Dear :
Thank you for contacting me recently about immigration reform. Having the input of Texans is critically important to me, and knowing your opinion will help me if the Senate considers policy changes in this area.
I have long supported our legal immigration system. Immigrants support nearly every industry in our economy, from agriculture to manufacturing, and our immigration system should benefit those who play by the rules. Unfortunately, our policies on the southern border are currently incentivizing people to illegally migrate to the United States, placing our border communities and the migrants themselves at risk. Until our broken border policies are fixed, it will be difficult to build broad support for reforms to our legal immigration system. My top priority right now is to advance common-sense solutions to secure our southern border.
The crisis on our southern border has continued unabated for many years. From March 2021 to August 2023, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered between 144,000 and 252,000 migrants every month – historic highs. Notwithstanding claims to the contrary, data published in the Washington Post reveal that the Biden Administration is only deporting a small percentage of the migrants. Large-scale releases of migrants into the interior continue to be common practice, with the expectation that these migrants will later report to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to commence their removal proceedings. Unfortunately, many of these individuals fail to appear and simply disappear into the country.
To replace Title 42, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released its “Circumvention of Lawful Pathways” rule, which purports to penalize migrants who fail to use so-called “lawful pathways.” These pathways include a new program offering parole to up to 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans each month, as well as booking an appointment to appear at a port of entry. While this has resulted in a temporary drop in apprehensions, the rule is full of loopholes. For example, a migrant may appear at a port of entry without an appointment and simply claim illiteracy or technical difficulties with the CBP One app which was developed under the rule. Also, a migrant may cross between ports of entry and claim a threat to his or her life or safety in Mexico. The cartels will easily learn how to exploit these loopholes and overwhelm the Border Patrol in processing these new claims. Furthermore, depending upon their final destinations, the migrants’ immigration court proceedings may not begin until the end of the decade. With Department of Justice statistics showing that the median court asylum grant rate is only 12 percent so far in FY 2023, it is overwhelmingly likely that the Biden Administration’s border policy will lead to an increased number of undocumented immigrants living in our communities.
The impact of these policies on border communities and residents all over the United States has been staggering. First, transnational criminal organizations have been able to overwhelm the Border Patrol by funneling migrants into strategic locations, diverting Border Patrol agents who would usually prevent narcotics and other fentanyl into migrant processing duties. As a consequence, the United States suffered nearly 108,000 fatal drug overdoses in 2021, with about two-thirds of those deaths involving fentanyl or other synthetic opioids. Second, local emergency response and social services in border communities have been overwhelmed with the demands placed on them by the large migrant populations. Third, overwhelmed CBP personnel have paid a deep personal toll: more CBP offices and Border Patrol agents died by suicide in 2022 than any year over the past decade. Finally, record numbers of migrant deaths have been reported along the U.S.-Mexico border, with more than 850 deaths calculated by the U.S. Border Patrol for fiscal year 2022.
We must first and foremost secure our southern border by enacting legislation that will deter illegal immigration by imposing legal consequences at the border. This will allow Border Patrol personnel to return fulltime to their primary mission of preventing criminals, narcotics, and other contraband from entering the United States. We also need to give our Border Patrol agents and CBP officers the border security technology and infrastructure to effectively carry out that mission. In the 117th Congress I introduced the Bipartisan Border Solutions Act, S. 1358, which would have expedited adjudication of asylum claims in order to quickly remove migrants who are not victims of persecution and deter others from making the dangerous journey to our southern border. I was also the lead Republican cosponsor of the Southwest Border Security Technology Improvement Act of 2020 (P.L. 116-260), which was signed into law on December 27, 2020. This legislation requires the Department of Homeland Security to identify technology gaps along the southwest border so that Congress can make smart investments to achieve complete operational control along the border. This Congress I will continue to collaborate with my colleagues to introduce and advance pragmatic solutions to the border crisis.
Securing the border will clear the way for Congress to reform our legal immigration system. Prospective immigrants and guestworkerswho follow our immigration laws should have access to any orderly and efficient system. The current system is anything but that. Legal immigrants face long backlogs and processing delays, and the Biden Administration recently proposed attaching a hefty fee to employment-based visa petitions to cover the costs associated with processing migrants at the border. I plan to continue working with my colleagues to resolve the border crisis first, so we can make progress on reforming our legal immigration system.
I appreciate hearing your concerns about border security and our broken immigration system, and please know that I will keep your views in mind. Serving 30 million Texans like you in the U.S. Senate is a privilege, and I value you taking the time to contact me on something I know is important to you.
Sincerely,
JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator
