EAGLE PASS, Texas — House Speaker Mike Johnson led dozens of Republicans to the border in Texas on Wednesday, saying they got a firsthand look at the devastation of unprecedented illegal immigration and calling the situation “an unmitigated disaster.”
Taking stock of the record-breaking numbers, the lawmakers said they won’t accept any major spending deals on Capitol Hill that don’t put border security first.
As they announced the start of impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, one committee chairman labeled him “the greatest domestic threat to the national security and the safety of the American people.”
“One thing is absolutely clear: America is at a breaking point with record levels of illegal immigration,” said Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, who laid the blame squarely at the feet of President Biden. He called the situation “heartbreaking and infuriating.”
The Republicans visited Eagle Pass, a border town that has been the epicenter of the chaos.
Indeed, even as Mr. Johnson and colleagues held a press conference, a migrant family could be seen crossing the Rio Grande behind them. Border Patrol agents responded and ushered the migrants into the U.S.
Two weeks ago, that trickle was a flood as migrants poured into the U.S. by the thousands here, creating a squatters camp as they hoped to be processed and released.
On Wednesday, the scene was calmer. Republicans said the Biden administration and the smuggling cartels sanitized the area ahead of their visit.
“The cartels are smart enough along with the administration to make sure that they did not get the pictures, the media didn’t get the pictures,” said Rep. Pete Sessions, Texas Republican.
Rep. Tony Gonzalez, the Texas Republican hosting the lawmakers’ visit, said the lack of migrants was proof that the smuggling cartels can turn on and off the flow of people at will and evidence that the U.S. needs to get tougher on those cartels.
The House Judiciary Committee reported that the cartels that control migrant traffic into Eagle Pass and surrounding areas make $32 million a week in smuggling fees. At about 10,000 migrants a week, that works out to an average payment of $3,200 per person, or nearly $1.7 billion a year.
The Republican delegation, one of the largest congressional trips ever to the border, was as much about showing solidarity against Mr. Biden as it was about fact-finding.
SEE ALSO: Cartels make $32 million a week off migrants in one stretch of Texas border
Mr. Johnson said House Republicans are firm in demanding that the administration secure the U.S. border before Congress agrees to more money for Ukraine and Israel. He said the House already put its ante on the table — a broad and stringent border security and immigration bill — in May when the measure cleared on a near party-line vote.
It would limit asylum claims, reel in the administration’s profligate and legally iffy use of “parole” powers to welcome many illegal immigrants, and mandate that businesses use E-Verify, the government’s voluntary electronic system for checking new hires’ work eligibility.
Democrats have labeled that legislation too extreme to consider, though they have struggled for answers to the border beyond amping up spending.
A group of senators has been working for more than a month to try to hammer out a deal, and all sides say they have made progress, though they blew past Mr. Biden’s year-end deadline for action.
Whether that deal, if it emerges, can clear the House is anyone’s guess, but there are reasons to be skeptical with Democrats and Republicans in the lower chamber digging in.
Immigrant rights groups are excoriating Democrats for even talking about the kinds of changes Republicans are considering, such as tighter rules on who can claim asylum and more expansive deportation authority.
Those groups also lambasted the Republicans for the border trip.
“It’s all politics and messaging designed to shift blame and distract voters from noticing strong employment and lower inflation numbers. New year, same Republican scare tactics,” said Vanessa Cardenas, executive director of America’s Voice.
The White House said the lawmakers should be in Washington negotiating the spending bill to fund Ukraine’s war with Russia, Israel’s battle with Hamas and Taiwan’s resistance to China. That bill might also include more money for processing illegal immigrants in the U.S.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said Mr. Biden has been trying to get Republicans to agree to a major legalization program for illegal immigrants, but Republicans have not cooperated.
“House Republicans have obstructed his reform proposal and consistently voted against his unprecedented border security funding year after year, hamstringing our border security in the name of extreme, partisan demands,” Mr. Bates said.
It’s tough to square that claim with the numbers.
When the Biden administration took office in 2021, Customs and Border Protection was funded at $19.3 billion, according to data from the Congressional Research Service. Mr. Biden proposed cutting $2.9 billion in his first budget, which would have left CBP at $16.4 billion in 2022.
Congress instead approved $18.5 billion.
The next year, Mr. Biden proposed a $1.1 billion cut, down to $17.4 billion for 2023. Congress rejected the idea and approved record funding of $20.5 billion.
Mr. Biden returned last year and called for another $1 billion cut for fiscal 2024. Congress has yet to take final action.
Now, Mr. Biden has proposed a rapid infusion of nearly $14 billion for border needs, though only some of that would go to try to hire new Border Patrol agents, who are already struggling to maintain their current numbers.
Most of Mr. Biden’s proposal would go toward faster processing and better welcoming of the stream of unauthorized migrants.
Mr. Johnson rejected the White House’s criticism of the Republican trip, saying Mr. Biden is deflecting blame by saying Congress is the problem.
“The president can and should act now. This doesn’t require legislation. It requires leadership,” the speaker said.
He said border officials they met with during their trip figured that 70% of the illegal flow of people could be ended if Mr. Biden revived the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which sent asylum-seekers back across the border to wait in Mexico for their immigration cases.
That program helped solve the 2019 migrant surge by removing the loophole that allowed asylum seekers to stay in the U.S., burrowing into communities while waiting years for their cases to come before immigration judges.
• Stephen Dinan reported from Washington.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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