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President Biden’s disastrous decisions are directly to blame for the crisis we are seeing at our southern border. Customs and Border Patrol is experiencing a historic surge of migrants from South America, Central America, and Haiti who see an open door at the U.S. border. They know Joe Biden’s policies will protect them after entering the United States illegally.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas stated that as many as 12,000 Haitian migrants have already been released in the United States. In August alone, over 208,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended at our border. The data is clear: There’s been 1.2 million illegal immigrants entering our country since Biden came into office, and they will keep coming as long as we fail to enforce any border policy.

Trafficked mostly from Mexico by Chinese Cartels, drugs like fentanyl are making their way into our communities and ravaging families. Just a small dose of this drug leads to death, and law enforcement officers in my District attribute the rise in the drug overdoses to the open border. If we want to tackle the drug epidemic in our country head on, we must immediately secure our southern border to prevent drug mules from trafficking deadly drugs nationwide.

In short, the Biden Administration has created a serious humanitarian crisis at our southern border. Nearly one third of women who make the trek to our border are raped or sexually assaulted. Young children are left by loved ones in the desert to face the elements or be in danger of being sex trafficked, and our Customs and Border Patrol agents are encountering dead bodies.

It is disgraceful that President Biden who created this crisis has not visited the border, neither has Kamala Harris in a meaningful way. Yet, they have shamelessly condemned the brave men and women of Customs and Border Patrol for doing their best to mitigate the disaster this administration created.

The Biden Administration’s words and policies have created incentives for many people from around the world to make the perilous journey to our border. Most recently, Democrats have included an amnesty provision in the $3.5 trillion plus reconciliation bill giving amnesty to 8 million illegal immigrants, putting them on a path to citizenship, and the Biden Administration continues to convey they are considering lifting Title 42, a COVID regulation that permits the United States to expel all illegal immigrants under a COVID health emergency. If amnesty is implemented and Title 42 is lifted, Customs and Border Patrol agents say this will result in a million-person caravan to our border.

We can take actions now to limit this humanitarian and national security crisis; the Biden Administration needs to immediately enforce Title 42, return to the Remain in Mexico policy that requires those seeking asylum to do so in Mexico, and deport those who are not here lawfully. As well, as was done in the Trump Administration, we need to gain support from the Mexican military to guard and patrol their southern and northern borders.

I visited the border twice, and Customs and Border Patrol agents told me that unless we engage in real time deportations, migrants will give their life savings to mules and traffickers for entry into the country.

The American people deserve accountability, and as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, I have introduced a resolution to enact the measures mentioned to close the border. Unfortunately, the House led by Democrats seem to be accepting of the current crisis. Shockingly Democrats on a party-line vote shot down a commonsense amendment that would have immediately deported any illegal immigrant who had over 10 driving while intoxicated offenses.

We need immediate action to mitigate this crisis at our border. The unmitigated crisis created in Afghanistan which has heightened the terrorist threat in the United States has made it more essential that we act immediately.

Dan Meuser, R-Dallas, represents the Ninth Congressional District.