U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has joined four other colleagues in introducing a bill to address loopholes in America’s immigration system that encourage vulnerable populations to take dangerous, illegal paths of entry into the United States.
Entitled the Stopping Border Surges Act, the bill is sponsored by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and cosponsored by Tuberville and Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX).
Monday’s introduction of the legislation came amid the past few months demonstrating the dangerous costs of immigration surges at the southern border. In just the last month, traffickers have reportedly made as much as $14 million weekly smuggling vulnerable men, women and children across the border. And, of course, once indebted to the cartels and coyotes, the price they pay is far more costly than money. Reports indicate that a third of the people making their way to the border are sexually assaulted, and many are forced into some form of trafficking.
In addition to empowering the cartels and coyotes, surges in immigration — like those the United States is experiencing since President Joe Biden took office — have overwhelmed the nation’s facilities and ability to process immigrants in a timely and safe fashion. In recent days, thousands of unaccompanied minors have been held in overcrowded Customs and Border Patrol facilities built to house adults, with no end in sight, and adults have been prematurely released into the community, receiving positive COVID-19 tests only days after their release.
Per a release, the Stopping Border Surges Act includes reforms that would help stem the surges of aliens that our country can neither support nor sustain; strengthen our asylum process; eliminate the incentive to send children on the perilous, solo journey to the border; and dampen the exploitative power of the coyotes and cartels.
“By reversing some of President Trump’s most successful border policies, President Biden has sent a ‘come one, come all’ signal to immigrants,” stated Tuberville. “Not only has this created a surge of illegal immigrants coming across the border, but it’s also created an environment that is ripe for abuse.”
“This bill prevents the exploitation of our immigration laws to the benefit of people willing to use vulnerable migrants, including children, to further illegal behavior. Children should not be used as a free pass to get into our country. I urge my colleagues to join in support of this bill,” he concluded.
A summary of the bill can be viewed here.
This week, Tuberville is set to join a group of Republican senators in visiting McAllen, Texas, which he referred to as “a hotspot for illegal border crossings.” The senators will talk with Customs and Border Protection officers and observe the processing facilities and ports of entry.
RELATED: Tuberville: Biden’s crisis ‘at our southern border was preventable and predictable’
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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