April 27, 2023

IN COMMITTEE, REP. CORREA VOTES AGAINST REPUBLICAN SO-CALLED “BORDER SECURITY” BILL

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Last night, in a Homeland Security Committee markup, Representative Lou Correa (CA-46), Ranking Member of the Border Security and Enforcement Subcommittee, voted against Republican-led border security legislation, the so-called “Border Reinforcement Act of 2023”, and released the following statement: 

“While I thank my colleagues for their efforts, regretfully, this legislation does not offer effective solutions that will improve our nation’s border security—in fact, it does the opposite,” said Ranking Member Correa. “Not only would it make it more difficult for asylum seekers to seek the lawful safe-haven they deserve in the United States, it nearly bans asylum entirely between ports of entry. Make no mistake: this is a divisive piece of legislation that will hurt immigrant communities and hamper our nation’s economic prosperity.” 

Specifically, the bill would:

  • Resume building Trump’s border wall, a harmful waste of taxpayer resources. It would restrict the ability for landowners, local communities and tribes to assert legal challenges opposing the construction of the wall, and thus pave the way for irreparable and unchecked harms to the borderlands.
  • Prevent border patrol agents from performing “duties of processing coordinators” which would hinder the efforts of CBP to fairly and efficiently process asylum seekers. 
  • Ignores needed resources at ports of entry to fight Fentanyl smugglers.
  • Undermine essential partnerships with humanitarian organizations by barring DHS funding for NGOs, including faith-based NGOs, that provide shelter, food, clothing assistance to battered women and other vulnerable immigrants.
  • Cause more chaos at the border by barring the use of the CBP One or “any other similar program.” The CBP One app, with its limitations, was aimed at providing a more orderly process for migrants to apply for asylum.
  • Strip funding for the Alternative To Detention Case Management Pilot Program, Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman, and Shelter and Services Program. These programs have been effective at preventing more deaths under CBP custody and immigrant detention. 

“Simply put, this legislation is unhelpful, unjust, and un-American,” Correa concluded. “We can do better. Although well-intentioned, this legislation falls short of its intended goals. That’s why I voted ‘NO’.”

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