Securing the Border: What does it Take?

President Trump left office with the most secure Southern Border in history. 

• Over 85 percent of all illegal border crossers were turned back to Mexico.
• The Trump Administration built over 458 miles of Border Wall that Biden instantly stopped construction on when he took office.
• Building the wall helped keep crime, drugs, cartels, and illegal immigrants from invading our country. Equally important, the Trump Administration implemented targeted and successful policies that deterred people from getting to our border in the first place. 
• When people think that they can illegally enter and stay in the United States without consequence, they will come. Far too many foreign citizens correctly believe that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will let them in—and it’s caused a crisis at our border.
• Recent estimates say up to 22 million illegal immigrants live in the United States—more than the entire population of New York state.
•  Border Patrol agents have caught over 2.5 million people illegally entering the United States since Joe Biden took office. At least 500,000 immigrants have evaded law enforcement and disappeared into our country.

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The Trump Administration stemmed the flow of illegal immigrants arriving at the border through two important policies. First, through the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), known as the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy, the United States made illegal border crossers wait in Mexico before they were entitled to an immigration hearing. Most hearings take years to adjudicate, previously leaving illegal immigrants free to live in the United States.

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The other tool, known as Asylum Cooperative Agreements (ACAs), made would-be migrants traversing through Central America to first claim asylum in a safe neighboring country and allowed the United States to send asylum claimants at the overwhelmed Southern Border to safe third country for processing.

Biden immediately ended MPP and ACA’s when he became president. Only weeks later, the humanitarian disaster at our Southern Border spiraled out of control. 

How MPP Stems Illegal Immigration

• When Border Patrol catches an illegal crosser, they don’t simply make them turn around. They catch them, process them, give them a court date, and release them—not back to Mexico—but IN THE UNITED STATES. 
• The United States also offers admission and refugee protections to illegal land-border crossers who state a credible fear of political persecution. Our judicial system sets a later date for their asylum proceeding while they remain in the United States.
• There are currently over 600,000 asylum case backlogs.
• That means the average wait for an asylum hearing is 1,621 days—over four years! 
• The U.S. federal government effectively gave a free pass into the United States to anyone that says they are afraid to be in their own country. 
• Trump implemented MPP in 2019—whereby most illegal border crossers must remain in Mexico to wait for their immigration proceedings and/or asylum hearing. The Government of Mexico provides them with all appropriate humanitarian protections during their stay. 
• Illegal border crossers with fake asylum claims knew that they would be stuck in Mexico, deterring them from trying to cross in the first place.
• The U.S. could process legitimate asylum claims faster for those most in need.
• Biden illegally and foolishly rescinded MPP during his second week in office. As a result, the United States encountered 1.7 million illegal crossers in 2021 – more than a 300% increase from 2020, when Border Patrol caught 458,000 crossers.

How Asylum Cooperative Agreements Stem Illegal Immigration

• During 2019, 71 percent of all illegal border crossers were from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. Families made up a majority of crossers, which created a humanitarian crisis and further strained U.S. resources at the border. 
• To stop this unprecedented problem, The Trump Administration negotiated with the governments of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala to reach Asylum Cooperative Agreements (ACAs). 
• The agreements dissuade people from these countries from coming to the United States in the first place. If they do leave out of real fear of political persecution, and make it to the United States, we send them to a different third country where they would have instant protection and have their asylum request processed in safety.
• This discourages migrants from taking the deadly 1000-mile journey to the United States.

These agreements instantly solved three problems:

• Families under real persecution in Central America can go to neighboring countries to claim asylum and enjoy protection, rather than travel all the way to the United States.
•  It dissuades would-be migrants from paying top-dollar to deadly drug cartels that guide them on a perilous journey through Mexico to the U.S. Southern Border.
• Those seeking to falsely claim asylum know they will be denied and not granted access to the United States.

Biden’s culpability for a humanitarian disaster

• Biden illegally ended MPP and cancelled the Asylum Cooperative Agreements with our partner nations 16 days after he became president – with zero replacement plan. 
•  After the Supreme Court forced the reinstatement of MPP, Biden’s officials have only sent 410 illegal border crossers back to Mexico as of February 2022, having almost zero effect in stopping millions of illegal immigrants from arriving in the first place. 
• Because of Biden, human smugglers are richer than ever before. These smugglers take advantage of the most vulnerable and impoverished Central Americans attempting to get the U.S. border, under the premise that Biden will let them in. The consequences for the people making the journey are disastrous.
• The same cartels responsible for the 100,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. through their drug smuggling are enriched by Biden’s policies. Cartels and smugglers earned over $1.7 billion every year from human smuggling of Guatemalan, Honduran, and Salvadoran migrants to the United States.
• Between 60-80 percent of women, including children, are raped on the journey. Over 30 percent of kids experience sexual violence.
• President Biden can help stop the border crisis by re-instituting the competent and humane policies that Trump handed to the Biden Administration on a silver platter. Biden should immediately and permanently re-implement the Trump-era policies that were working to keep the border safe and secure.