Democrats lie big about our border crisis. Compare Senate and House bills for proof

I have seen many stories, and several television news shows where the left continues to lie about the southern border and how former President Donald Trump worked with Republicans to shut down a Senate border bill (Senate "Border Act of 2024") that would have secured our borders and that he did it in order to make it an election issue. That is not an accurate assessment of what happened. Nothing but a stone-cold lie but something this administration has been good at when they talk about the border.  

For over three and half years, the White House and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas have claimed the border was secure. Mayorkas even lied under oath when providing congressional testimony about the border. Let's remember that and remind ourselves that it took over three-and-a-half years for this administration to do anything to attempt to secure the border and why only after 10 million encounters and 2 million more gotaways did they do a single thing to slow the flow.  

We had historic illegal immigration for three straight years, and they didn’t take any meaningful action to fix it. President Joe Biden falsely claimed he couldn’t fix it by executive order. 

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Now, who prevented the strongest legislation ever that would have helped to secure the border? It was the Democrats and the White House. They shut down HR2, the "Secure the Border Act of 2023," a strong border bill passed by the House long before anyone in the Senate even thought about border legislation.  

Migrants walk along the highway through Suchiate, Chiapas state in southern Mexico, Sunday, July 21, 2024, during their journey north toward the U.S. border. ((AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente))

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would not even put it on the floor for debate. It died on his desk. HR2 was a much stronger bill than what the Senate came up with. HR2 would, without a doubt, help secure the border at a high level. How do I know that? Because HR2 contained policies that were proven successful and effective at creating the most secure border in the history of this country.  

Many Trump policies were contained in HR2 and whether you like Trump or not, you cannot honestly rebut the fact that illegal immigration was at a 40-45 year low when these policies were implemented to include the "Remain in Mexico." If I were a congressional Republican, why would I ever negotiate against known success? If I were a past president who knew that I did better and my policies worked, why would I settle for anything less?  

So, the fact is, Democrats and the White House are the ones that shut down legislation that would have secured the southern border way before the pathetic legislation from the Senate came into play. At least Republicans talked and debated the Senate plan. Schumer didn't allow that for HR2. That is a fact that nobody can hide from, but they are trying. 

Now, let’s talk about the Senate plan. Anyone who opines that it would secure the border either didn't read the entire bill or didn't understand the bill. The legislation would allow up to 1.8 million illegal entries before they took enforcement steps to shut the border down. Why not one? Why not 10?  

This alone is ridiculous and would cause more aliens to die making that journey. It would not stop the administration from coming up with more policies that abuse the parole statute or stop aliens from using meritless asylum claims to enter and remain in the United States indefinitely. 

It would cause more Americans to die from fentanyl overdoses because the Border Patrol would still be overwhelmed and not able to remain on patrol and seize the deadly drugs at the level needed. They can only seize the amount that resources on patrol can encounter. Fewer resources mean less seized.  

Furthermore, the legislation did nothing to address child trafficking or family units streaming across the border. You would think with well over 400,000 children being smuggled into this country by criminal cartels since Biden has been president would be enough for them to address this issue.  

You would think the historic high in sex trafficking and forced labor trafficking off these children would be enough to finally address it. Finally, you would think that the fact that they cannot find 85,000 to 100,000 children who they released to so-called sponsors cannot be found would convince them to address child trafficking in the legislation. But they didn't.  

A large group of Chinese migrants, including three from Bangladesh, line up for a Customs and Border Patrol officer at Jacumba Hot Spring, California, on June 6, 2024, where the group arrived after crossing the US-Mexico border overnight. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

Now, why did some Republicans support the Senate bill at first? Because they thought that something was better than nothing. They thought that after 4,000-5,000 a day, the administration would be forced to do something and that was better than nothing. The Border Patrol was exhausted and overwhelmed and some thought something was better than nothing. 

The Senate bill wasn’t better than nothing because it would have codified in law that we are OK with up to 1.8 million encounters a year. And does anyone think that when alien apprehensions reach 5,001 that they would simply go away because we are at our legislative limit? No, the alien would just become another known gotaway.  

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In addition, the bill gives a carve out for those claiming fear. According to the language of the legislation that I read, those claiming fear could still be released into the U.S. So, the bill would not stop catch-and-release and secure the border. That is fact. 

It's election time. That is why they waited for 3.5 years to try and address the border. It's about votes. It has never been about border security. Even though under this administration the border has over 10 million encounters, over 6 million released into this country, more than 2 million known gotaways, a historic number of illegal aliens dying on our border, a historic number of Americans dying from fentanyl coming across the open border and a historic number of people on the terror watch list coming across the border, it isn't and never has been about border security under this administration.  

Furthermore, the legislation did nothing to address child trafficking or family units streaming across the border. You would think with well over 400,000 children being smuggled into this country by criminal cartels since Biden has been president would be enough for them to address this issue.  

It's about the election and that is why they came up with a pathetic bill that they knew would never pass. This was all done to try and shift the blame on the Republicans and Trump. Well, they failed. the facts are clear. They took the most secure border in our history and un-secured it on purpose and created a historic public safety, humanitarian, public health and national security crisis.  

They have created the biggest national security vulnerability we have ever seen, and the FBI director has testified about the national security crisis many times. Un-securing the border was not because of mismanagement or incompetence, it was by design.  

This administration, along with Democrats on the Hill, can only hide from the truth, the facts, for so long. They have failed America and by continually lying about it, have insulted taxpayers’ intelligence. The fact remains that this administration, with help from Democrats on the Hill, not Trump, stopped legislation that would have actually secured the border. I ask everyone to read both bills side by side and you will agree. President Trump and many Republicans prevented a tragedy from being codified. 

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Thomas Homan formerly served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the Trump administration. He has devoted nearly 34 years of his life to immigration and law enforcement positions. He is one of the founders of Border911.com.