Fitzpatrick, Bacon offer bipartisan bill to support security at border and abroad

U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Don Bacon (R-NE) on Feb. 15 unveiled a bipartisan bill that would make emergency supplemental appropriations to provide defense support to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan and would require the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security to suspend the entry of inadmissible aliens at America’s southern border.

“Securing one’s borders is necessary to preserving one’s democracy and, therefore, necessary to maintaining world order and world peace,” Rep. Fitzpatrick said. “As the world’s oldest and strongest democracy, the United States’ primary responsibility must be to secure its own borders. 

“But we also have an obligation to assist our allies in securing their borders, especially when they come under assault by dictators, terrorists, and totalitarians,” he added. “Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan are all freedom-loving democracies, they are our allies, and we must assist them in protecting their borders just as we must protect our own.”

Rep. Fitzpatrick sponsored the Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act, H.R. 7372, alongside nine original cosponsors, including Rep. Bacon and lead original cosponsor U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME).

“We secure our borders and help Ukraine defend itself against an immoral invasion by Russia in this bipartisan bill,” said Rep. Bacon. “We support Ukrainians who love freedom, Israelis who defend their homeland, and Taiwanese who want freedom. We stand for democratic values.”

Specifically, only for a period of one year after the bill’s enactment, H.R. 7372 would require the Secretary of Homeland Security to suspend the entry of inadmissible aliens at a U.S. land or maritime border if the secretary determines that it is necessary to achieve operational control of that border, according to a bill summary provided by the lawmakers.

Exceptions for aliens claiming to be threatened with persecution or torture would not be permissible if the alien has ordered or participated in the persecution of another individual; has been convicted of a serious crime, and is deemed a danger to U.S. citizens; is thought to have committed a serious nonpolitical crime outside the United States; or is considered to be a danger to U.S. national security, states the summary.

Humane exceptions, such as for those with disabilities or acute medical conditions, would be permissible.

The bill also would implement a “Remain in Mexico” policy for one year by requiring that an alien seeking admission (including asylum) and arriving on land from a foreign territory contiguous to the U.S. be returned to that territory pending proceedings for the adjudication of the alien’s status, according to the summary.

“Restoring the Remain in Mexico policy would address SCOTUS’s ruling that this authority is discretionary,” said Rep. Golden.

Additionally, the $66.32 billion authorized for the U.S. Department of Defense under H.R. 7372 would provide: $47.69 billion to support the defense of Ukraine, including $13.77 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative; $10.40 billion to fund the defense of Israel; $4.91 billion to help U.S. and allied deterrence operations in the Indo-Pacific; $2.44 billion to support operations in U.S. Central Command, including to address combat expenditures related to the recent conflict in the Red Sea; and $542 million would fund the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the summary says.