The Biden Administration’s failure to enforce our border laws has led to an unprecedented national security, ecological, and humanitarian crisis at our border. Since President Biden took office, there have been over 5 million illegal crossings along the southern border, and over 14,000 pounds of fentanyl have been seized coming across the border – that’s enough to kill the entire U.S. population ten times. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has lost operational control of the southern border – and with extraordinary amounts of narcotics flowing into our communities, drug overdose deaths are now over 100,000 per year, with fentanyl poisoning accounting for a vast majority of those deaths.  

The record levels of drug trafficking, illegal immigration, and human trafficking at the border affect every community (even in Arkansas) – not just the cities and states along the border. It’s spreading like wildfire across our country and getting out of hand.

The increase in illegal crossings isn’t just a humanitarian crisis, it has resulted in horrible ecological impacts as well. With more and more illegal aliens crossing into our country comes a jarring amount of trash and pollution. In just one week, the illegal crossings can cause disastrous amounts of garbage that negatively affect our nation’s federal lands and wildlife habitats.

With the expiration of Title 42, the border crisis will go from bad to worse. Even President Biden said the migrant surge was ‘going to be chaotic’ when Title 42 ends. Yet, the Biden Administration has no plan to control the coming chaos. Fortunately, House Republicans have developed a plan that will allow U.S. Customs and Border Security to regain operational control and secure our border again.

My colleagues and I promised the American people that we would fix this border crisis and protect our communities. This week, we passed H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023. This legislation will remove the incentives for people to cross our southern border illegally and, in turn, combat drug and human trafficking to protect communities across the country and those who are being trafficked for insidious purposes. In summary, H.R. 2 will force the Biden Administration to resume border wall construction, bolster border patrol staffing, modernize and enhance border security technology, demand transparency from the Department of Homeland Security on illegal crossings, and support local law enforcement in border cities.

Border security is critical to our national security. I was proud to vote yes on H.R. 2 to combat illegal immigration and protect our communities. House Republicans delivered on our promise to develop a plan to secure the southern border, and now this legislation is on the Senate’s doorstep.