May 11, 2023

RANKING MEMBER CORREA VOTES AGAINST REPUBLICAN SO-CALLED “BORDER SECURITY” BILL

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Representative Lou Correa (CA-46), Ranking Member of the Border Security and Enforcement Subcommittee, voted against the unserious and ineffective Republican-led Secure the Border Act of 2023, and issued the following statement:

“Today, my colleagues rushed through this chamber an unserious and un-American piece of legislation that will wreck our economy and make the challenges on our Southern Border worse,” said Ranking Member Correa. “In the wake of Title 42 being lifted, and on the heels of nearly four decades of inaction on immigration reform, we should be working in a bipartisan manner to craft a package that truly secures the border, protects dreamers, and solves the workforce challenges our small businesses are facing.”

Specifically, the bill:

  • Provides no additional resources for CBP officers at ports of entry – and leaves them out to dry in the wake of Title 42 being lifted.
  • Criminalizes non-profits and faith organizations trying to help the government process asylum seekers and give support to local border communities.
  • Destroys the U.S. economy by making small businesses and farmers criminals for unknowingly hiring undocumented workers, and by forcing employers to use the E-Verify system.
  • Ends America’s decades old asylum system and creates more bottlenecks at ports of entry by limiting CBP agents’ abilities to process asylum seekers between ports.
  • Permanently and indefinitely detains asylum seekers and rips families already living and working in the U.S. from our communities.
  • Fails to provide needed resources at ports of entry, where a majority of Fentanyl is seized, to fight Fentanyl smugglers.

“Instead of offering real, tenable solutions, or welcoming Democrats to the negotiating table, my Republican colleagues have decided to rush through a misguided piece of legislation that will create more chaos, strip essential resources for the orderly processing of migrants, and dampen our nation’s economic prosperity,” Correa concluded. “We can, and must, do better and tackle root causes of migration and fund safe, moral border security measures. This bill does neither. That’s why I voted ‘NO’.”

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