The House passed a resolution on March 12 denouncing the Biden administration’s immigration policies amid an ongoing crisis at the southern border.
The measure stated that “President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have created the worst border security crisis in the nation’s history” and that President Biden “systematically dismantled effective border security measures and interior immigration enforcement” the moment he took office on Jan. 20, 2021.
The resolution noted that the United States can make asylum agreements with countries.
The Trump administration implemented a policy that required asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico pending the adjudication of their claim.
The Biden administration revoked the Remain in Mexico agreement or the Migrant Protection Protocols.
By not abiding by this law, the administration had allowed for “the mass release of millions of illegal aliens into United States communities,” according to the resolution.
It noted that the administration could expeditiously remove illegal immigrants but had only done so with 6.8 percent of those who crossed the border illegally during President Biden’s tenure.
The measure called on the Biden administration to “end the catch-and-release policy; reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols; enter into asylum cooperative agreements; end abuses of parole authority; detain inadmissible aliens; use expedited removal authority; and rein in taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal aliens.”
The resolution “affirms that the Biden administration is refusing to use such authorities; and urged the Biden administration to immediately begin using such authorities.”
The resolution’s passage came weeks after University of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley was allegedly murdered by an illegal immigrant.
President Joe Biden got her name wrong during his March 7 State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress.
He was prompted by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) giving him a pin with Ms. Riley’s name on it before the speech.
President Biden incorrectly said “Lincoln Riley” and used the word “illegal” to describe her killer. He later expressed regret for the word choice.
Lincoln Riley is the head coach of the University of Southern California football team.
Ms. Greene then heckled him when he got to the part of his speech where he talked about border security.
The legislation also allows state attorneys general or “other authorized state [officers],” to bring an action against the secretary if there’s a violation of “detention and removal requirements.”
If a state attorney general believes that an illegal immigrant was charged with theft and was not detained by federal authorities—and that detention violation harmed the residents of the attorney general’s state—he or she can bring action against the secretary and the U.S. Attorney General under the bill.
Among harms to the state and its residents, “financial harm in the excess of $100” is included.
The passage of the resolution came a month after the GOP blocked a bill in the Senate that would have implemented border security measures.
The bipartisan border provisions—as part of a $118 billion package that also included foreign aid to Israel and Ukraine—consisted of emergency authority for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to shut down the border if an average of 4,000 daily encounters is reached over one week.
If average encounters reach 5,000 a day over the same period, then the DHS secretary would have been required to shut down the border.
The legislation also would have limited the president’s parole authority, a power that gives him the ability to allow more illegal immigrants into the country and raises the legal bar for the initial screening of asylum claims.
It also would have expedited the asylum processing time to six months from many years.
