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Opinion

'AMERICA IS UNDER SIEGE': Roy Says GOP Can Fix Border, Take Back Control from Cartels

Our asylum laws were never meant to encourage millions to make a dangerous journey to the U.S. They are not a blueprint for a human trafficking pipeline

posted by Hannity Staff - 1.19.23

By Rep. Chip Roy , Mayra Flores | Fox News

America is under siege by both cartels and our own politicians. Since day one of his presidency Joe Biden has made it clear that he would rather allow cartels to control our border than be vulnerable to political attacks from the left.

As a result, we have experienced the largest border security crisis in modern American history. The Secretary of Homeland Security has perpetuated this crisis through “encounter and release” policies that ignore our laws and put both Americans and the migrants seeking to come here in danger.

Now, House Republicans have a chance to force the President’s hand to end the crisis and reclaim control of our border from cartels.  H.R. 29, the Border Safety and Security Act, will immediately reverse these “encounter and release” policies by requiring DHS to instead “detain or turn away.”

This is the border security equivalent of the pandemic-prevention deterrent known as Title 42, which all Republicans have supported – somewhat imprudently – as the solution for the border.  It was only a Band-Aid solution during the pandemic and a health policy is not a border policy, but it powers make clear the border solution.

The problem is that the Biden administration has used asylum as the exception to swallow the rule of border security; now hundreds of thousands arrive at our southern border each month.

Secretary Mayorkas has released between 1-2 million illegal migrants into American communities, heavily through an abuse of parole authority which is supposed to be used on a “case-by-case” basis.

We know that in just the first 15 months of the Biden administration, DHS released 836,225 people encountered of the more than 1 million illegal migrants apprehended by CBP not turned away under Title 42 – some 80 percent.

Read the full op-ed over at Fox News: