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Rep. Mike Rogers: We must secure the border now

As you may have recently seen on the news, President Trump has called for the National Guard to assist Customs and Border Patrol Agents with securing our southern border.

The Trump Administration has made securing our porous southwest border with Mexico a top priority, and we cannot wait another minute to stop the influx of illegal immigrants, drugs and weapons that are spewing into our country.

A sovereign nation is one that has control of their borders. The reality is: without border security, Americans’ lives are at risk. The list of Americans killed by illegal immigrants has continued to grow and one particular example comes to mind.

On July 1st, 2015, Kate Steinle was walking with her father when she was shot and killed by an illegal immigrant who had been deported multiple times, but snuck back in to our country.

Last year, Congress passed legislation H.R. 3004, Kate’s Law, to crack down on penalties for any illegal felon who has been deported from the U.S. and returned.

But this is not enough.

The National Guard and military along the border will help, but America needs the wall built and needs to be built now.

President Trump said Mexico would pay for the wall and my legislation, H.R. 1813, would help them do just that.

The bill would build a wall with funds that would be collected by imposing a two percent fee on all remittance transactions to Central and South America. It collects this fee regardless of the sender’s immigration status.

This legislation is just common-sense and would get the wall built without being a burden to the taxpayer.

As a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee, I stand with President Trump and will continue to fight for strengthening our southern border and protecting our nation from lawless, violent criminals who seek to harm Americans.  We cannot put the safety of American citizens at risk any longer.

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers is a Republican from Saks.

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