Republican Rep. Mo Brooks (AL-5) on Wednesday, supported by colleagues and backed by more than 50 sheriffs from across the nation, led a major news conference on the U.S. Capitol grounds urging Congress to pass stronger immigration and border security legislation.

“How many hundreds, or thousands, or tens of thousands, of dead Americans must there be before Washington does what is needed to be done to protect American lives from illegal aliens?” Brooks asked.

He continued, “We have loss of lives from homicides, murders; we have loss of life from vehicular homicides at the hands of illegal aliens. Perhaps worse, we have the poisons, the drugs, that are being imported across our southern border because we have a porous southern border that is costing countless American lives in drug overdoses and deaths related to the drug trade.”

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“Today is a point of emphasis, that we must – it’s our duty – we must protect the lives of Americans, and we can do that by building a border wall,” Brooks emphasized. “We can do that by supporting our ICE agents, by protecting our border patrol. We can do that on the interior by putting in place e-verification biometrics systems that ensure American jobs are for American workers, and lawful immigrants, and not illegal aliens.”

Proud to stand with more than 50 sheriffs from across America who are calling on Congress to act on immigration reform and enforce our borders! The untold damage wrought on American citizens by illegal aliens must end. pic.twitter.com/WRMiyBOOZz

— Mo Brooks (@RepMoBrooks) September 5, 2018

Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn