Romney Explains Why He Voted to Block Trump's National Emergency During Border 'Crisis'

WASHINGTON — Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who voted to block President Donald Trump’s border national emergency declaration, has said there is a “real crisis” on the southern border.

“I hope people in both parties, as well as people across the country, realize there’s a real crisis right now at our southern border. We are at a rate of about 1 million people a year trying to cross into the country,” Romney said in a Facebook video posted in April. “These are folks we’re not able to properly evaluate, investigate and to vet and as a result, we don’t know exactly who they are and why they want to come here. It’s a real security risk and it’s overwhelming our systems, particularly in our border states. So, it’s a crisis and we have to deal with this on an urgent basis.”

Romney was asked why he voted to block the declaration if there is a currently a crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“There’s a constitutional approach to providing for border fencing and I believe the president had access to the necessary billions of dollars to be able to provide that fencing and felt that the emergency declaration was unnecessary and was not consistent with constitutional principles,” Romney said.