OPINION:
President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ recent request for billions in new spending to ostensibly deal with their self-inflicted crisis at the southern border is exactly what is wrong with Washington. Granting that request without substantive policy changes would be a tremendous mistake.
If we have learned anything since this crisis began, it is that the unprecedented devastation that has unfolded at the U.S.-Mexico border and the chaos that has spread to all 50 states are the consequences of bad policy and egregious decision-making, not an issue of resources. We cannot spend our way out of this crisis, and our policies and budgets should reflect that reality.
Under the Trump administration, monthly encounters at the southern border exceeded 100,000 only four times, all in mid-2019. To address this, then-President Donald Trump implemented effective policy fixes such as “Remain in Mexico” and new asylum cooperative agreements, eliminating incentives to cross illegally. This strategy worked, and order at the border was restored.
Upon taking office, Mr. Biden and Mr. Mayorkas undid this progress, turning a secure border into a disaster area. As a result, due to policies such as “catch and release,” mass parole programs, and limiting the ability to detain and remove illegal aliens, encounters at the southern border have exceeded 100,000 every single month under the Biden administration, totaling more than 6.5 million overall.
People around the world know that whether they cross the border illegally or make use of one of Mr. Mayorkas’ legally dubious mass parole programs, they will often be released into the interior.
The new spending the administration seeks does nothing to eliminate these incentives, nor does it advance the core missions of Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It will only further Mr. Biden’s agenda — to process and release as many inadmissible aliens as possible, as quickly as possible, into the interior — and rarely, if ever, remove them.
How else does one explain their request for $1.4 billion to reimburse not just local governments for the costs they’ve incurred, but also nongovernmental organizations that effectively complete the criminal cartels’ human smuggling operation by purchasing transportation for aliens to travel throughout the country after CBP releases them?
Furthermore, the Biden administration has requested billions to construct new processing and holding centers, which do nothing to deter illegal entry and are merely physical manifestations of their failed policies. You don’t need these massive new sites unless you’re planning to let the crisis continue.
The administration also claims it needs more money for more ICE detention beds. But despite the historic number of encounters, ICE isn’t even using the beds Congress already funded this year. At the same time, DHS has reportedly chosen to close its detention center in Adelanto, California, which can hold nearly 2,000 aliens. Only in Washington does that math make sense.
Even spending that sounds benign comes with a major asterisk, including hundreds of millions for nonintrusive inspection systems, or NII, to detect and intercept drugs such as fentanyl at ports of entry.
We all want to stop the flow of this deadly substance into our communities. The problem is that DHS has received $1.9 billion for NII since fiscal 2018, but even with this massive infusion of funds, only about 2% of civilian automobiles and 17% of commercial vehicles were being inspected as of earlier this year.
And while the Biden administration’s proposal would grant funding for 1,300 more Border Patrol agents, the White House clearly isn’t listening to what the Border Patrol says it needs — a force of 22,000 agents, which means hiring roughly 3,000 more than are currently serving. House Republicans included the necessary funding for this in the Secure the Border Act.
House Republicans stand with the law enforcement officers at the Department of Homeland Security. Every dollar we allocate for them should advance their vital mission to secure the border and enforce the law, not undermine that mission.
By that standard, this funding proposal misses the mark.
I cannot support a plan that allows the Biden administration to check boxes on so-called border management measures only to give away billions in foreign aid. I will not support another dime to DHS until the policies of the Secure the Border Act are signed into law and enforced by this administration. This legislation must be the framework for any spending deals, including those negotiated on the other side of Capitol Hill.
Mr. Biden and Mr. Mayorkas’ policies have failed, and we have nearly three years of evidence to prove it. It is time to stop doubling down on these failures and for the government to do its job.
That starts not with wasting more taxpayer money, but returning to policies that secure the border.
• Mark Green represents Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District and is chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.
