Tennessee U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) testified before the House Rules Committee on Tuesday to support the Secure The Border Act of 2023.
The American people want action. The Secure the Border Act is the answer to this border crisis. https://t.co/SIK9CqMDdV
— Rep. Mark Green (@RepMarkGreen) May 9, 2023
Green, who is an original co-sponsor of the bill, testified that the legislation is a “necessary step” to ensure that U.S. borders are “secure and the American people are safe.”
“Since the Biden Administration took office, there have been over 5 million encounters at the Southwest border, 1.4 million known gotaways, and estimates of an additional 20% of gotaways that have gone unaccounted,” Green, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, testified. “In just the first six months of this fiscal year, 80 people on the terrorist watchlist were stopped trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border between ports of entry, Border Patrol arrested over 15,000 individuals with criminal convictions, and 14,000 pounds of fentanyl has been seized – enough to kill over 3.1 billion people.”
“Given these facts, it is imperative that Congress take the necessary steps to ensure that the laws passed by this body are enforced, our borders are secure, and the American people are safe,” Green added.
The legislation, according to a summary published by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA-20) office, would:
- Force the Biden Administration to restart construction of the border wall
- Deploy technology to the southern and northern border
- Increase the number of Border Patrol agents and provide bonus pay
- Require transparency regarding illegal crossings from the Department of Homeland Security
- Strengthen current law to protect unaccompanied children from human trafficking
- End catch and release
- End abuse of executive immigration authority
- Strengthen and streamline the asylum process
“Sadly, the true number of cartel and gang members, other criminals, and trafficked persons, as well as the quantity of illicit drugs that have all crossed our borders will never be fully known. But what we do know is staggering…We must have effective physical infrastructure and additional border patrol agents on the frontline to address these growing threats. Combined with the important elements led by the Judiciary and Foreign Affairs Committees, this bill is a major step in tackling these challenges and delivering for the American people. Left unaddressed, the border crisis will continue to spiral out of control,” Green further testified.
The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the Secure The Border Act of 2023 this Thursday – the same day Title 42 expires.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Mark Green” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Background Photo “Border Wall” by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
