Capito Talks About Lack of Security on U.S. Border and Other Pressing Challenges Facing America

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) appeared this past Thursday morning before a breakfast meeting of The Ripon Society, delivering remarks in which she criticized the Biden Administration for its failure to secure America’s southern border, and discussed other pressing challenges facing the country this year.

The Mountain State lawmaker opened her remarks by talking about one of those challenges – the challenge of reducing gun violence in America – and the bipartisan legislation she supported that would help do just that.

“It addresses mental health and school safety and tightens up on the ability to sell ghost guns,” she said of the bill, which was approved by the Senate later in the day.  “It also helps states which have red flag laws … 19 states have red flag laws.  If you have a red flag law, you’re going to have access to money to implement that.  

“If you don’t want to have a red flag law – and my state has passed a law that says we don’t want to have a red flag law — West Virginia will be able to use that money for mental health, drug courts, and other kinds of services that can prevent these enormous tragedies and make sure that law abiding citizens are the ones who have access to weapons.”

Noting that she was one of 15 Republican Senators who voted for the legislation, she said she supported the bill for one simple reason: “I believe that the American people and West Virginians want us to do something to address this issue.”

Capito also discussed another challenge facing America where, she believes, the American people want something done – border security.

“The situation at the border has deteriorated,” she said bluntly.  “Talking to the professionals who are dealing with this — whether it’s ICE or the Border Patrol — the morale in these agencies is way down. I mean, when you can’t control what’s going on and you’re getting blamed for everything that’s going on, when it’s way out of your control, it is very demoralizing for people who are really in tough positions.”

Capito – who serves as Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee which oversees funding for the Department of Homeland Security – said the border crisis was not only “a political nightmare for the President,” but a problem of his own making.

“We had the most people ever in the history of our country come across last month,” she stated. “Basically, it’s catch and release.  So this is not just a security problem. This is an enormous political problem for the Administration. And I’ve actually talked to some folks from South and Central America. I asked them why all of a sudden are these numbers bigger?  What do you all think are the reasons?  Because they’re coming from their countries. 

“And they said that everybody wants to come to America. It’s the greatest place ever. Why wouldn’t you want to come to America?  That desire has always been there.  But because the Administration basically signaled, ‘We’re going to be nice, we’re going to treat you humanely, we’re going to listen to your cases and basically we’re open.’ Those signals come through loud and clear to all the cartels and the illegal organizations that traffic people, drugs, and everything else. 

“That’s a discouraging message, and it’s a political nightmare for the President.  But all they want to do is build more temporary processing centers at the border to make it move faster.  I’m like, ‘No — what you need to do is stop the flow.  Get some kind of deterrent in there.’”

Following her opening remarks, Capito was also asked a number of questions, including one about the importance of internet connectivity and the multi-year effort she has led to close the digital divide in her home state.

“I started a thing called Capito Connect to try to figure out how we can get everybody connected,” she said of the effort, which she launched shortly after her election to the Senate in 2014.  Capito noted that the effort is intended to bring affordable, high-speed internet access to every home, business, and classroom in West Virginia.  She added that she was also optimistic that the infrastructure bill Congress approved last year would take a strong step in that direction, as well.

“Raimondo is telling people from rural states that everyone in their state is going to be connected after this,” Capito stated, referring to the Secretary of Commerce.  “I think that’s a pretty bold promise, but I believe it’s going to be close to being true.”

The West Virginia lawmaker was also asked about the current state of politics in our country and whether it was discouraging Americans – and, in particular, younger Americans, from becoming more involved.  

“It’s really easy to get discouraged when you live in middle America and you feel like you get flown over, driven through, and nobody pays any attention to you,” she observed.  “I think that’s how Donald Trump got elected quite honestly. It was after the eight years under Obama.  That’s the way we were treated in that middle part of America. I remember my son once said to me, ‘Mom, are people really that mad?’ This was before the Trump and Hillary election.  Are people really that mad or are they just watching something that’s telling them to get mad? You know what I told him?  I said, ‘You’ve got to get out of Whole Foods, honey.’ He lives up here.”

“I saw Hillary say that we’re losing democracy.  Give me a break.  Those are political statements. I think that people who are getting up every day and going to work are so focused on that, that all of this negative tone of what government’s doing and who’s going to win the leadership race … it’s not impacting their everyday life. They love this country. They’re going to be out on the 4th of July with their parades and their flags, and their sons and daughters are going to be signing up to be in the military. That is happening everywhere.  I worry more about the tone of the discussion that we see in the media because I do think it disenfranchises.  I think young people are turned off by it.  They don’t engage in the discussion because they don’t like the tone and they just turn it off.”

“I think we just have to learn to engage them differently.  But if you want to get people to have faith in democracy, send them over to Ukraine and let them see what it’s like. Send them to any other country and realize what oppression and an inability to raise your family and read what you want to read and all those kinds of things. I have great faith in the country.”

To view Capito’s remarks before The Ripon Society’s breakfast meeting on Thursday, please click on the link below:

The Ripon Society is a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 – Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.