09.22.23

Hoeven to Biden Administration: Enforce the Law & Secure the Border – It’s a Matter of National Security

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven this week again joined his Senate Republican colleagues in calling on the Biden administration to enforce the law and secure the nation’s borders. This comes as part of Hoeven’s continued efforts to support U.S. Border Patrol and draw attention to the illegal immigration and humanitarian crisis taking place at the U.S.-Mexico border.

To this end, Hoeven has met with North Dakota National Guard members in Del Rio and Eagle Pass, Texas in recent years to highlight their mission in support of Customs and Border Protection operations. The senator has also reviewed border operations in El Paso, the Rio Grande Valley and Brownsville, Texas, and traveled with a bipartisan congressional delegation to Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and Guatemala to outline the need to work with these nations to stop illegal immigration and prevent human and drug trafficking.

“The numbers speak for themselves. In 2021, illegal crossings at the southern border were at 1.7 million, while in 2022, we had 2.4 million illegal crossings. This year, just through July, we’re already at 2 million illegal crossings, and by October it will be a new record yet again,” said Hoeven. “We can continue to call attention to this issue, the human suffering and the drug trafficking, but we need a bipartisan effort, with our colleagues across the aisle telling the Biden administration to stop this crisis and secure the border.

“This idea that the Biden administration can’t secure the border unless Congress passes a law is ridiculous. The problem is that the Biden administration is not enforcing the law. Enforce the Safe Third Country policy, enforce the Remain in Mexico Policy and build the border wall. It’s a matter of national security.”

To stop this crisis and combat cartels from trafficking people and drugs into the U.S., Hoeven is pressing the Biden administration to:

  • Reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) or Remain in Mexico Policy, which required people seeking asylum at the southern border to wait in Mexico while their case was adjudicated.
  • Strictly Enforce the Safe Third Country Agreements requiring that those coming from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala seek asylum there first, otherwise be returned to await the outcome of their claims. 
  • Resume construction of the border wall at the nation’s southern border and put in place the technology, infrastructure and personnel needed to secure the border, utilizing funding Congress has already appropriated.

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