Walberg Cosponsors Bill to Help Secure the Border, Demands Senate Vote on H.R. 2

Washington, D.C. -- Congressman Tim Walberg (MI-05) cosponsored the Southern Border Transparency Act and took to the House floor to demand a Senate vote on H.R. 2, Secure the Border Act. In FY23, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) recorded a record-setting 2.4+ million encounters at the southern border, including 169 individuals on the terrorist watchlist who were apprehended attempting to enter the country illegally. 

Provisions of Secure the Border Act include:

• Requires the Biden Administration to restart construction of the southern border wall.
• Deploys improved technology to the southern and northern borders.
• Increases the number of Border Patrol agents and provide bonus pay.
• Requires transparency from the Department of Homeland Security regarding illegal crossings.
• Strengthens existing laws to protect children from human trafficking.
• Ends catch and release and the abuse of executive immigration authority.
• Strengthens and streamlines the asylum process.

"This is a national security and humanitarian crisis and the Senate and President Biden simply cannot wait any longer to secure the border," said Rep. Walberg. "Each year President Biden has been in office, we've seen a new record for encounters, yet the Administration continues to ignore the problem. For months, the Senate has also refused to take up the Secure the Border Act, which passed the House in early May and is the strongest border bill to ever pass the House. It's long past time for a vote on border security."

Provisions of Southern Border Transparency Act include:

• Requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to issue reports detailing the total number of illegal immigrants encountered at the southern border and released into the country.
• Prevents gimmicks utilized to artificially lower numbers by requiring DHS to report a wide range of data, including the total number of migrants paroled at a port of entry (POE) and the amount granted parole.

"Using gimmicks, the Biden administration has attempted to fudge numbers in order to downplay the scale of the crisis created by his policies," said Rep. Walberg. "The Southern Border Transparency Act will allow the American people to know just how many migrants are being released and provide a full accounting of the Biden administration's catch-and-release policy. Transparency will ultimately lead us closer to the goal of ending this humanitarian and national security crisis at the border."