Senator Mark Kelly is a Democrat from the border state of Arizona. He supports the

president's move and he joins me now. Senator Kelly, welcome back to the

news hour. Thanks for joining us. Well thank you for having me on, Amna. Let me ask you about the president's move today because to take this step some three weeks before the first presidential debate, some five months before the election when polls do show immigration is a top voting issue for

many leaves many to think that it's a political decision and not a policy one.

As you've noted Republicans walked away from a border deal back in February, but the President

has always had this authority.

So why this move now?

Well, first of all, Arizonans and folks who live in other border states deserve to have real solutions for this problem and deserve to have a border that's under control.

It's often been out of control. I've been in the United States

Senate for about three years and it's really been unfair, especially to people who live

close to the border. I talked to mayors and sheriffs all the time about this issue and we had an opportunity

and you talk about the politics behind this we had an opportunity with

bipartisan legislation negotiated by Democrats and Republicans and the White House,

worked on for months.

We were right up to the finish line on this legislation.

And the politics of the presidential election, you know, superseded everything, where the

former president Donald Trump decided that he did not want this legislation

passed and was able to get my Republican colleagues in the Senate to run away from a

comprehensive piece of legislation that was going to help the Border Patrol, help CBP, help communities in southern Arizona and other states.

I never seen, I've never seen anything.

This was back in February.

President Biden could have taken this action sooner.

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