Column: Bipartisan border deal signed by president is significant progress

Last week, Congress came together to pass, and President signed into law, bipartisan legislation that prioritizes securing our border and keeps the federal government open. The legislation may not have provided as much as I would have liked for President Trump’s request, but in the end the legislation represented significant progress by providing tools our Border Patrol agents need to do their job.

I have no doubt that there is a humanitarian and security crisis at the southern border. I have visited the border to hear firsthand from the professionals on the front lines. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents are pleading for more resources; detention centers are overflowing, and we are seeing alarming rates of human and drug trafficking. This is absolutely a crisis that Congress must work with President Trump to address. I have voted in the past to fully fund President Trump’s border security proposal and helped author legislation to fully fund his plan. While I would have preferred for this bill to contain more robust funding for border infrastructure, this legislation is progress.

The nature of a compromise is that nobody gets everything they want, and given some of the radical demands Democrats have made, I am glad that this legislation did provide for increased operational control of our southern border. Since taking the majority in the House, Democrats have increasingly called for open border policies, defunding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and – as Speaker Pelosi publicly announced – not more than $1 for a border wall.

Instead, this legislation provides over $2.5 billion for physical barriers, surveillance, technology, and personnel. It paid to construct 55 miles of new border wall in the Rio Grande Valley: the highest priority area identified by CBP and the border location I visited last year. This is twice as many new miles as last year and three times as many miles as can be built under a Continuing Resolution. Tragically, the Rio Grande Valley was the border sector with the most known deaths of illegal border crossers in 2018. The situation is untenable from a security or a humanitarian standpoint. Accompanying this section of wall will be new surveillance technology, inspection equipment, and facility improvements at processing centers all along the border. The bill also funds 19,555 border agents – 205 more than last year.

During negotiations, Democrats sought to cap the overall number of detention beds available for immigration arrests at 35,400. ICE’s deputy director, Matthew Albence, said such a proposal “would be extremely damaging to public safety,” and the final deal reflected Republican priorities and did not include the Democrats’ cap. Instead of a reduction, the final bill provides funding for 45,274 detention beds and includes an additional $750 million to increase the number of beds. It allows for flexibility and capacity for ICE to address illegal immigration and keep dangerous criminals from being released into the interior. The bill increases the number of immigration judge teams from 395 to 534 to reduce the immigration case backlog.

In the words of President Trump, “a country without borders is not a country at all.” I will continue to work to prioritize the safety of Americans by advocating for a secure border.