Dear Friend, Since Joe Biden took office, more than 4.5 million illegal immigrants have been apprehended at our Southern Border — and that is just what we know about. The Biden Administration’s open border policies have emboldened dangerous drug cartels, filled our communities with deadly drugs, and prevented those seeking to immigrate to the United States legally from doing so. All of this is putting countless migrants in dangerous and deadly situations. These victims include young children, who often face physical and sexual abuse by cartels and smugglers. I have received countless phone calls, messages, and letters regarding illegal immigration and the disaster at our Southern Border, and I share your concerns. During the last two years of Democrat rule in Washington, we've watched the disaster at our border unfold with Democrats in Congress and the White House refusing to acknowledge the concerns of Americans all across the country. In fairness to my Democrat colleagues and President Biden, most of them — including Biden and VP Harris — campaigned on open borders. So what has occurred is no surprise. In our system of government, the legislative branch legislates and appropriates — in other words, writes the law. The executive branch — starting with the White House — executes and enforces the law. Many constituents write and ask what a Republican majority in the House is going to do to shore up our border and reverse the Biden Administration policies?
House Republicans can bring more attention to the catastrophe at the border, which is why Speaker McCarthy and many other senior lawmakers are hosting border visits and Congressional roundtables as well as hearings at the border. We will also try to include provisions in the next Appropriations package to influence their policies at the border, but keep in mind the Senate is under Democrat control so our efforts will likely be watered down. We also have articles of impeachment pending against the Secretary of Homeland Security for his willful disregard of the immigration laws on the books.
In short, only the President and his administration can reverse their policies to comply with the law. There are some instances where the law can be tweaked for improvement, but for the most part the problem isn’t the law. The problem is lack of enforcement of the law. This is a great example of why Presidential elections matter. You’re voting for much more than one person or a Presidential/VP ticket. In a Presidential election, you are also voting for the thousands of political appointees who are charged with carrying out the law.
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In 1996, The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provided for the expedited removal of non-U.S. citizens or nationals, creating a framework for processing – including screening to determine if immediate court action is necessary based on a “credible fear” merit test and detention, deciding if the migrant should be detained for court proceedings, moving unaccompanied minors to holding facilities for further processing, or removal. How this law is implemented is generally left to the discretion of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), under the President. As a result, DHS does not have to place undocumented migrants into expedited removal. Instead, DHS can choose to place undocumented migrants directly into immigration court proceedings. To do so, DHS typically releases the migrant from custody with a Notice to Appear (NTA) in court, referred to as "catch and release.” DHS has relied on this practice when the agency is unable to keep up with heavy flows of undocumented migration. In addition to determining whether to detain an undocumented immigrant, DHS has significant discretion on operations at the agency, including where or IF migrants are held during their proceedings. Current law instructs DHS to determine if the credible fear threshold is met. Traditionally, DHS has conducted the interviews at detention facilities, typically taking two to three weeks. Under the Trump Administration, DHS created programs to conduct proceedings in five-to-seven-days. Bottom line, bad policies have created loopholes that are being taken advantage of within our immigration system. This has led to an influx of undocumented migrants at the Southern Border seeking these protections and overwhelming our immigration system.
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While in office, President Trump kept his promise to build a wall between the United States and Mexico and worked to fully enforce our nation's immigration laws. With the support of myself and other Republicans in Congress, we made progress on: - Border Wall Construction: With Congressional funding, the Trump Administration constructed over 400 miles of border wall.
- In 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order 13767, "Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements."
- Congress then appropriated nearly $4.5 billion for the border wall. The actual authority to build the wall was put in law years ago.
- President Trump’s Administration took steps in 2019 to secure additional funding through Proclamation 9844 “Declaring a National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States,” including:
- transferring roughly $601 million from the Treasury Forfeiture Fund to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP);
- using $2.5 billion in Department of Defense funds transferred to the Department's counter drug programs to construct border barriers; and
- reallocating up to $3.6 billion from other military construction projects using authorities under the declaration of a national emergency.
On his first day in office, President Biden signed a proclamation terminating President Trump’s 2019 emergency declaration, arguing the construction of a border wall was “not a serious policy solution” and a misuse of U.S. taxpayer dollars. In his action, President Biden paused both the construction and funding of the border wall as well as the repurposing of contracts with private contractors. - Strengthening Asylum Eligibility: The Trump Administration narrowed asylum eligibility to include the Transit Rule – making aliens ineligible for asylum if they reached the southern border after traveling through a third country without seeking asylum there.
- Only about 30% of asylum seekers who reached the U.S. met eligibility for asylum under this standard.
The Transit Rule is currently blocked by federal court order on the ground that it likely violates the INA. - Remain in Mexico: President Trump worked with the Mexican government to create the "Remain in Mexico" program. Under the program, instead of moving forward with expedited removal, when DHS issued a Notice to Appear in immigration court to some non-Mexican migrants, the “Remain in Mexico” policy required them to wait in Mexico, instead of releasing them into the United States.
The day after President Biden’s inauguration, DHS suspended new enrollments into the Remain in Mexico program. Now, migrants are not held in detention facilities in the United States, but they are allowed to travel to their destination and monitored through alternative technologies such as ankle bracelets. - Sanctuary Cities: Trump signed an executive order to strip discretionary Federal grant funding from any city that refused to enforce federal immigration law, also known as “Sanctuary Cities."
President Biden rescinded the Trump executive order. - Title 42: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020 the Trump Administration implemented a policy that mostly shut down asylum processing for undocumented migrants at the border, known as “Title 42.” This program allowed CBP to expel undocumented migrants to Mexico or their countries of origin to protect American citizens from the spread of the virus
The Biden Administration worked to end Title 42, but was sued by a number of states and the Supreme Court ruled the policy had to remain in place until further notice by the Court. Most recently, the Supreme Court removed the case from its calendar and will likely dismiss the case — meaning the policy will be rescinded when the COVID Public Health Emergency ends on May 11. - Asylum Cooperative Agreements: The INA authorizes DHS and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to render aliens ineligible for asylum by entering into safe third country agreements (STCAs) with countries that have "full and fair" asylum procedures. STCAs allow DHS to transfer asylum seekers to those countries rather than evaluating their claims in the United States. The Trump Administration created STCAs with Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador ("Asylum Cooperative Agreements").
The Biden Administration has suspended these three STCAs.
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The American people know the chaos at our Southern Border is the direct result of Joe Biden’s and Congressional Democrats open-border agenda. Being the majority party in power in the House provides useful tools like the ability to conduct oversight hearings and investigations and the appropriation of funding. However, our slim majority, combined with the divide in power between Congress and the White House, we will be limited in implementing broad, sweeping changes to our immigration system absent a turn-around in thought and policy by the White House and Congressional Democrats. That said, we will be able to stop bad policies that require an act of Congress, and we will be able to improve some narrow provisions of law. Under the Constitution we have no authority to prosecute wrongdoing or enforce any federal law. Only the Executive branch has that authority. While major trajectory changes in law will have to wait for a Republican Senate and White House, here's where you can expect to see from House Republicans: - We will work to appropriate funding for effective border enforcement strategies, infrastructure, and advanced technology to prevent illegal crossings and trafficking by cartels.
- We will work to pass legislation to end catch-and-release loopholes.
- We will advocate for requiring proof of legal status to get a job.
- We will be relentless in our pursuit to hold Biden Administration officials accountable, including Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas, for this ongoing humanitarian, national security, and public health crisis. Articles of impeachment of Mayorkas have already been introduced as a result of his continued abandonment of his duty to secure the border.
The American people deserve safety and security, and a Republican majority will advocate for common sense solutions while using all the tools available to help hold the Biden Administration accountable for their open border policies. |
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