"The Time Is Now To Pass H.R. 2"
By Congressman Byron Donalds
Published in "Life in Naples Magazine" – February 2024
Just over three years ago, on a cold January day in 2021, President Joe Biden stood on the steps of the United States Capitol, swore an oath to defend our nation, and was inaugurated as the forty-sixth President of the United States. Mere hours later, his first presidential actions would go down as some of the most short-sighted and consequential decisions in American history.
Surrounded by his top advisors, Joe Biden proudly smiled as he signed various Presidential Executive Orders to ensure a near complete reversal of the preceding Trump administration’s successful border security policy platform. For years, Democratic politicians across America vigorously campaigned on creating a borderless, open society, called any attempt to install physical barriers at the Southern border “racist,” and outrageously attributed DHS holding facilities to “Nazi concentration camps.” After years of this overly-politicized and inflammatory rhetoric, it was time for Joe Biden and his new administration to put-up or shut up.
What subsequently occurred as a result of these policy changes, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s shocking and unprecedented lack of will to enforce immigration laws still on the books, can only be described as one of the worst humanitarian and national security crises in our country’s history. Since Joe Biden became president, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has encountered an invasion of over 7,500,000 illegal aliens, while officials have tracked an additional 1,700,000 unvetted “gotaways.” Moreover, the Biden administration’s disastrous mishandling of our border has exacerbated the scourge of human trafficking and has worsened the opioid epidemic that is indiscriminately ravaging every community across America. Violent Mexican drug cartels have even seized operational control over portions of the Southern border.
In no world should CBP be outnumbered 200:1, and in no world should U.S. Air Marshals and Bureau of Prisons officials be forced to leave their posts to aid in the transport of illegal aliens into our country. Supposed Democratic “sanctuary cities” like New York City and Chicago–which for years have committed to sheltering illegal aliens–are now so overwhelmed by the never-ending influx of people, that their mayors have repeatedly begged the Biden administration for action on national television.
Upon assuming our majority in 2023, House Republicans took action. On May 11, 2023, we passed our solution to the border crisis, H.R. 2 – “The Secure the Border Act of 2023.” This multi-faceted bill both secures the border and combats illegal immigration. H.R. 2 includes provisions to: (1.) Force the Biden administration to restart construction of the border wall, (2.) Deploy technology to both the Southern and Northern borders, (3.) Increase the number of Border Patrol agents and provide bonus pay, (4.) Require transparency regarding illegal crossings from the Department of Homeland Security, (5.) Strengthen current law to protect unaccompanied children from human trafficking, (6.) End catch and release, (7.) End abuse of executive immigration authority, (8.) Strengthen and streamline the asylum process.
Disgracefully, for hundreds of days since, as the border crisis has continued to worsen, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Democrats refuse to even consider our commonsense proposal. Problems necessitate action and we proposed an evidence-based solution backed with years of successful data from the Trump administration. Instead of defending our sovereignty, Senate Democrats would rather bury their heads in the sand and ignore this epic disaster of their own accord.
The situation at our Southern border is untenable and it worsens by the day as we continue to reach new record highs in nearly every tracked statistic. Now more than ever, it is time for the Senate to pass H.R. 2 and restore law and order to our great nation.
