ICYMI: Sen. Lee Visits Mexico Border, Calls for End to Crisis

Last week, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) joined a congressional delegation trip with 17 of his colleagues to help shed light on the humanitarian crisis caused by the recent surges in illegal immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border. The senators toured immigration processing facilities along the border, attended a roundtable with local leaders, and heard firsthand accounts of the journeys of migrant men, women, and children.

Sen. Lee highlighted how the deliberate non-enforcement of our laws, as well as the policies and promises of the Biden administration, have created the crisis – encouraging waves of immigration, enriching drug cartels and coyotes, and subjecting vulnerable women and children to sexual assault, abuse, and trafficking.

Sen. Lee last week also introduced legislation called the Stopping Border Surges Act, a bill to address loopholes in our immigration system which encourage vulnerable immigrant populations to take dangerous, illegal paths of entry into the United States. The simple, common-sense adjustments it proposes would help ensure the integrity of our borders, and remove perverse incentives for parents to entrust their children to coyotes and cartels.

To learn more about the bill, and for in-depth coverage of the visit, see the content below.

The Stopping Border Surges Act

This bill proposed immediate, common-sense reforms that would help stem the flood of immigrants at our border and protect vulnerable women and children from the clutches of the cartels and coyotes. Sadly, it was blocked by Senate Democrats.

The Biden Administration has closed the border to press to minimize the crisis.

The Biden Administration has closed the border to press in an attempt to minimize the crisis, so we are here to tell the story of what’s really happening. Cartels are making millions of dollars per week. Our Border Patrol agents are overwhelmed. Thousands of people are crossing our border illegally everyday and entering our country without the same COVID testing requirements as American citizens.

President Biden promised surges at the border. And he delivered.

President Biden promised surges at the border. And he delivered. The resulting humanitarian crisis could easily have been avoided. The smugglers, cartels and coyotes are so emboldened by these policies that they taunt our Border Patrol officers.

Deeply troubled to see hundreds of people at the border.

It was deeply troubling to see hundreds of people at the border so late, so many of whom were women and children, who had entrusted their lives to ruthless smugglers and drug cartels.

Lawlessness is not compassion.

We’re a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. We don’t need to choose one or the other. Lawlessness is not compassion.

There is no plausible policy justification for ending the Migrant Protection Protocols program.

There is not any plausible policy justification for the decision to end the Migrant Protection Protocols program. There is no reason whatsoever that someone from Central or South America, when coming by land to the United States, could not apply for asylum in Mexico and remain in Mexico while their asylum applications are pending.

Photo Footage