sought to secure additional funding for Israel and Ukraine amid the conflicts in both countries, Republicans in Congress have insisted the U.S. must not prioritize aid to foreign countries without addressing their own southern border crisis. GOP lawmakers hope to tie aid to Ukraine with significant reforms to the asylum system and funding to bolster border enforcement in the next spending package.

The Homeland Security Department revealed last month that the backlog of illegal aliens inside the U.S. has nearly doubled under Biden to over six million while arrests of suspected terrorists and violent offenders have also exploded.

"The American people got to demand that Republicans show the political strength, courage, and will to do the right thing and force this administration ... to reverse its open border policies that are jeopardizing every aspect of our nation's safety, health, and national security," Morgan said. 

He added that the American people don't need another meaningless photo-op by the border, but action.

"The only way that they're going to show that that's not what's happening is that we need to hear something very specific from Speaker Johnson," Morgan added. "He needs to be very clear, and unequivocally, what his demands are."