The so-called border security bill that the Senate released on Sunday night is dead on arrival. At least I hope it is. This was never a border security bill. It is words that the Democrats in the Senate came up with to try to appease Republicans into voting on more financial support for Ukraine.
Make no mistake, the bill is a no-win situation for Republicans. If Republicans don’t move forward and go to a mark-up session with it, the cries will begin that Republicans don’t want to secure the border. If Republicans move forward and try to accept the bill, Republican voters will abandon them in droves. This is a perfect move for Joe Biden’s re-election campaign.
I haven’t read the whole thing. I’ve seen bits and pieces since it was released on Sunday night when no one was paying attention. Gosh, how convenient, right? I will tell you this – the number of allowable illegal aliens crossing the southern border before the border is shut down is completely unacceptable. That number has been discussed for over a week in the media as negotiators tried to soften the blow. The border emergency authority kicks in when there are 5,000 encounters per day at the border. The bill accepts 5,000 illegal immigrants as the acceptable number crossing the border per day. That works out to 1.8M a year before deportations automatically begin.
And there it is… what Sinema and Lankford swore wasn’t in the bill.
It guarantees that up to 1.8 million illegal aliens can come over our border before it’s an emergency pic.twitter.com/i05pNH29YV
— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) February 5, 2024
The bill allows Biden (or any president) to override the bill’s provisions. Guess which court will decide any legal challenges? The D.C. Circuit Court will decide constitutional challenges to the bill. How do you think that a liberal court will rule? Hint – it won’t be in favor of security measures.
The first part of the bill goes to Ukraine aid. It provides $60B for Ukraine. Funding for Ukraine should be a stand-alone bill, as should aid to Israel and Taiwan. The House has passed HR2 on border security. The House passed a bill on aid for Israel, too.
From what I have seen, this bill doesn’t address security measures. The president just has to say that shutting down the border is not in the national interest and it remains open. Asylum rules change to speed up the process but that just allows illegals to remain in the country while they wait for their court date. Parole rules remain in place, though Biden has greatly increased that distinction. It was supposed to be used in limited special cases. Now it is used for groups of several nationalities, such as Venezuelans, Haitians, and Central American countries. Everything Biden does increases the number of illegals in the country.
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) said the House will not put the Senate bill up for a vote. Good. That’s a step in the right direction. Shut it down. Hold the line, Republicans. Since it is a no-win for Republicans, let the bill just linger. There is no need for a new bill right now. Biden can close the border if he wants to today. He can use executive orders, as he did when he opened the border on his first day in office. Immigration reform shouldn’t be done in a presidential election year.
Democrats want the federal government to use the same measures that are always used to solve problems – spend more money and give more power to the feds. There is no problem-solving in the bill.
Governor Abbott is doubling down in his battle against the Biden administration to secure the Texas border with Mexico. Thirteen Republican governors joined Abbott along the border on Sunday to show their support for his efforts.
Not only is Abbott going to continue to shut down Shelby Park in Eagle Pass to stop its use as a staging area for illegal aliens, but he is also looking to seize more land along the border to do the same thing. He said so during a press conference with the governors Sunday.
Mr. Abbott, flanked by 13 other Republican governors, said that Texas would not limit its high-intensity efforts to the small municipal park along the river in Eagle Pass where the state has taken over and limited access for federal agents. A top Texas official said state law enforcement officers were also looking to move in on riverside ranch land north of the city that migrants have continued to use for crossing.
“As we speak right now, the Texas National Guard, they’re undertaking operations to expand this effort,” Mr. Abbott said during a news conference at the park. “We’re not going to contain ourselves to this park. We are expanding to further areas to make sure we expand our level of deterrence and denial of illegal entry into the United States.”
Republican Governor Tate Reeve of Mississippi posted on social media about the events of the day.
Today I joined @GregAbbott_TX and 12 Republican governors in Eagle Pass, TX to receive an update on the border crisis. In short, the situation is dire.
It’s clear our nation cannot survive another 4 years of Biden. He’s weakening America’s national security and putting you…
— Governor Tate Reeves (@tatereeves) February 4, 2024
The good news is that not all Democrats are on board with the Senate bill. Governor Reeves is right. We cannot survive another four years of Joe Biden. Our nation’s sovereignty is at stake. Our national security is at stake. The humanitarian consequences of an open border, like human trafficking, sex slavery, and the fentanyl crisis, are destroying the fabric of our country. When Joe Biden said he wanted to fundamentally change America, what he meant was to destroy America.
Just for the record, Texas is building its own border wall.
Texas made history as the first and ONLY state to build our own border wall.
Construction is ongoing.
We will not back down from our efforts to secure the border. pic.twitter.com/ARi1aXuhay
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) February 3, 2024
The acceptable number of illegal aliens is zero.