WASHINGTON, April 23,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Senate followed the
lead of the House of Representatives in approving $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, without including any provisions to
secure our own borders and end the unprecedented surge of illegal
immigration to the United
States.
For months, Republican congressional leaders, in both chambers,
pledged that legislation to aid Ukraine must also include all, or substantial
parts of H.R.2, the Secure the Border Act. H.R. 2 was passed by the
House last May, but Majority Leader Chuck
Schumer has refused to bring it up for a vote in the Senate.
Earlier this year, House Speaker Mike
Johnson vowed that a "border fight is coming, and we're
going to die on that hill." Similarly, Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell stated, "America's
national security begins with securing and maintaining our borders.
It's a matter of basic sovereignty."
Nevertheless, after several rounds of negotiations on government
funding and now on foreign aid, the GOP leadership has squandered
numerous opportunities to enact legislation that is vital to the
security of our own country.
"Since H.R. 2 passed the House nearly a year ago the world has
become a much more dangerous place and the threats to our national
security have become even more dire," said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for
American Immigration Reform (FAIR). "Top national security experts,
including people who are serving in the Biden administration, have
issued explicit warnings of terror threats against the United States and specifically stated that
our unsecured borders pose a grave danger to the nation. These
warnings have gone unheeded by President Biden, Homeland Security
Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and the
Democratic-led Senate, which refuses to act on H.R. 2.
"Even in the absence of congressional action, the Biden
administration could immediately take a variety of actions to roll
back its disastrous policies and reduce the tidal wave of illegal
immigration at the southern border, including reinstating the
Migrant Protection Protocols; ceasing all unlawful parole programs;
and detaining illegal aliens encountered rather than releasing
them," Stein continued. "But they have not, and are unlikely to,
making the failure of the Republican congressional leadership all
the more significant.
"Congress will get one more chance to address the Biden
administration's border crisis this year as they negotiate the FY
2025 federal budget. Failure to capitalize on that opportunity, in
the face of the crisis on our borders and the impacts it is
inflicting on American communities across the country, would be
unconscionable," concluded Stein.
Contact: Joey Chester,
jchester@fairus.org, 202-740-7355
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SOURCE Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)