Fetterman blasts Democrats for Biden ‘chaos’ at the border

Senator John Fetterman had some sharp words for his fellow Democrats on Monday, accusing their recent border policy under the Biden administration of being a colossal “mistake,” the latest sign of his growing tension with his party.

“I thought the border was really important and our party did not handle the border appropriately. Look at the numbers — 260,000, 300,000 people showing up our borders,” Fetterman told the audience at a debate with his Republican colleague Senator Dave McCormick.

“We can’t pretend we can take care of 300,000 people showing up every month,” Fetterman added, referencing the December 2023 peak level of immigrant encounters at the border under Biden.

“That’s roughly the size of Pittsburgh,” he continued. “Now, that’s unacceptable, and that’s a national security issue, and that’s chaos.”

The most recent data shows there were about 29,000 such encounters nationwide in April 2025.

As The Independent has reported, the Biden administration in fact preserved many parts of the first Trump administration’s big-picture border strategy, including fast-track entry denials using emergency Covid powers, asylum restrictions, and continuing to construct parts of the border wall.

During the debate, Fetterman went on that his views, which include both supporting immigrants and investments like the Trump administration’s proposed $12 billion border spending package, “puts me at odds with my party and my base.”

Elsewhere during the debate at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in Boston, Fetterman spoke about other tension areas with his fellow Democrats, arguing “parts” of the base had turned their backs on Israel during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and widespread U.S. pro-Palestine protests.

“That’s not free speech, building tent cities on a campus and terrorizing and intimidating Jewish students, that’s not free speech,” he said. “And now we really lost, we’ve lost the argument in parts of my party, and for me, that moral clarity, it’s really firmly on Israel.”

Since Trump took office, Fetterman has repeatedly clashed with parts of the leftward wing of his party over issues like co-sponsoring the Laken Riley Act, which calls requires federal detention of undocumented immigrants accused of a variety of crimes, as well as voting to confirm Trump officials like Attorney General Pam Bondi.

More than just one-off disagreements, Fetterman has called on the party to get its “s*** together” soon and reorient, lest it become a “permanent minority.”

“We really got our a**** kicked in, and especially in the Senate, we could have been left a gigantic, smoking hole in the ground,” Fetterman told Politico. “We could have easily lost Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, and we could be staring down, 56-44.”

The criticisms have prompted speculation he’s planning to change party, which he dismisses.

“I’ve been on record ... saying I am not going to become a Republican, you know, although maybe some people might be happy on one side,” Fetterman said earlier this year. “But I would make a pretty terrible Republican, because, you know, [I’m] pro-choice, pro really strong immigration, pro-LGBTQ … I don’t think I’d be a good fit.”

Others in the party have expressed concern over Fetterman’s fitness for office, after a damning May profile in New York Magazine quoted current and former staffers claiming Fetterman was in poor mental health.

The piece described Fetterman, who had a stroke in 2022 and was hospitalized for depression a year later, as continuing to struggle with the demands of office.

In one alleged incident, amid the contentious confirmation process for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Fetterman reportedly “spent part of the day locked in his office, fighting with [his wife] Gisele and crying while FaceTiming with staff.”

The piece also claimed Fetterman was involved in a 2024 car wreck that injured his wife, despite alleged concerns from staffers he shouldn’t get behind the wheel of a car.

“This hit piece came from best friends – Adam Jentleson and Ben Terris – who sourced anonymous, disgruntled staffers with lies or distorted half-truths. My ACTUAL doctors and my family affirmed that I’m very well,” Fetterman told The Independent in a statement.

Despite the dismissals, some fellow Democrats continue to show concern about Fetterman’s health.

“Every time I see him, I’m worried about him,” one anonymous Democrat told The Hill.

“I know we’re all in touch with each other, having conversations about how to intervene. I haven’t heard anybody say they’re not worried about it,” the senator added. “People are trying to figure out what to do. People are worried about his safety.”