Capito argues Biden's border order is 'too little, too late”

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., isn’t satisfied with President Joe Biden’s executive order on the southern border.

Capito, who has been outspoken in recent months regarding the influx of migrants across the southern border, says the move from Biden is ‘too little, too late.”

Biden announced Tuesday that his executive order would shut down migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border once the average number of daily encounters hits 2,500 at ports of entry, with the border reopening only once that number declines to 1,500, according to the Associated Press.

However, Capito, who serves as Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference and as a member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, said Biden is simply acting now because the presidential election is five months away. She said the administration should have been working since day one to secure the border and stop the influx of illegal migrant crossings.

“As we saw just a short time ago today, that President Biden has just finally tried to, at least, put a face on that he is trying to meet the challenges at the border,” Capito said. “And you know, instead of talking about what we’re doing here in the Senate, we should have been talking about seriously addressing this issue, and the president should have been doing what he’s doing today several years ago to stop the flow.”

Capito said a border wall is working in Finland.

“We went with congressional members over to do a national security congressional trip.,” she said during the weekly Senate Republican conference. “Our first stop was Finland. Finland has an 800 mile border with Russia. And guess what they did? They shut down their border in Finland because Russia was sending plants and scurrilous individuals across the border into Finland, to get into Finland, and into Europe and then into wherever they want to stir up trouble. Finland finally decided they’d had enough. So we went out to see the wall they built. It’s a metal wall. It’s about 15 feet high. It’s got wire on the top. It’s got all kinds of security cameras...they shut down the entry points, and guess what? Nobody’s entering Finland on that border. Nobody.

“So I think President Biden maybe ought to take a trip over to Finland and see exactly how they’re doing it, and how effective it is, and how it could be used here in the United States to move forward with our legal immigration and make sure that the flow stops,” Capito said.

Capito is among many Republicans who have demanded action on the border. Democrats, in return, argue that Republicans failed to act on earlier border security legislation that was supported by Democrats.