President Biden signaled an open-door border policy before he was even sworn into office. Once in the White House, he dismantled commonsense protocols that kept our border secure. His actions have unleashed chaos not only for the communities in the direct path of this unrelenting flow of illegal migrants, leading to the worst border crisis in American history, but also in towns and cities around the country.
The president’s policies have led to record-breaking border crossings. U.S. Customs and Border Protection revealed the number of encounters in September was at an all-time high. His words and his actions have invited the disaster we’re watching play out year after year with dangerous and deadly consequences.
A new poll shows Americans overwhelmingly reject the administration’s handling of immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. This isn’t surprising. Arkansans have persistently written and called me demanding enforcement of our immigration laws and stronger border security. I agree. That’s why I continue to support legislation to resume construction of a border wall, implement strategies to deter illegal border crossings and uphold the rule of law.
One policy we must end is catch-and-release, which allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to release illegal immigrants into the U.S. as they await processing for deportation. This practice is reckless and riddled with problems.
In September, the DHS Office of Inspector General issued a report that found the department’s record keeping of addresses for these illegal border crossers is ineffective. The challenge of collecting destination addresses with large numbers of migrants and the inadequate resources to validate the locations prevents agents from finding these individuals in the future to enforce the law.
I’ve backed the Keep our Communities Safe Act to close the legal loophole and end this free pass for those exploiting our system.