The Sconi

Matt Batzel, national executive director of American Majority, said Vice President Kamala Harris can't hide from "her abysmal record on the border" and the immigration crisis that the administration has caused. 

"Harris can run from her abysmal record on the border, but she can't hide from it," Batzel told The Sconi. "The Biden/Harris Administration has caused the current illegal immigration situation."

Harris was appointed by President Joe Biden to head up the border security efforts of their administration, giving her the charge in March of 2021. 

So far in the 2024 fiscal year, which runs from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has arrested 35,178 illegal aliens who have previous criminal convictions or who are wanted by law enforcement. 13,828 of these arrests have been made by the U.S. Border Patrol, and 21,350 of these arrests have been made by the CBP’s Office of Field Operations.

Illegal apprehension records have been broken every year during the Biden-Harris administration, according to an April report from the Center Square. In fiscal year 2021, the 1.9 million illegal border crossings reported was a record high, the highest number in American history at that point. The record was broken in both fiscal year 2022 and again in fiscal year 2023, when 2.7 million and 3.2 million crossings were reported. None of the record crossing numbers include “gotaways,” the individuals that evaded capture or notice at the border. 

Poll results released by Marquette University in recent months shows major trend towards Wisconsin voters favoring deportation of illegal aliens as well as support for President Donald Trump’s border policies over the Biden-Harris administration’s policies. 

An April 2024 poll from Marquette University asked Wisconsin voters if they thought illegal aliens should be deported from the country or be allowed to stay and offered a path towards citizenship. 30% of Wisconsin residents favored requiring illegal aliens to leave their jobs and be deported from the U.S., almost double the 16% who favored the option in the same poll conducted in April of 2022 just two years prior. 

49% of voters said illegal aliens should be offered a path towards citizenship, a decrease from 64% in the 2022 poll, and 16% of voters said they should be allowed to stay as temporary workers in both the 2022 and 2024 poll. 

When the question was modified to ask if voters either favored or opposed deportation of illegal aliens in the U.S. to their home countries, 56% of Wisconsin voters favored deportation. 

"The illegal immigration crisis at our nation’s Southern Border impacts every state," Wisconsin State Sen. Julian Bradley (R-28) said in a post on X. "We’re feeling the negative impacts of increased crime, fentanyl deaths, and strained government budgets brought on by President Biden’s Open Borders policies. We must secure the border."

"VP Kamala Harris was tasked to be the Biden administration’s Border Czar," he said in another post. "She failed miserably as millions of illegal immigrants poured into our nation in violation of our laws."

A June 2024 poll from Marquette University on the upcoming election showed voters said they would prefer to see President Trump handling the border instead of President Biden, with 52% saying Trump handled the border better, and 28% saying Biden handled it better. 

The border and immigration policies are the second most important item to voters in the upcoming election across both parties, with only the economy as more important. 

Batzel is the national executive director of American Majority, a conservative training organization that "trains, organizes, mobilizes, and equips new grassroots conservative leaders." He previously served as the Wisconsin Executive Director for American Majority, as well as serving in both state government and all three branches of the federal government. He practiced in the private sector after law school, working with tax law. 

A Wisconsin native, Batzel lives in Cedar Grove with his wife and five children.