After Congress did not pass a bipartisan border security bill, President Joe Biden issued an executive order modeled on Trump-era policies to limit people crossing into Texas illegally. In the past few years, millions have entered the country illegally mostly from Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.
It's one of the key issues in the November election. Trump and his allies argue Vice President Harris has been too slow to act. Democrats blame Trump for encouraging his allies to walk away from a deal once they reached out to compromise. It's unlikely any major deal will be reached before the November election.
The split emerged at a Dallas Regional Chamber congressional panel at the Hyatt Regency hotel. Members of Congress Marc Veasey, D - Fort Worth, Jasmine Crockett, D - Dallas, Beth Van Duyne, R - Irving, and Keith Self, R - McKinney spoke to a crowded ballroom.
The bipartisan bill was sponsored by Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford but did not get the sixty-vote support to pass through the Senate without a filibuster. These four House members never got a chance to vote on it in the House.
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The Republicans on the panel argued any new bill would have to be all border security before they get to a second bill on immigration reform.
“Until we solve the illegal immigration issue, there’s no appetite in Congress to work on legal immigration," said Rep. Self, " Border security first.”
Rep. Van Duyne focused on the criminal element of the new migrants. Despite immigrants committing fewer crimes statistically than American citizens, she argued the crimes they do commit would not happen if they weren't allowed to stay in the country.
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“Criminals who should have never been allowed in this country are raping, murdering, killing, attacking our police officers," she said.
The two Democrats were frustrated that the earlier bipartisan effort was tanked by Trump accusations it did not go far enough. The bill included hundreds more border patrol agents, additional technology to detect drugs, more border wall, and an increase in immigration judges to determine if people can legally claim asylum or not.
“We have to make sure that we give the financial resources to the judges, to the case workers, to everyone that is working to make sure the good guys who are trying to help our economy get in and that the bad guys stay out," said Rep. Crockett.
Rep. Veasey noted how immigrants are crucial elements to the state's workforce. Many employers in construction companies and large farms hire immigrants because they are unable to find native-born workers.
"When it comes to things like construction of home building, if we don’t do something about immigration and we don’t stop playing games with this, it’s only going to drive up costs," said Rep. Veasey.
The Biden Administration saw historic numbers of border crossings until the President implemented his executive order limiting who can claim asylum. Immigrant rights groups are challenging the order in court.
Consistently Texas voters tell pollsters that border security and immigration are top problems. At this point, it doesn't appear a solution has enough bipartisan support to do anything about it until after the election.
