Op-ed: Rep. Tracey Mann: It’s time to fire America’s border czar
Legend has it that Albert Einstein once said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. We cannot continue to let President Joe Biden and Border Czar Vice President Kamala Harris wreak havoc at America’s southern border while expecting things to get better.
Under their leadership, more than 16 million illegal immigrants have crossed our borders. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents have stopped more than 385 individuals at the border whose names appear on the terrorist watchlist and report nearly 2 million ‘gotaways’ entering the country since January 21, 2021.
Since day one, Vice President Harris and President Biden have been laser focused on rolling back President Donald Trump’s policies that were effective in lowering illegal immigration. They paused deportations for 100 days, rescinded the Remain in Mexico policy, and ended construction of the border wall. Vice President Harris and President Biden made it clear: they prefer to implement open border policies that satisfy the far-left rather than actually protect our country.
Their embrace of leftist ideologies backfired and created the greatest border crisis in American history, making Americans both less safe and less secure.
Former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott said that in December 2020, the U.S. had the most secure border in history, and the highest level of situational awareness ever. The facts clearly show that this is no longer the case.
For nearly four years, my Republican colleagues and I have sounded the alarm on the border crisis and urged the Biden-Harris administration to work with us to secure the border for good. Last year, we passed H.R. 2, which would finish the border wall, increase the number of border patrol agents, end catch and release, and strengthen the asylum process. We have given Vice President Harris and President Biden every chance to work with us to end their border crisis, and we have been met with silence.
Instead, the administration chose to put lipstick on a pig with its “border solution” that would still allow a minimum of 1.8 million illegal immigrants to enter the country per year. In other words, the order was all talk and no action. Any proposal to “secure the border” that fails to reinstate Remain in Mexico, end catch and release, and stop parole abuse is not a serious proposal. It is a political stunt and nothing more.
We must stop pretending that there is anything normal about our current border crisis, and it is time that we fire the border czar who was placed in charge to handle it. Until then, my House Republican colleagues and I will continue to fight for a nation that is secure and gets our border under control.
In a few weeks, the American people will head to the polls, and we have a choice. We can vote for a candidate who has told us what she wants to do to address her own failing policies, or we can vote for the candidate who has shown us what his policies can do to protect our borders. I know what choice I will make.