Dear Representative,
On behalf of Americans for Prosperity’s millions of activists across all 50 states, I urge you to support H.R. 3602, the End the Border Catastrophe Act sponsored by Representative Juan Ciscomani. Without operational control of the border, every city becomes a border town.
Our broken system has encouraged chaos and incentivized migration to the United States in ways that are destructive to our towns and dangerous to new arrivals. It incentivizes organized crime to take advantage of our porous borders for trafficking of persons and drugs.
Earlier this year, Americans for Prosperity launched the Four Pillars of Border Security and Visa Reform, which is grounded in principles of secure borders, American competitiveness, clear and predictable rules, and accountability.
The base text of H.R. 3602 takes action on these commonsense principles including:
- Requires DHS to submit regular reports on terrorist organizations attempting to infiltrate the southern border.
- Raises the credible fear screening process so that people with weak cases are rejected after being interviewed by an immigration officer.
- Contains key provisions to modernize infrastructure and hire personnel needed to secure the border.
- Requires that all physical barriers be the most cost-effective physical materials or technology for securing the border.
- Prevents the abuse and exploitation of unaccompanied children by requiring the sponsors to be heavily vetted.
- Provides resources for the overwhelmed immigration system by charging a $50 fee to apply for asylum. Bans individuals who crossed between legal ports of entry from applying for asylum.
- Authorizes $110 million for Operation Stonegarden, a grant program that enhances coordination with Mexico and Canada to detect trafficking in persons and other illicit activity before it reaches our border.
- Streamlines the hiring process for new CBP agents by waiving the polygraph exam for certain law enforcement officials and members of the armed forces.
This vote will be recorded in our legislative scorecard. To see what other votes have been included, please visit AFP’s scorecard online at: AFPscorecard.org.
Sincerely,
Brent Gardner
Chief Government Affairs Officer
Americans for Prosperity