Rejecting the Trump administration’s line, former Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) said Tuesday that there is no crisis at the U.S. southern border.
“There is drug trafficking at the southern border. There is human trafficking. However, it’s not at a crisis level, Craig,” Curbelo told MSNBC’s Craig Melvin. “That is a political framing. That is the President trying to get his base upset, excited, however people want to characterize it. But there is no crisis at the border.”
Curbelo’s comments come hours before President Trump is set to address the nation in a prime time Oval Office address. The administration has called the situation at the southern border both a national security and humanitarian crisis, and Trump has floated the idea of declaring a national emergency to authorize funding for his border wall.
Curbelo, a moderate in the Republican Party, lost reelection in November.
Watch:
Former GOP Rep. Carlos Curbelo: No, there's not a crisis at the border pic.twitter.com/ouG53hWWSe
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) January 8, 2019
