Newsletter: The Border Crisis: Where We Go From Here

Statement

Dear friends,

A nation that cannot secure its own borders cannot secure its own destiny. Today -- because of President Obama's failed policies -- we are experiencing a genuine humanitarian crisis along our Southern border, plus a supreme test of our government's willingness to protect our national sovereignty.

To resolve this crisis, we must be resolute in ensuring that those with no legal right to be here are returned home as quickly as possible.

To be clear, it is President Obama's failed policies that led directly to this crisis. In June 2012, the President signed an executive order known as "DACA" (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) to stop deportations of those who came to the U.S. illegally as children. The year before DACA, 16,000 "unaccompanied alien children" (known as "UACs") crossed the Southern border illegally. This year - with DACA in full effect -- the Homeland Security Department projects as many as 90,000 UACs will enter the U.S illegally. Next year, the number is projected to reach 160,000.

The President wants to get these individuals "processed" as quickly and humanely as possible. But if that happens, most of them will be able stay in America illegally for years, if not indefinitely. The Wall Street Journal recently noted, "Thousands of children from Central America are undertaking a perilous journey to the U.S. border despite warnings from the U.S. that they will be sent back. In fact, many will get to stay. Data from immigration courts, along with interviews with the children and their advocates, show that few minors are sent home and many are able to stay for years in the U.S., if not permanently."

That is unacceptable. This is a problem that must be fixed, and the best way to do that is by closing a loophole in the Wilberforce trafficking law of 2008. Under that law, a system was put in place to expedite removal of border crossers from Mexico and Canada. Border crossers from Central America were exempted. That was a mistake.

The consequence is that tens of thousands of Central American children are fleeing to the United States in order to take advantage of DACA. While they misunderstand DACA -- it doesn't provide automatic amnesty to kids who enter our country illegally -- they are not wrong in assuming the President may wish to grant amnesty later on. Hence, the rush to the border.

We need a real solution, one that fixes the loophole in the Wilberforce law, while appropriating the necessary funds to deal with the humanitarian crisis.

When the crisis first started, President Obama called for changing the Wilberforce law. Since then, he's reversed himself. Now he won't say whether he supports changing it.

Over the past few weeks, I've been saying that any border security bill should have the following four things:

Amend the Wilberforce law to treat all a arriving aliens, whether from Mexico or Central America, the same

Expedite asylum determinations for newly arriving aliens

Send the National Guard to the border

Allow the Border Patrol unfettered access on public lands
I am hopeful that a bill incorporating most of these points will be voted on by the House next week.

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