Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., who is seeking to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as the Senate Republican leader, told Newsmax on Thursday the nation's border crisis is a direct result of a "dereliction of duty" by the Biden administration.
Reportedly, more than 8 million illegal immigrants have entered the U.S. under President Joe Biden.
"A lot of Democrats believe that we're a great country; we ought to be a welcoming country; we ought to take care of people," Thune told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren." "The problem is it's not just people who are coming here for a better life. It's become criminals. It's become gang members. It's become people on the terrorist watch list. It's a national security threat.
"If people think you have a porous border — and, essentially, we do — it's basically an open border, and people are coming across at will. We're seeing the effects of that not just in border states, but all across the country."
Thune said what finally got the attention of the Biden administration is the toll the crisis has taken on big cities such as Chicago and New York, which have been overwhelmed by an influx of migrants — not just from those bused to them by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
"America is a nation of immigrants. But we are fundamentally a nation of laws, and people have to follow the law," he said. "We've got a nation that's made up of people who came here from other places around the world. We've been a welcoming nation. But ... we want to know who's here, and we want you to follow our laws to get here. And there are ways you can get into this country legally.
"What the Biden administration has countenanced is just a massive influx of people illegally and somehow felt that it was OK to bless that. To me, it is just a complete abdication and dereliction of duty."
Thune, 63, said he can bring a lot to the table as the successor to McConnell, 82, who has been the top Republican senator for nearly 17 years. Thune and Sen. John Cornyn, 72, of Texas reportedly are among the early candidates to replace McConnell, who said he will step down in November.
"These are challenging times," he said. "It is hard governing these days. There aren't any easy issues. But we need a new generation of conservative, principled, consistent leadership for our country that empowers, in this case, Republican senators, ... many of whom have tremendous talents that I think we can take advantage of and be difference-makers.
"People who enter public life do it because they want to be a difference-maker. And I want to enable that to happen, provide the kind of leadership that brings the best out people and hopefully makes the people around you better."
Thune said he was not expecting anything more than a campaign speech Thursday night from Biden's State of the Union address.
"He's going to get up and tout things that he thinks are accomplishments," Thune said. "But the American people don't believe it, and what they see is higher prices. Inflation is up 17.9% since from when Biden took office, and that's $1,000 a month more for the average family just to keep their standard of living than it was when he took office.
"It's open borders. It's less energy independence. And it's weakness on the global stage. That's what the American people see. He's going to try and change that narrative, but I think it's really hard to do it — and especially on an issue like the border, which is really baked in."
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