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Special to the News-Times
WASHINGTON — Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, said the Border Reinforcement Act of 2023, now headed for a floor vote, will help address failures in the Biden Administration’s border policy.
Luttrell is Vice Chair of the Border Security and Enforcement Subcommittee on the Committee on Homeland Security.
“President Biden and his Administration have failed to acknowledge the deadly, record-breaking crisis at our southern border, created by his dangerous open border policies and refusal to enforce the laws on the books,” Luttrell said.
The measure was cosponsored by all Committee Republicans.
“The bill calls for resuming border wall construction, revamping and adding reinforcements to border security technology, increasing transparency on ‘gotaways’ and attempted terrorist crossings, and bolstering CBP staffing,” he said. “This legislation is a major step to securing our nation and keeping Americans safe.”
The bill also:
•Requires Customs and Border Patrol to report Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) hits and whether the individuals were released into the interior of the United States.
•Requires a report to Congress detailing which terrorist organizations are attempting to exploit the northern, southern, and maritime borders.
•Requires CBP to hire and train an additional 22,000 Border Patrol agents.
•Requires DHS to publicly disclose and report to Congress information about illegal border encounters before the seventh day of each month.
•Establishes retention bonuses for qualified frontline Border Patrol agents who serve a certain number of years in their role.
•Provides increased support through grants to local law enforcement jurisdictions in land and maritime border states.
•Reinstates the CBP One app’s function to its original intent and bars DHS from using it for non-commercial purposes, including immigration processing.
Consequences of the Biden Administration’s open border:
•80 individuals on the terrorist watchlist have been stopped attempting to cross into America between Southwest ports of entry since October 2022.
•More than 5 million encounters at the Southwest border.
•In Fiscal Year 2023, CBP has seized 13,800 pounds of fentanyl coming across the Southwest border — enough to kill more than 3.13 billion people.
•According to a recent report from FAIR, the cost of illegal immigration for U.S. taxpayers is upwards of about $151 billion a year.
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