In July, Congressman Fred Keller from the 12th congressional district that includes north central and northeastern parts of Pennsylvania, made some impassioned remarks on the U.S. House floor about the crisis on our southern border.

He zeroed in on Joe Biden’s vice president and hand-picked border czar Kamala Harris who had just attended a recent roundtable, where she introduced herself with her gender, pronouns and a description of the clothing she was wearing.

Keller took a swipe at the gender politics of that introduction during his address to the House members.

“I am Fred Keller,’ the congressman mimicked. “My pronouns are he and him, and I am standing at the podium wearing a blue suit, demanding that Border Czar Kamala Harris get serious about securing the southern border instead of playing identity politics.”

His speech that day came on the heels of a report confirming that the Biden administration set a record with 200,000 border encounters in June alone. As of September, more than three million have been caught trying to illegally cross since Biden took office, enough people to rank in population as the third largest city in America. Incredibly, that total doesn’t even account for the more than half a million “gotaways” that have disappeared into the landscape in the last year.

In his speech, Rep. Keller ripped the administration and Democrat members of congress for “their blatant detachment from reality” and also blasted Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for stating that the border was secure.

Harris, however, repeated the party line that the U.S. southern border is “secure” during a “Meet the Press” interview in September, stating that the immigration system was broken under the Trump administration.

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbbard immediately tweeted that Harris’ border comments are “further evidence that she’s either completely disconnected from reality or she’s blatantly lying.”

“Either way, she has no business being a heartbeat away from the presidency,” said Gabbard, who last week announced she had left the Democratic Party.

Border Czar Harris recently had an opportunity to assess the migration crisis firsthand after attending a Texas Democratic Party fundraiser but she ignored the opportunity.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn immediately responded to the snub.

“Unfortunately the administration’s Border Czar hasn’t seen the epicenter of their self-inflicted crisis firsthand which has overwhelmed our border communities and law enforcement,” Cornyn said. “Instead of using our state as an ATM and leaving as fast as possible, the Vice President should go to the border and meet with Texans to understand the very real costs of her inaction.”

Harris did find time in her schedule to appear on the crisis on Late Night with Seth Meyers, where she accused Texas Gov. Greg Abbott of “dereliction of duty” for busing migrants to so-called sanctuary jurisdictions.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also pronounced the border secure, downplaying the border crisis by scoffing: “It’s not just that people are walking across the border.”

Actually, according to Sen. Ted Cruz and others who have actually assessed the crisis firsthand, it’s a lot like that. After stating in his podcast that the president’s chief spokesperson is deliberately ignorant or she’s deliberately lying, Cruz invited Jean-Pierre to see people walking across unabated.

The illegal border crossings present a real threat to protecting the basic rights of American citizens to life, liberty and property. As of August, Customs and Border Protection had apprehended over 9,000 criminal immigrants, including 53 for homicide or manslaughter, 283 for sex crimes and almost 900 for assault, battery and domestic violence so far this year.

According to Department of Homeland Security data, border patrol stopped 78 people on a terrorist watch list through the first nine months of the year. Just 11 were caught from 2017 to 2020.

But the Biden administration has excelled in providing smartphones to the migrating noncitizens, all part of the Alternatives to Detention Program that tracks newcomers who are awaiting court dates.

According to ICE, the phone giveaways cost taxpayers about $361,218.08 per day.

The vast majority of migrants never even show up for their hearings.

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com