Rep. Mark Green: Biden's Migrant Move 'Facilitating Human Trafficking'

Rep. Mark Green Friday accused President Joe Biden and his administration of “facilitating human trafficking” by allowing migrant children to fly unannounced into Tennessee after GOP Gov. Bill Lee turned down the government’s request to send them there. 

“We got here because Joe Biden did away with the asylum agreements, and the drug cartels are grabbing these children, coming across Central America, dumping them at our border, and getting into our country,” the Tennessee Republican said on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.” “Basically, Biden’s facilitating human trafficking, and then they’ve got to figure out what to do,” he added. 

Green’s comments come after media reports, citing unnamed sources, said at least four planes carrying unaccompanied minor migrants had landed in Chattanooga before the children boarded buses and were taken to other cities in the southeastern United States.

The news prompted Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, along with Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, all Tennessee Republicans, to send a letter to the administration demanding an explanation about why they had been “left in the dark” about the matter, reports ABC affiliate WTVC in Chattanooga.  

“I spoke to our governor last night about this issue, and he has done a very good job keeping us informed,” said Green. “He was called two weeks ago by the Biden administration and asked, ‘Do you want to take, you know, these migrants, these illegal migrants?’ He said, ‘no, we do not want to take them.’ So, that’s why they are having to sneak them into Tennessee because we told them you can’t just bring them here without our permission, and they are doing it anyway.”

Green also on Friday blasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for “hypocrisy” after she was shown, unmasked, on Capitol Hill and at the White House after she’s refused to lift mask mandates on the House floor and after he got fined $500 for being present without wearing a face covering. 

“You know, leadership 101 at West Point for me 35 years ago, the first thing they teach you is you never ask people to do something you as the leader aren’t willing to do,” Green said. “Here she is in the House at the speaker’s rostrum, not wearing a mask. She goes to the White House, not wearing a mask.”

He further accused of her of keeping her stance “unscientific” after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidelines that said masks are not needed for people who have been vaccinated, except under certain conditions. 

“Even in committee she basically compelled the House physician to change his rule,” said Green. “His knee-jerk response to the CDC was, hey, let’s not wear masks in committee. She came back, he had to retract that and change it. I mean, it’s just harassment, basically … I’m speculating why he as a physician, would change his clinical guidance.”