Regarding reports of immigration legislation being considered during the final days of the lame duck session of Congress, the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s CEO Greg Sindelar released the following statement:
“The Biden Administration is responsible for the worst non-stop border crisis in American history and should not be rewarded with an inadequate and deeply flawed immigration deal from Congress.
“The proposals under consideration fail to address several realities. First, the administration recently created a stronger magnet for abuse of the asylum system and made it even easier to access. The administration is chronically abusing its authority on humanitarian parole and refuses to sufficiently prioritize interior enforcement. The Department of Homeland Security is criminally mismanaged, leading to a large-scale inefficient and wasted use of critical resources.
“The supposed carrots in the proposal are woefully inadequate. Extending Title 42 does nothing to ameliorate the core lack of integrity in the current administration of the asylum system. Additional components that are essential to U.S. border security, such as funding for completion of the modern border wall system and reimbursement to the State of Texas for over $1 billion in expenses incurred to continue construction of that project, are also missing from proposed legislative frameworks under discussion.
“This is no time to cave in and accept a bad deal. Rather, it is time to focus on making sure that all the needed asylum system fixes, enforcement capacity and mechanisms, including the still incomplete infrastructure and technology at and between ports of entry, are in place and fully functioning. All this is necessary before considering any legislation that could otherwise incentivize further illegal immigration.”