First Hearing on the Border Shows That Republicans are Serious in Wanting to Address Border Security

This week the House Judiciary Committee held its first hearing on the border crisis currently facing the U.S. It was billed as the first in a series of hearings going after the Biden Administration’s failed policies to secure the U.S. border. 

Republican members used the hearing to rightfully criticize the state of the U.S. border with the southern border seeing the highest number of encounters on record in recent months. In December 2022, there were over 251,000 land border encounters on the southern border, the highest month in recorded history.

The hearing was also an opportunity for Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX-21) and other Republicans to educate the country on a bill that Rep. Roy introduced a bill, H.R. 29, that would address the major issues currently facing border security. FreedomWorks wrote a blog on the positives of that bill as well as addressed some of the concerns and falsehoods that have been stated towards this bill. Rep. Roy used his 5 minutes of questioning to quickly and accurately debunk some of the claims that had been raised not only by Democrats but also Republicans like Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX-23). One of the highlights from Rep. Roy’s questioning was when he asked Sheriff Dannels of Cochise County, AZ whether ensuring that asylum seekers are held at the border processing facility as the law currently requires would constitute banning asylum. Sheriff Dannels replied that holding asylum seekers while their asylum claim is being verified would not mean that asylum in the U.S. is banned. FreedomWorks tweeted out that exchange and it can be found here. Rep. Roy continued to correctly call out that wanting to secure the border and follow the rule of law is not racist and in fact it’s what our Border Patrol officials want Congress and the administration to do. His full 5 minutes of questioning can be found here. 

Another focus of the hearing was on the fentanyl that is flooding into the U.S. and how the Biden Administration’s lax policies on the borders are encouraging that increase. Rep. Roy and others hammered home that increased border security would allow the U.S. to decrease the incentives that cartels have to smuggle the drug into the U.S. Democrats and their allies in the media tried to discredit those facts. 

Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Dan Bishop (R-NC), Wesley Hunt (R-TX) also had standout performances that drove home the message that more needs to be done to secure the border and protect Americans. 

This hearing was an important first step in informing the American public about the border crisis and shows that Republicans are taking the necessary steps to address this crisis in a way that ensures the U.S. border is secure and under control while also holding the Biden administration accountable for its failings in addressing the issue.

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