EL PASO, Texas – The Texas Border Coalition has sent a letter to members of the Texas border congressional delegation strongly objecting to border security legislation that House members will consider this week.
The legislation is H.R. 2, otherwise known as the Secure the Border Act.
TBC comprises cities and counties along the entire Texas-Mexico border. Its mission statement is o make legislative recommendations to help the Texas Border Region grow and prosper economically.
“Enforcement only border management policies are a historic failure as noted in the 2022 TBC white paper, ‘Texas Borders, History, Policy and Management.’ Unless paired with immigration reforms that address social and economic realities, these policies have and will continue to fail,” wrote TBC Chairman and El Paso County Commissioner David Stout, in his letter.
“To declare that local government and non-government organizations are a part of the problem and should be defunded in an enforcement only paradigm fails to understand the social and economic realities of border communities.”
Stout said punishing migrants and criminalizing good Samaritans, as HR 2 would, is “counterproductive and frankly calls to the worst of our history, not our best.”
“We successfully have managed waves of immigration many times through our history, always to the betterment of our culture, values, and economy,” Stout added.
Here is the letter Stout sent on behalf of the Texas Border Coalition:
Letter
May 8, 2023
United States House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515
In re: H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act
Dear Representative,
On behalf of the Texas Border Coalition (TBC), I write to register our strong opposition to H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act as reported out of the House Judiciary, Homeland Security, and Foreign Affairs Committees.
TBC acts as the collective voice of border communities on issues that affect Texas- Mexico border region’s quality of life, commerce, and public policy. TBC is comprised of mayors, city council members, county judges, county executives, businesses, corporations, and community leaders. Collectively, we represent more than 2.8 million people who reside along the more than 1,250 miles of the Texas-Mexico border, from Brownsville to El Paso, Texas.
For more than 15 years, TBC has advocated for smart, effective border management policies. To achieve this goal, we have supported measures to modernize the failed U.S. immigration system in place today and for security strategies to defeat human and contraband smuggling at the U.S.-Mexico border.
We believe both elements are essential to achieving smart, effective management at the border. Instead of adopting this approach, Congress and Republican and Democrat administrations have resorted to piecemeal, incomplete tactics that, no matter how well intentioned, have not resolved the issue.
Enforcement only border management policies are a historic failure as noted in the 2022 TBC white paper, “Texas Borders, History, Policy and Management”. Unless paired with immigration reforms that address social and economic realities, these policies have and will continue to fail. To declare that local government and non-government organizations are a part of the problem and should be defunded in an enforcement only paradigm fails to understand the social and economic realities of border communities. Punishing migrants and criminalizing good Samaritans is counterproductive and frankly calls to the worst of our history, not our best. We successfully have managed waves of immigration many times through our history, always to the betterment of our culture, values, and economy.
While our border communities are among the safest in the country, partisan fights that turn the border region into a political football sully our standing and harm our people. It is time our leaders put aside the partisan bickering that can achieve no more than temporary, ineffective results and join with us to solve the problem.
The smart, effective solution includes:
- More and better equipped Customs agents at the land ports of entry.
- Technological improvements at and between the ports that will make our border security workforce more effective and efficient.
- Modernizing our immigration system to address DREAMERs, agricultural workers, and healthcare workers as well as recapturing unused green cards and allowing them to be reallocated for temporary use to help our economy grow.
These initiatives have been debated in Congress for many years and we are grateful for the small steps that have been taken, under Democratic and Republican presidents, to advance them. While bringing them a compromise the President can sign will be difficult, Americans will generously celebrate such an achievement.
Texas border communities urge action, now, to bring about the humane and smart immigration and border management solutions we demand and deserve.
Sincerely,
David Stout
Chairman, Texas Border Coalition
County Commissioner, El Paso County, Texas
Editor’s Note: Click here to read a story about the Texas Border Coalition’s “Texas Borders, History, Policy and Management” White Paper.
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