Over the past two years, we have all witnessed the devastating harm wrought by a rogue administration that is asserting near dictatorial powers in a relentless effort to keep our borders open.
President Joe Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have stood by and watched our southwest border fall into the hands of cartels and human smugglers — a direct result of their open-borders policymaking — pushing our Border Patrol agents and the American people to the brink.
Sadly, with Title 42 ending Thursday evening, we are witnessing disastrous chaos and the creation of the most lawless border any of us have seen in our lifetime. The bad is about to get much, much worse. (RELATED: SELENE RODRIGUEZ: Biden’s Border Chaos Fuels Child Trafficking)
Since President Biden took office in January 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered more than 5 million illegal aliens along the southwest border. In December of last year, CBP encountered 251,487 illegal aliens crossing the southwest border — the highest recorded number of encounters in a single month and an average of 8,100 illegal alien encounters per day.
This figure eclipsed all of the record-high monthly encounter numbers previously set by the Biden administration and is yet to be shattered again, with numbers slated to exceed 10,000 per day once Title 42 ends.
The Biden administration has also released nearly 2 million of the illegal aliens encountered along the southwest border into American communities. This jaw-dropping “catch-and-release” figure is compounded by the fact that more than 1.5 million known illegal alien “gotaways” have successfully crossed the southwest border undetected.
In addition to record numbers of illegal aliens successfully making it across our border, the Biden administration has also created programs to categorically parole hundreds of thousands of additional aliens into the U.S.
The unlawful programs created in response to these mind-numbing statistics make it clear that the Biden administration’s neglect of our southern border is intentional. That is why it is time for Congress to act swiftly and end the abuse of U.S. immigration laws by illegal aliens and the Biden administration alike.
With consideration of H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, slated for this week, House Republicans are taking the right steps to end the self-imposed crisis. This long-awaited flagship package represents the strongest border security and enforcement legislation put forth to date and addresses nearly every policy recommendation provided by a coalition of border security and immigration leaders that we are proud to be a part of.
Specifically, H.R. 2 would close loopholes used for asylum fraud, fortify border security by ending ‘‘catch-and-release’’, end the illegal use of mass parole, expand penalties for visa overstays, reduce incentives for illegal immigration by mandating nationwide E-Verify and close longstanding loopholes in the processing of both accompanied and unaccompanied alien children (UACs).
The bill also resumes construction of the border wall, provides essential support for CBP, and ends the Biden Administration’s reliance on non-governmental organizations to process and transport illegal aliens into American communities.
House Republicans made ending the border crisis a central component of their 2022 “Commitment to America,” a policy platform that propelled them into power, and this is precisely what H.R. 2 seeks to do.
When H.R. 2 is considered later this week, the Republican-controlled House will have shown the American people a forceful and serious response to the worst border crisis in American history.
Then, all eyes will turn to the Senate and the White House. Are they committed to America, or will they continue to undermine its sovereignty, security, and well-being? That should be an easy answer.
Jessica Anderson is the Executive Director of Heritage Action for America.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.