Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, along with several leading sister conservative policy organizations at the national level, issued a joint letter to Congress to make putting an end to the border crisis priority number one in its legislative agenda.

The letter points out that as of today, “over 2.8 million illegal aliens have been apprehended at our southwest border entering or attempting to enter the United States since Biden took office. The administration has admitted that at least 42 of these aliens were on the terror watchlist. Moreover, these record numbers largely occurred prior to the lifting of Title 42, the last remaining significant measure holding back even higher, crushing numbers. The worst is yet to come.”

“Ending the out-of-control illegal migration and fraudulent asylum claims crisis flooding our southern border must be job number one for the next Congress, and the Texas Public Policy Foundation is proud to work with our partners across the conservative movement in spelling out the steps the next Congress must immediately take to do the job,” said Ken Oliver, Senior Director of TPPF’s Right on Immigration initiative. “The Biden administration created the perfect storm on our southern border by deliberately leveraging loopholes in the asylum system while simultaneously dismantling the country’s immigration enforcement infrastructure.

“We fully expect the American people to repudiate these reckless policies at the voting booths this November and give Congress a mandate once and for all to get the country’s border security right—before any other step is taken on immigration. The steps outlined in this letter provide the roadmap for doing just that,” Oliver added.

The Coalition letter specifies the primary components that would constitute a robust border security bill. “These are the fixes that, if enacted and enforced, would end the border crisis. Ending the border crisis will be a mandate from the American people. This is how you do it,” the letter states.

Key Points

  • Mandate full implementation of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), otherwise known as Remain in Mexico, and appropriate funds for permanent court facilities along the border at every point of entry;
  • End the disparate treatment of contiguous vs. non-contiguous unaccompanied alien children (UAC) under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) and terminate the Flores settlement agreement that limits detention of family units to 20 days; and raise the credible fear standard;
  • End the abuse of parole authority;
  • Increase ICE resources for Deportation Officers (DO) and detention beds so they are commensurate with the mandatory detention and removal requirements in the law, and clarify DO’s authority to make custodial arrests;
  • Mandate and appropriate resources for completion of the border wall system;
  • Reverse Arizona vs U.S. and give states independent authority to participate in the enforcement of immigration laws.

Read the full legislative agenda here: https://www.heritage.org/press/new-border-security-coalition-provides-congress-roadmap-end-biden-border-crisis-reduce