Charleston Leader

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference and a member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, addressed President Biden’s recent executive order on the southern border crisis during the weekly Senate Republican Leadership press conference. Senator Capito criticized the timing and effectiveness of the president's actions, drawing comparisons to measures taken by Finland to secure its border with Russia.

"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," said Senator Capito. "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."

Senator Capito referenced her recent Congressional Delegation (CODEL) trip overseas as an example of effective border security measures. "We went with congressional members over to do a national security congressional trip. 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."

She described Finland's approach: "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."

Senator Capito suggested that President Biden could learn from Finland's example: "So you can have policies if you have the will and you believe in the danger that unchecked immigration into your country can really – what the challenge of that is and the security of that. 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."