Reps. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) and Katie Porter (D-Calif.) today led a group of colleagues in urging House leadership to promptly take up supplemental funding legislation for the southern border.
“We have heard clearly—from humanitarian organizations, border communities, and law enforcement—that additional resources are the only way to secure our southern border, and to give refugees access to a safe, orderly, and lawful asylum process,” the representatives wrote in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The letter comes in advance of the anticipated end of Title 42 restrictions, which the Biden Administration has said will end on May 23.
The Department of Homeland Security’s plans for managing a likely three-fold surge in those attempting to cross the southern border between ports of entry depend heavily on additional resources for DHS and humanitarian organizations. However, DHS and many of its partner organizations are already overstretched and operating at the margins in terms of staffing, beds, transportation, and other core resources, and they cannot increase capacity without additional support.
“To avoid a crisis at the border, Congress must provide DHS and humanitarian organizations with the resources they need as soon as possible and before the end of Title 42,” the representatives said. “We support an emergency funding bill that will allow DHS to hire additional agents, increase the number of beds at its facilities, and give more support to humanitarian organizations working with migrants in need.”
Last month at a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Stanton pressed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the department’s lack of an effective plan to handle a significant increase migration at the border.
“Putting more pressure on a system that can’t handle it carries a significant risk of creating a full-scale humanitarian crisis on American soil for which the White House and your Department will be solely responsible,” Stanton said to Mayorkas.
Stanton and a group of bipartisan lawmakers previously introduced legislation to force the Administration to put together a plan to handle the expected increased spring and summer traffic before lifting the order. He also urged President Biden to delay rescinding Title 42 measures until the Department of Homeland Security has a workable plan to handle the expected significant increase in border traffic.
A full copy of today’s letter is available HERE.