The lack of security at our southern border is deeply troubling, and the crisis continues to worsen. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), March encounters on our southern border rose nearly 25 percent over February. This crisis brings serious risks to our homeland security, grows fentanyl’s scourge on our public health, and has led to a massive humanitarian crisis that has only been made worse by the policies of the Biden administration.
In the first six months of Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, CBP arrested 80 individuals listed on the terrorist watchlist who were attempting to cross our southern border and 2 attempting to cross our northern border. These encounters total more than the number of terrorist watchlist encounters in the five years between FY17-FY21 combined. With four months remaining in FY23, we are projected to far outpace the number of watchlist encounters at our southern border from FY22. Furthermore, human trafficking has become an estimated $13 billion revenue source for cartel smugglers according to the Homeland Security Investigations division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In March, CBP fentanyl seizures increased by 25 percent over the previous month. The lack of security at the border is affecting the security of every community around the country.
Action must be taken to confront these concerning trends, yet the policy of the Biden administration has neglected the problem and adopted a posture that incentivizes abuse of our immigration system. Since President Biden took office, CBP has recorded 1.3 million known “gotaways” at the border and over 5 million encounters. Border officials are overwhelmed and under-resourced. Referring to the expiration of Title 42 this week, Biden admitted, “It’s going to be chaotic for a while.” Yet the president refuses to fill the gap being left by his administration’s decision to let this effective policy lapse.
House Republicans’ Commitment to America prioritizes a nation that’s safe because we have a responsibility to act to protect American citizens from the inflow of lethal drugs such as fentanyl, which has become the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18-45.
This week, we delivered on that commitment by passing the Secure the Border Act, a legislative solution to the ongoing gaps in our nation’s border enforcement. The Secure the Border Act would boost manpower at the border, authorize investment in security enforcement technology, and mandate the resumption of border wall construction.
Although President Biden has been slow to act, maintaining homeland security – at the border and otherwise – does have some bipartisan support. This week, a bill I introduced alongside a bipartisan group of colleagues advanced out of the House Agriculture Committee with unanimous support. If enacted, the bill would reinforce the program that trains detector dogs to assist CBP agents at the border in identifying and stopping prohibited agriculture items that could carry foreign pests and diseases before they enter our food supply.
Protecting American consumers and producers against these threats is of the utmost importance. I’m pleased to see this bipartisan bill advance in the legislative process, and I am eager to see its passage by the full House.
The federal government cannot sit by while American lives are lost because our borders are not secure. The Secure the Border Act and my agricultural security bill are strong, commonsense bills. To confront our border crisis, we must act on solutions to counter the administration’s ongoing failure to address our border crisis. It is the only way we will achieve a nation that’s safe.