Aerial footage of Texas crash with 46 dead migrants found inside an 18 wheeler
Aerial footage of a 18 wheeler crash with 46 dead migrants found inside outside of San Antonio, Texas
International headlines recently broke when a semi-truck with 48 already dead migrants was found on the side of a road in San Antonio, Texas. This was the deadliest human smuggling incident in U.S. history, and it occurred in my congressional district. All in all, 73 migrants were abandoned by ruthless smugglers, who locked them in 102-degree metal containers to rot and die.
This is not an isolated incident. My district spans more than 820 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border – the largest of its kind in Congress. High-speed chases, cut water lines, and property trespassing are a part of our daily lives here in West Texas.
This horrific smuggling operation was not by chance. This dates back to 2021 when the Biden administration communicated to the world that our borders were open. Since then, a constant stream of open border policies have created record waves in migration. Almost immediately, our Border Patrol agents were taken out of the field and put into processing centers to handle the unprecedented influx.
With our agents out of the field, this left a gaping hole for cartels to smuggle deadly drugs, terrorists and other bad actors right into our backyards. The result: a national security crisis.
TEXAS TRACTOR-TRAILER HUMAN SMUGGLING SURVIVOR RECALLS HARROWING JOURNEY
Fentanyl is flowing across our border at an alarming rate. This year alone, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has seized thousands of pounds, enough to kill every American more than once. Furthermore, a historic number of over 100 countries have made their way through our borders over the last two years, including our adversaries.
The border crisis is not only deadly for Americans. This fiscal year, there have been a record 14,000 migrant searches and rescues carried out by CBP.
We should not be fighting with each other over politics. National security is something we should all prioritize. There is a bipartisan solution to this, and it starts with eliminating pull factors, getting our agents back in the field, and enforcing immigration policies that work.
That first step is implementing repatriation flights. These allow the U.S. to fly migrants back to their country of origin, eliminating delays and overcrowding in courts, processing centers, and other migrant facilities.
In addition to repatriation flights, the Remain in Mexico policy has dissuaded folks from crossing the border. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court made the decision to strike down the Remain in Mexico policy. Without this program, migrants who claim asylum at our southern border, regardless of the strength of their claims, will be provided with a loophole to live in the U.S. while their cases make their way through a bloated immigration court backlog.
In the same breath, our immigration courts are faced with a backlog that exceeds 1.3 million cases. This means that an asylum request takes an average of two to three years for an immigration judge to review. In the meantime, migrants are allowed to remain in the U.S. and free to move across the country until a final decision is made, most of which do not show up for the proceedings. If our immigration court system was adequately staffed and Remain in Mexico was enforced, we could reduce our historic backlogs and expedite the entire process.
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Many people making the trek to America just want to make a better life for themselves and their families. Work visas incentivize people who want to come to our nation for economic opportunity. In 2021, the government issued 1.2 million fewer work visas compared to 2020. If we increase the number of work visas issued, it will encourage migration of people looking to work hard and make an honest living just like the American Dream sets out to do.
In Congress, I helped introduce the Bipartisan Border Solutions Act, which seeks to hire additional ICE and CBP staff to transition Border Patrol agents out of the processing centers and back on the front lines. It also speeds up deportations of those without legitimate asylum claims. I have also introduced legislation, the Security First Act, to allocate more funding for Operation Stonegarden in order to reimburse local law enforcement for the work they do with Border Patrol to counter drug and human smuggling.
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The best part about the American Dream is that it doesn’t always start in America. Our country has long relied on immigrants and their many contributions to our society. I want everyone to have an opportunity to achieve the American Dream, just like I had, and like my children will have.
We are a nation of immigrants, but we are also a nation of laws. Ignoring them creates chaos for the system and risks for those who make the life-endangering trip to get here. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to work together to address this border crisis.