Wicker, Hyde-Smith & Guest question Biden Administration readiness to enforce U.S. Immigration Laws
U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), with U.S. Representative Michael Guest (R-Miss.), are among 99 members of the Senate and House of Representatives who signed a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The lawmakers questioned the Biden administration’s readiness to enforce U.S. immigration laws as a caravan of more than 3,000 illegal immigrants expected to reach the southern border in the next few weeks.
In the past year, U.S. Border Patrol recorded the highest number of illegal crossings in history, nearly 1.7 million migrant apprehensions at the southern border. The lawmakers sate that this new caravan comes weeks after ten thousands migrants flooded Del Rio, Texas and overwhelmed border personnel, later gaining entry into the United States.
“While the strategy DHS released on September 18, 2021, stated that migrants “who cannot be expelled under Title 42 and do not have a legal basis to remain will be placed in expedited removal proceedings,” this did not occur in Del Rio. In fact, Senior Executive Branch officials stated that migrants were released into the United States on a “very, very large scale.” We believe this incentivized the recent caravan to journey to the United States,” the lawmakers wrote.
“We must enforce our immigration laws as we do any other laws and ensure migrants in this caravan with nonexistent asylum claims will not be released into the United States. The safety of our American citizens and future migrants depends on your actions. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter, and we look forward to your response,” they conclude.
You can read the full text of the letter here.
Anne Summerhays
