Rep. Kevin Brady: Ignoring Border Security & Crisis Not an Option
Washington, DC – As Senators scurried out of town without acting, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voted today to pass two bills aimed directly at the root cause of the unprecedented border crisis that has attracted 150,000 Central American children to the U.S. border.
The first secures the border with the National Guard and closes an easily exploited loophole in the 2008 trafficking law so that unaccompanied children can be quickly reunited with their families back in Central America. The second bill blocks President Obama’s soon-to-be-announced executive order which would provide amnesty to an additional 5 million immigrants living in the country illegally.
Representative Kevin Brady (R-TX) cosponsored the legislation offered by Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) that suspends the president’s 2012 executive order which human smugglers are using to convince Central American families to pay thousands of dollars and risk their children’s lives on a dangerous journey to the U.S. border in hopes of obtaining a permit to stay that doesn’t exist.
“By refusing to enforce the laws of the land, President Obama helped create this crisis and does nothing to stop it. While the Senate leaves town without lifting a finger to solve the problem, House Republicans alone are successfully completing the work to secure the border, deter these dangerous journeys and quickly reunite these children with their families in Central America,” said Brady, who recently visited a facility in his district being used to house some of the unaccompanied minors.
“House Republicans have acted to secure the border with our National Guard and reimburse Texas for its National Guard costs. We don’t give President Obama a dime to continue to ignore the root cause of this crisis, but instead we direct unused federal funds to security, temporary judges and travel costs to reunite these children with their families.”
The legislation ends the practice of releasing Central American children into U.S. communities where they often disappear. It requires U.S. authorities to humanely detain the children, have their cases heard within 14 days and promptly return them to their home countries.
The measure also takes $40 million from foreign aid to the three key Central American governments and requires the funds be used to help reunite the children safely with their families.
“People in my congressional district are tremendously compassionate. They don’t want these children to risk dangerous journeys where they could be hurt, abused or killed. They want them reunited with their families,” said Brady. “They welcome and respect immigrants to Texas, but they insist that they apply through the front door of legal immigration. And they want to know when the President is going to stop ignoring our laws and making up new ones.”
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