WASHINGTON–U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday joined ABC’s This Week to discuss Republicans’ refusal to work with Democrats to pass a border bill and the latest on the humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

Murphy argued Democrats’ must be proactive in talking about tackling the crisis at the border: “Democrats need to go on the offense on this question of controlling the border. The fact of the matter is we did achieve a bipartisan compromise that would give the president new powers to get the border under control, and Donald Trump killed it. Donald Trump and Republicans decided that they want the border to be chaotic because it helps them politically, and polls show that if Democrats just tell that story, if the president tells that story, Republicans' political advantage on the border is erased.”

Murphy continued: “What we also know is that under Donald Trump's presidency, crossings at the border were at a ten-year high, and this is exactly why I think the president and Democrats should go on the offense because the vast majority of the country believes that we should have robust, legal immigration, but they want tighter control of the border, and right now there's only one party that can deliver that. Only the Democrats support pathways to citizenship, support expanding legal pathways into the country, and a tough border law. Republicans use the issue of immigration to try to divide us from each other and now are on the record opposing the toughest border reform bill, the toughest border security bill in decades.”

Following his statement on the deaths in Gaza City this week, Murphy called on the Biden administration to use every lever to achieve a long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas: I think it is time for the president to use all the levers that he has to get a long-term ceasefire. I think if that ceasefire doesn’t come, it’s in Israel’s interest for them to pause military activity to solve the humanitarian crisis. But to the extent the president is using additional leverage on Israel, he should do that for national security reasons, not for political reasons. These issues are too important to be dictated by the polls…I think you see him stepping up and using more and more pressure, but I think this is a critical moment where social order is unraveling inside Gaza, and I have both publicly and privately counselled the president to use whatever leverage he has to try to get this long-term ceasefire. It has to happen tomorrow.”

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