In the News

The American people have watched with bewilderment as the growing security and humanitarian crisis at our southern border has gone from bad to worse. Meanwhile, Speaker Pelosi and the Democrat leadership have refused to lift a finger to stop it. If all they did was obstruct, it would merely be in keeping with the Democrats’ posture towards this president and the broken Washington culture of putting party before country. In other words, it would be just another day in the Swamp. But this week, Democrats in the House sunk to a new low. In the midst of this public safety crisis, they chose to spend their time and political capital serving illegal immigrants while neglecting our own citizens and their security needs. By not only ignoring the crisis, but also rewarding those who knowingly broke our laws, they are actually making it worse. Just this week, Customs and Border Patrol announced that in May, they arrested more than 140,000 people trying to cross the border illegally – the highest level in 13 years and the third month in a row during which arrests were above 100,000. On average, that’s 4,500 people a day. This is only a fraction of the reality on the ground when you consider the thousands we can’t catch or are forced to release into the interior of our country because border patrol agents are simply outnumbered, facilities are overrun, and our immigration system is completely overwhelmed. While President Trump is doing everything in his power to address this unprecedented national emergency, Democrats seem more interested in undermining his presidency and pandering to their liberal base than solving the problem. And instead of working with Republicans on bipartisan solutions to protect our citizens, they rammed partisan legislation through the House this week that would grant amnesty to almost 3 million illegal immigrants. In a turn of political irony, this legislation is named the “American Dream and Promise Act.” While it might be a dream to those who can skip the line ahead of millions of people who have waited years to obtain citizenship, it does absolutely nothing to stop the nightmare at the border. At the same time, it breaks the fundamental promises to our own citizens to uphold the Constitution, respect the Rule of Law, and protect American families first. To add injury to insult, the Democrat amnesty bill would provide green cards to known criminals, including those convicted of DUIs, and would prohibit the use of gang databases to deny green cards to gang members. It would also cost U.S. taxpayers a whopping $35 billion, well over the total amount the president requested for physical barriers. I have long recognized that Republicans must address DACA in order to reach any meaningful, bipartisan, border security deal. That is why last Congress, I cosponsored HR 4760, the “Securing America’s Future Act” that would have secured the border, stopped the flow of illegal immigration, and, at the same time, would have provided temporary legal status to DACA recipients brought here by their parents. When the vote was called, no Democrat stepped forward. I welcome all law-abiding, freedom-loving people who want to make America their home, but only if they respect our laws, our sovereignty, and the safety of our citizens. President Reagan once said, “More than any other country, our strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our capacity to welcome those from other lands.” But, he also said, “a nation without borders is not a nation.” I am confident that we can have real security for our citizens and an immigration system that works, but only if our leaders dispense with the political games and put America first.