Op-eds

I recently joined several members of the U.S. House Budget Committee on a trip to Texas to hear firsthand from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents about the crisis that President Biden’s immigration policies have created at our southern border. Visiting the border should be mandatory for every member of Congress, who need to hear from the Border Patrol agents who are tasked with containing this dangerous hole in our national security.

First, our current border policies are driving illegal immigration levels even higher. Between Oct. 1 and the end of April, CBP agents in the McAllen, Texas, sector of our southern border have stopped migrants at our border more than 287,000 times. That doesn’t count the thousands who have evaded apprehension. This crisis will not end unless we either change policy or remove Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who either fundamentally misunderstands or is willfully neglecting the situation at our border. What’s more, President Biden has proposed cutting the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) budget by $150 million — that’s almost a $400 million cut when our need for additional resources is at its highest.

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