The two U.S. senators from Texas led Republican colleagues from three other states on a tour of the border with Mexico this weekend. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz led the group which included Republicans from Nebraska, Utah and Wyoming.
They stopped at border patrol facilities in Mission, Texas, west of McAllen and Falfurrias, about 80 miles north.
"We have something special here, but unfortunately it's being spoiled by the Biden Administration's reckless policies that do nothing to deter illegal immigration," Cornyn said.
Cornyn said South Texas is a "vibrant part of our state," and the visit also helped lawmakers from other states learn about the importance of trade between Texas and Mexico.
But Cornyn and Cruz said at least 853 people died while crossing the border illegally. They said the Trump Administration was conducting DNA tests of kids caught crossing with adults, and 30 percent of the kids were not related.
"Apparently, Democrats don't care if that ten year old girl is related to the adult man the cartel handed her over to," Cruz said.
Cruz said human traffickers have been abusing people whose families pay for transportation to the border.
"For the past decade, John Cornyn and I have repeatedly brought our colleagues from the Senate to South Texas to the Rio Grande Valley to see firsthand what is happening," Cruz said. "You cannot understand what is unfolding, particularly over these last three years, without seeing it with your own eyes."
The two cite stats showing 300,000 unaccompanied minors have crossed the border since Joe Biden took office, and 85,000 are now missing. The number of missing kids comes from a New York Times report published this year, but Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra refuted the number during a Senate Finance Committee hearing in March saying the figure "doesn't sound at all to be realistic."
In addition to people coming across the border, Cornyn and Cruz said cartels were also moving more drugs. They cited numbers from the CDC saying almost 108,000 Americans died from overdoses last year, including 71,000 who died from fentanyl poisoning.
"Fentanyl is a leading cause of death of 18 to 45 year olds in the United States, the leading cause of death is from a drug that is manufactured, in essence, in Mexico and smuggled across the border to the interior," Cornyn said.
Last month, the Department of Homeland Security announced a plan to increase enforcement at the border. Since May 12, the White House says the U.S. had removed more than 253,000 people from 152 countries. During the same period in 2019, the White House says 180,000 people had been removed.
A complete list of actions announced by the Biden Administration September 20:
Combating smugglers. DHS continues to escalate the fight against those smuggling in persons and narcotics and the Administration is prosecuting an increasing number of smugglers, as well as noncitizens who are violating our laws.
From April 2022 through September 12, 2023, CBP and HSI arrested nearly 17,000 suspected human smugglers and seized more than $51 million in property and nearly $13 million in currency. This has resulted in more than 2,000 indictments and more than 1,500 convictions in partnership with the U.S. attorneys.
U.S. Border Patrol has referred 9,904 individuals for prosecution between May 12 and Sept. 14.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is vigorously prosecuting those who unlawfully bring in, harbor, or transport migrants, as well as many thousands of felony reentry cases. DOJ and DHS are working closely together to target additional prosecutorial resources towards these serious immigration offenses.
Deploying a military personnel surge to support border efforts. The Department of Defense is providing additional military personnel – on top of the 2,500 steady state National Guard personnel – to support the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This surge support includes up to 800 new active-duty personnel to assist with logistics and other functions at the border to allow more Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents and officers to return to their core mission and responsibilities. These individuals complement the 24,000 CBP agents and officers along the Southwest Border we have sustained and over 2,600 additional non-uniformed personnel we have hired to assist in processing and facility operations. Since May 12, we have also extended the support of 500 law enforcement and general support volunteers from other DHS components to supplement CBP border security operations.
Expediting family removals nationwide. DHS has expanded the Family Expedited Removal Management (FERM) program nationwide so that families without a lawful basis to remain are quickly removed. Under this process, families are placed into expedited removal proceedings to occur within 30 days. This program was launched in May and has processed over 1,600 families and will continue to scale up significantly.
Adding DHS holding and processing capacity. DHS has expanded its capacity to hold an additional 3,250 people in its facilities, for a CBP holding capacity of nearly 23,000. This builds on expansions of several thousand across CBP and ICE facilities put in place before May to process, detain, and remove more noncitizens who do not have a lawful basis to remain in the United States. Since May 12, we have processed 110,000 individuals for expedited removal and completed an average of 4,000 credible fear cases each week, double the previous high.
Working with international partners to speed removals and returns. Since May 12, we have removed or returned over 253,000 individuals to 152 countries. This compares to 180,000 removals and returns during the same period in 2019, which was the comparable pre-pandemic and pre-Title 42 period. This was enabled by a more than doubling of ICE international removal flights from the first to the second half of FY 2023 and new agreements with multiple countries to streamline returns. This includes: 36,000 family members encountered at the Southwest Border and over 17,000 non-Mexicans to Mexico – a critical deterrent, especially for hard-to-remove-to countries, and the first time Mexico has ever accepted substantial numbers of third-country repatriations. DHS has removed or returned more family members in the last 4 months than in any previous full fiscal year.
Improving processing of work authorizations and directly communicating with work eligible individuals. Only Congress can change the law to allow asylum seekers to get work authorization sooner than six months after filing their claim. Right now, six months is the law.
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