This week, the House passed my House Resolution (H. Res.) 957 condemning President Biden’s open-borders policies and calling on him to immediately reverse course and secure the border.  The current administration’s policies have caused a national public safety crisis, undermined the rule of law, and brought into question the very sovereignty of the United States. My H. Res. 957 passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 225-187, with fourteen democrats crossing the aisle to support it in a rare bipartisan rebuke of the failed policies of the Biden Administration. This sends a clear message to the Administration that it must act now.

I was proud that the passage of my first standalone piece of legislation on the House Floor related to border security. We have been focused on the issue of border security since day one of taking office. Last year, I was one of only eight original co-sponsors (and the only freshman original co-sponsor) to the toughest border security bill passed in decades — H.R. 2 the Secure the Border Act of 2023, which includes the my Visa Overstays Penalties Act. And, the first bill that I filed in Congress also addressed border security — H.R. 672 the Border Security Investment Act. We must continue to press for border security, and we cannot relent until this happens.

In addition to Biden’s leadership failures, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ lack of enforcement has allowed cartels, drug traffickers and human smugglers to make record profits since the Biden Administration took over:

• More than 7 million illegal aliens have been encountered at our borders, and they have released at least 3.3 million of those illegal aliens into the interior of the U.S. This is larger than the entire population of states like Nevada, Arkansas, and Kansas. And, its more people than Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, and North Dakota have combined;

• In addition, at least another 1.7 million known “gotaways” have evaded Border Patrol;

• The daily and monthly encounter records were both broken multiple times, with more than 300,000 aliens encountered in December of 2023 alone and 785,000 encounters during the first quarter of this fiscal year (since October 1);

• 312 suspects on the Terrorist Screening Database were identified attempting to cross the border illegally, compared to just 11 such encounters during the entire prior Administration. That’s a 2,700 percent increase and there is still one more year to go under the Biden Administration;

• In fiscal year 2023, 27,000 pounds of Fentanyl were seized at the Southern border.  This is almost double fiscal year 2022 and it is six times higher than fiscal year 2020 (4,800 pounds); and

• More than 150,000 unaccompanied minors were found at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022, and reports indicate that the Biden Administration has lost contact with as many as 85,000 of them.

The crisis is real. And, it’s no longer primarily Mexican immigrants. Consider that until 2012, over 85% of migrants who were apprehended were from Mexico. In fiscal year 2022, migrants from Mexico only made up about 33% of the encounters. The Southern border is now the entry point for any person worldwide who wishes to come to the United States.  And, the President refuses to act.

These figures represent a shocking record, and sadly, they will likely be surpassed while Biden remains in office. The numbers are unacceptable. We must act now to combat Biden’s failed border policies and hold our government accountable for the crisis it has caused. We must close our border – for good – to ensure the safety, security, and sovereignty of our nation. For more information on the failed border policies of the Biden Administration, click HERE to see Speaker Mike Johnson’s December 21, 2023 letter to President Biden specifying certain policy changes needed immediately. And, click HERE to see a January 4, 2024 memo by Speaker Johnson detailing 64 instances when the Biden Administration made policy decisions that undermined border security.  

To read more about my H. Res. 957, click HERE.

To watch my remarks on the House Floor, click HERE.

Over the weekend, Taiwan’s voters chose William Lai Ching-te as their new president. He is currently the Vice-President of Taiwan and a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has historically favored stronger foreign relations with the United States and has rejected the advances of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to reunify Taiwan with China. 

This was a pivotal election for Taiwan (and the United States) because of the bold attempts of the PRC to influence the outcome of these Taiwan elections, and the critical need for America to strengthen its partnership in the Indo-Pacific region with Taiwan. Keep a close eye on China’s response in the coming months. They are likely to intensify economic pressure on Taiwan and military intimidation. This was similar to the PRC’s response when I was in Taiwan last year as part of a Congressional Delegation trip there, where we met current President Tsai and then Vice-President Lai (now President-elect) but we were also greeted with intensified PRC military operations around the island of Taiwan. As a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I was incredibly impressed with the resolve of President Tsai and Vice-President Lai to stand firmly for democracy and against the communist influences of the PRC. 

P.S.

What is the state tree of Texas?

The Pecan Tree