Biden Needs to Secure Both Borders

Since Joe Biden took office, horrific stories of crime and crisis at the Southern Border have flooded our television screens, made the front page of our newspapers, and filled our social media feeds. Americans have watched the Biden administration surrender operational control of our Southern Border to cartels, drug smugglers and human traffickers.

Now, we face the potential for an equally tragic crisis at our Northern Border. To fill the gaps at the Southern Border, rather than finish the wall or hire more agents, the Biden administration and DC Democrats simply shifted resources. In one big shell game, scores of U.S. Border Patrol agents were moved from the Northern Border down south.

But as agents left their posts to address a crisis thousands of miles away from their families, a new crisis predictably emerged at our Northern Border. According to the latest numbers, there has been an 856% surge in illegal crossings in the Swanton sector of our Northern Border.

In the North Country, we value our connections and relationship with our neighbors to the north, but we also know that open borders make our communities less safe. According to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, so far in 2023, they have already encountered over 1,200 migrants smuggling dangerous illegal drugs like methamphetamine and fentanyl.

In Joe Biden’s America, every community is now a border community. This rings especially true in New York, where just last month Jamestown, a small community in Western New York, saw an influx of illegal Colombian migrants, who were dropped off with no coordination or advanced notice.

The burden of Joe Biden’s border crisis is falling on New York taxpayers, who are on the hook for Governor Kathy Hochul’s $1 billion plan to relocate even more illegal migrants in New York. As New York families struggle with record inflation and Albany’s crushing tax burden, we simply cannot afford to subsidize Joe Biden and Kathy Hochul’s migrant mess, nor should we.

Thankfully, a Republican House majority is doing what a Democrat majority failed to do for two years, we are leading the fight to secure our borders.

My legislation, the Diverting IRS Resources to the Exigent Crisis Today (DIRECT) Act, would defund Biden’s army of 87,000 new IRS agents and use the funding to hire additional U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers. Our plan would give Border Patrol the manpower and resources it needs to finally invest in much-needed security measures.

I also joined dozens of my colleagues in calling on Speaker Kevin McCarthy to launch an impeachment inquiry into the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. As a public servant, if you refuse to do your job, you should be fired. I was among the first to call for Secretary Mayorkas’ resignation and I will continue to hold him accountable.