We are two and a half years into the worst border crisis in our nation’s history. The Biden Administration’s reckless policies have single-handedly brought record-breaking numbers of illegal migrants, bad actors, and deadly narcotics to our shores. All of it was avoidable. After decades of failed attempts, Republicans in the House have finally passed a plan — the Secure the Border Act — to address this crisis, but Republicans must be willing to use all leverage points available to make passing this bill matter.
As soon as he took office, President Joe Biden and his handlers plunged our southern border into chaos by scrapping one border security policy after another.
To start — and on his first day on the job — Biden ended border wall construction, eliminating a measure that successfully prevented the illegal entry of migrants.
He ended the “Remain in Mexico” policy that required asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their asylum claims were processed, minimizing meritless asylum claims, and protecting border patrol resources. This accord was instrumental in achieving operational control of the southern border, as the Department of Homeland Security pointed out in 2019.
Biden reinstated the “catch and release” policies allowing endless numbers of migrants to be released into the country instead of detaining them as current law requires.
The president has abused parole statutes by releasing nearly all illegal aliens appearing at the border straight into American communities. The Administration has abused this statute — which is meant to be used only sparingly and, on a case-by-case basis — so far as to create a program to fly in tens of thousands of foreign nationals from select countries straight into the U.S., where they will be released while awaiting an asylum adjudication. These adjudications can take years. The administration’s undeniable violation of parole laws has provided one of the biggest magnets for more illegal activity.
In addition, recently, the Administration stopped using “Title 42”, leaving the border without a single enforcement mechanism to turn away illegal border crossers. Some have noted the decrease in illegal entrants since the public health order was lifted. However, the Administration has buried the actual numbers by diverting would-be illegal aliens, who would turn themselves into border authorities, to the taxpayer-funded CBP One app, scheduling an “appointment,” counting as a “legal” entry.
Implementing such a weak border posture has signaled to the entire world that virtually anyone is allowed to enter the United States — and the rest of the world has indeed taken notice.
The 5.3 million illegal crossings at the southern border are more than the population of 27 states (worldpopulationreview.com/states) in the U.S. Nearly 2 million aliens have been released into the country and at least 1.5 million “gotaways,” which are migrants who successfully evaded detection or apprehension from authorities. Of those released, how many were properly screened? What guarantees are in place to ensure these migrants will appear for their court date?
Every American should be asking who are the individuals that managed to get past border officials and infiltrate the interior of our country. These are national security and public safety problems that we must probe the Administration about.
The flow of poisonous drugs should also set off alarms. Since President Biden took office, more than 43,000 pounds of fentanyl have been seized at the U.S.-Mexico border. In addition, over 17,000 pounds of the same drug have been seized along the border in the first nine months of FY 2023 alone, surpassing the entire amount of fentanyl seized in FY 2022 — an already record-breaking year for fentanyl. It’s not just the fentanyl seized that should alarm Americans but it’s the fentanyl that has not been seized.
Proponents of open borders often point to the intercepted fentanyl as a success because authorities detected these substances. Yet, these figures do not account for the unknown number of illicit narcotics that penetrated our border, ports of entry or not, and made it into our communities to be peddled to individuals. Indeed, in 2022, more than 83,000 Americans died of fentanyl “poisoning,” a 15% jump from 2021. More than 2,000 Texans died last year from fentanyl, which is a 500% increase from 2019. How many more lives need to be lost before action is taken to secure our home front from toxic substances?
Texas is bearing the brunt of the border crisis.
More than 30 counties and cities, including Laredo, El Paso, and Brownsville, have declared emergencies due to the influx of migrants in their communities. Homeless shelters, hospitals, and schools are under duress trying to accommodate temporary housing and medical services for migrants.
The human costs have extended farther from the border. A year ago, 53 migrants died of heat exposure and asphyxiation in a tractor-trailer in San Antonio, leaving another 12 injured. This tragedy would have almost certainly never happened if we did not have directives encouraging migrants to journey to the southern border and human traffickers and smugglers taking full advantage of these vulnerable individuals.
The Lone Star State has been forced to try and step into the breach, which means working to protect the frontier and repelling the illicit activity that is seeping across its borders. Other states have answered Texas’ 911 calls for help, but these sister states can only do so much. The federal government has the authority and duty to protect our borders.
While city after city declares emergencies, the Administration claims the border is secure. But no one can genuinely argue we are operating like a sovereign nation with secure borders.
The United States cannot exist with open borders. For the first time in modern history, the House of Representatives has passed a bill to end crises at our southern border once and for all. H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023, is the best border package brought before the American people to fix the longstanding issues with our asylum, detention, and border security needs.
H.R. 2 puts the country’s needs of sovereignty and security first, abandoning the decades-old trope of including amnesty and mechanisms meant to increase legal immigration levels.
The Secure the Border Act would restart the border wall’s construction, raise the credible fear standard for asylum-seeking migrants to minimize bogus claims, restore tight asylum policies, end abuses of parole, and ensure migrant families remain together while their asylum claims are adjudicated. This bill also fixes the Flores loophole that encourages migrant children from non-contiguous nations to embark on the dangerous journey north in hopes of being released to a sponsor in the United States. This was a fix the Obama Administration wanted.
The Secure the Border Act provides more tools to our DHS agents to successfully do their jobs at the border and the interior, and importantly, this bill allows the Secretary of the DHS to turn away migrants when we do not have operational control of our border.
House Republicans came together to make good on their commitment to push legislation to secure the border, but this is not enough. The border is still in crisis. Republicans must not let leverage points slip through their fingers — leverage points such as the debt ceiling or other “must pass” bill that provide for opportunities to sign bills like H.R. 2 into law during times of divided government.
There are no excuses. We must put out the wildfire that stretches along 1,951-miles of our border. Anything less than getting H.R. 2 signed into law undermines our commitment and the trust the American people have placed in us.
But this act should not be the only focus. House Republicans must fulfill our constitutional duty to hold accountable those who have engaged in clearly impeachable conduct. And make no mistake, Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas should be impeached.
While Biden laid out his anti-borders blueprint, his enforcer, Mayorkas, has executed his flawed plan, unleashing the disaster upon the border and the rest of the nation. To say the DHS Secretary has failed in his position is an understatement.
Mayorkas has blatantly refused to enforce our immigration laws and protect the American people. Secretary Mayorkas has foregone the deportation of large categories of aliens, including criminal and gang members; he has terminated border wall construction, despite Congressional appropriation; and he has released scores of migrants into the interior – a clear violation of the law.
Mayorkas has jeopardized the safety and health of Americans by looking the other way when he knows over 1 million people who could be carrying deadly narcotics and weapons have evaded his DHS and escaped into the U.S.
Secretary Mayorkas has abdicated his oath of office. Cabinet officials who do not fulfill their sworn duty should be unanimously removed. We must hold the Executive Branch accountable for its dereliction of duty; Congress has the power to carry out those actions.
Now is the time to come together and do the most basic thing for our constituencies: protect them from foreign threats and preserve our nation’s sovereignty. We cannot sit by and wait until 2025 for a new president to remedy our border troubles. Every action taken by Republicans this Congress should hinge on using leverage to demand a secure border. If not, it should be seen as what it is, a failure to put out the fires of the Biden Administration — a failure to fulfill the commitment we made to Americans who entrusted us with the job to do exactly that.
