U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, along with Republican colleagues, introduced the Border Reinforcement Act to combat the crisis at the southern border.
The bill resumes border wall construction, enhances technology, adds U.S. Border Patrol agents and supports local law enforcement at the border. Republicans blamed the Biden administration and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the record number of unauthorized immigrant crossings, the fentanyl drug crisis and losing control of the situation at the border.
“Following over five million illegal encounters at our Southwest border, a worsening crisis at our Northern and Maritime borders and the record number of lives lost to fentanyl poisoning across the country, it is clear this administration does not have the operational control it claims," Green said in a news release. "Today, this Committee introduced real border security solutions crafted with the insight of those who pay the cost of this crisis every day: frontline Border Patrol agents, their families, local business owners, state and local law enforcement, as well as farmers and ranchers.”
This legislation "demands transparency from DHS and ensures CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) and border states have the infrastructure, personnel and technology needed to take back control of our sovereign borders," Green said. "It’s time to put the cartels in their place and put the protection of our communities first. This border crisis is one of the greatest security threats facing the American people. Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee won’t stand by and let it continue. It is critical that we deliver on our Commitment to America by passing the Border Reinforcement Act of 2023—there is far too much at stake to not get this right.”
According to the news release from Green, the Border Reinforcement Act will provide the necessary resources for CBP as well as local law enforcement at the border to address the crisis. Green and Republican members of the House Homeland Security Committee say President Biden and Mayorkas have not done their job in keeping the border secure.
Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement and Intelligence Subcommittee Chairman August Pfluger (R-TX) co-authored the bill.
"Let’s build the wall, hire more Border Patrol officers and finally understand who and what is crossing our border,” U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) said in the release. "The border has never been so out-of-control. President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas have abdicated their duty to protect the homeland. Thankfully, the American people entrusted House Republicans to pick up the administration’s slack. Today we are delivering on our promises by introducing this practical border legislation, drafted alongside those who know best — our outstanding Border Patrol officers.”
The Border Reinforcement Act would require Mayorkas to continue construction of the wall at the southern border, hire more Border Patrol agents, authorize CBP to develop and modernize technology at the border, mandate the DHS to disclose monthly data and be transparent about what is occurring at the border, address retention of Border Patrol agents and reinstate OneApp for CPB to use when processing immigrants.
According to Fox News, there were 1.7 million encounters at the border in 2021 and a record 2.3 million in 2022. Mayorkas did not call the situation at the border a "crisis", the news story said. But Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said in the story that U.S. Border Patrol does not have operational control. "In five of those nine southwest border sectors, we have seen an increase in flow and that has caused a considerable strain on our resources," Ortiz said.
In addition, fentanyl is being smuggled mainly through the U.S.-Mexico border, with 90% of approximately 80,000 opioid-related deaths due to fentanyl in 2021, CBS News reported. Mexican drug cartels have ramped up the flow of fentanyl into an industry that brings the drugs at the border and into the U.S. "The vast, vast majority is sought to be smuggled through the ports of entry and tractor-trailer trucks and passenger vehicles," Mayorkas said at a hearing in February.
CBS News reported in 2022, that the Drug Enforcement Administration seized enough fentanyl to kill every American. From 2019-21, annual deaths due to fentanyl overdose nearly doubled. Homeland Security tracks down Mexican cartels that are largely responsible for smuggling the drugs but the cartels have links to China where production takes place.
"They have the contacts to China, and then furthermore, the distribution networks to get things across the United States, the smuggling networks," one official said in the CBS article.
