Throughout the last several weeks, both chambers of Congress have continued to work toward an agreement to assist Israel, Ukraine and American forces and installations in the Western Pacific, as well as provide more security for our Southern border. While supporting our allies and partners in thwarting aggression is very important to the United States’ own safety, we would be remiss not to also secure our own southern border and address the national security threats this crisis presents.
Because of the Biden Administration’s open border policies, we have seen record influxes of migrants, illegal and dangerous drugs and bad actors across the southern border. In fact, last week the highest total migrant encounters for a single day ever was recorded at more than 12,000. Additionally, fiscal year 2023 set another record for migrant encounters at the southern border at nearly 2.5 million. This outpaced fiscal year 2022 by almost 97,000 encounters, showing this crisis is continuing to worsen.
These problems were not anywhere near this level during the last administration. As you may recall, on President Joe Biden’s first day in office he halted construction of the border wall and later ended the Migrant Protection Protocols or “remain in Mexico” program and restarted the dangerous “catch and release” program. These misguided policies were clearly viewed as an invitation for migrants to swarm the border.
Over the last two years, the world has grown increasingly dangerous from the Taliban arising to retake Afghanistan, war in Ukraine and Israel, increased tension from China in the Western Pacific and an aggressive Iran backing terror on U.S. facilities and personnel in the Middle East. With open borders, terrorists and bad actors have certainly taken advantage of this crisis. Last month alone, 12 individuals whose names appear on the terrorist watchlist were stopped at ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border. And now, there has even been a significant uptick in the flow of migrants at the U.S.-Canada border as those seeking to unlawfully enter our country realize that border has security flaws as well.
The United States has a duty in situations like these to support our allies and partners in Israel, Ukraine and the Western Pacific. We learned these lessons in World War II when we also faced a rise in Europe of authoritarian, hegemonic actors who decided unilaterally to ignore and even change and eliminate state borders to their own liking and whims. Aggression and terrorism will spread and gain power if left unchecked. We cannot allow it to stand. We also cannot neglect the crisis on our own continent.
If Democrats in the Senate and the White House want to get serious about assisting those abroad in this dire time of need, which I strongly support, they should also acknowledge that our own border crisis must be addressed. As these negotiations continue, Republicans in both chambers will continue to hold Democrats’ feet to the fire when it comes to much needed and long overdue border security.
