A broad coalition of immigration reductionist organizations, including NumbersUSA, have joined several past administration officials to urge Congressional Republican leaders to unite their members behind a "flagship" border security bill in the next Congress.
The coalition argues that Congress must enact the sweeping recommendations put forth in the letter to end Biden's historic border crisis and act as a starting point for further immigration reforms - reforms in the national interest of the American people.
In the letter, 16 organizations and 12 former senior Administration officials stated:
When the 118th Congress opens with new majorities in both chambers, it will be in large part because Americans have rejected the Biden administration's purposeful dismantling of our nation's borders and our immigration enforcement infrastructure.
Congress should be emboldened with the mandate to immediately legislate unflinchingly, ensuring that neither this nor any future administration is again able to weaponize loopholes in the immigration system—and defiantly refuse to follow plain law—to purposefully drive mass illegal immigration to the United States.
The letter signers warn that "the opportunity to legislate has been missed in several previous Congresses, but the stakes are too high for it to be missed again." They add that the conventional GOP response of increasing resources and restarting border barrier construction will no longer be enough to rectify the Biden Administration's immense damage to the U.S. immigration system and southern border.
Instead, the signers argue that Congress must target the long-standing loopholes in the immigration and asylum systems. They state:
While those are important measures required to secure the borders, without closing the loopholes and other changes, the Biden Administration's policies will continue to act as a powerful magnet, attracting millions of illegal aliens into our country. To retake control of our border and properly address what is sure to be an electoral mandate, we urge you to unite behind flagship introductory legislation for the upcoming Congress.
Included in the letter's policy recommendations are calls on leaders to "exclude amnesty of any type," create an immediate expulsion authority, clarify that migrants are not eligible for asylum if they came through a safe third country, restrict prosecutorial discretional, and reform the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) which has encouraged the surge in unaccompanied alien children in recent years.
The letter also provides several legislative proposals that would work towards the same ends. Included in those proposals are; completing the border wall, raising the "credible fear" standard for asylum, increasing resources for CBP and ICE – specifically for deportation officers and detention beds, fully implementing the "Remain-in-Mexico," clarifying that gang violence and domestic violence are not grounds for asylum, and for states to be allowed to have the authority to participate in immigration enforcement.
"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," the signers argue. "This is how you do it."
However, the signers do remind readers that the sweeping immigration bill proposed in the letter would only be an initial step, stating that more rational legislation would need to be created to deal with the damage the Biden Admin. has done to legal immigration and interior enforcement.
"All of the undersigned groups and individuals are here to help," the signers stress.
You can read the full letter below.
