Former Trump officials urging GOP to back flagship bill to end the border crisis
Bristol County, Mass. Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, Texas Public Policy Foundation Executive Director Robert Henneke and former acting ICE Director Tom Homan on the border crisis and the 'flagship bill' that could help mitigate the crisis.
Supporters of a "flagship" bill to mitigate the migrant crisis at the southern border urged Republicans Friday to bring back border security in the next Congress.
Former acting ICE Director Tom Homan, Texas Public Policy Foundation executive director Robert Henneke and Bristol County, Massachusetts Sheriff Thomas Hodgson joined "Fox & Friends First" to sound the alarm on record-high migrant encounters under the Biden administration.
"We need to secure the border because a secure border saves lives, and you can't have national security without border security," Homan said.
Homan argued current policies are "rewarding those who break our law" while images show border facilities stocked with baby formula and efforts are made to use Veterans Affairs resources to treat migrants.
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Homan and Henneke signed a letter first obtained by Fox News Digital urging Republican leaders to unite behind "flagship introductory legislation" in the upcoming Congress next year when they believe Republicans will have taken control of the House and Senate.
Henneke stressed the need to "turn off the magnet" encouraging illegal immigration, saying loopholes have been exploited by the Biden administration.
Immigrant men from many countries are taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border on December 07, 2021 in Yuma, Arizona. Governors from 26 states have formed a strike force to address the crisis at the border. (John Moore/Getty Images)
"Our letter points out that all these loopholes need to be closed and that the first priority for lawmakers when there's a new major majority has to be solving the Biden border crisis by passing legislation to close these loopholes."
Sheriff Hodgson said border insecurity also affects his community thousands of miles away with an "overwhelming" influx of illegal immigrants and an increase in fentanyl overdoses.
"Moms and dads are walking into their kids' bedrooms to wake up, to go to work or school, and they're not waking up because they're dying of fentanyl," he said.
"Massachusetts had the highest influx of illegal aliens between 2010 and 2016. And we're 2,500 miles from the border. And now they have these distribution centers where people are told to go and report in. They get a court date nine years down the road and basically to go out into the community and commit more problems for us that we can't handle."
The letter to lawmakers calls on leaders to "exclude amnesty of any type," to create an immediate expulsion authority, clarify that migrants are ineligible for asylum if they came through a safe third country, restrict prosecutorial discretional and reform the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) which has been blamed by many officials for encouraging the surge in unaccompanied children in recent years.
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The list of legislative proposals includes the completion of the border wall, the raising of the "credible fear" standard for asylum, increased resources for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – specifically for deportation officers and detention beds. They also include a full implementation of the Trump-era "Remain-in-Mexico" policy, to clarify that gang violence and domestic violence are not grounds for asylum, and for states to be allowed to have the authority to participate in immigration enforcement.
Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report
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