U.S. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) on Sept. 14 joined several of his Republican colleagues to propose legislation that would authorize several avenues for securing America’s borders, including restarting construction of the border wall between Texas and Mexico.
“I’ve traveled to the southern border repeatedly to draw attention to the national security and humanitarian crisis that the Biden administration is causing with its open-border policies,” Sen. Hoeven said. “This legislation will force the Biden administration to secure the border.”
Sen. Hoeven joined 25 other GOP original cosponsors to introduce the Secure the Border Act of 2023, S. 2824, including U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Deb Fischer (R-NE), John Thune (R-SD), Steve Daines (R-MT), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Todd Young (R-IN). The lead sponsor of the bill is U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
If enacted, S. 2824 would require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resume border wall construction and increase the number of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, according to a bill summary provided by Sen. Hoeven’s office.
Additionally, S. 2824 would restrict asylum to only aliens who present at ports of entry and require aliens to prove they are “more likely than not” to qualify for their asylum claim, the summary says.
The bill also would narrow DHS’s power to unilaterally grant parole to illegal aliens and restrict DHS from using its CBP One app to expedite the arrival of migrants into the country, according to the summary.
At the same time, S. 2824 would criminalize visa overstays by making the first offense a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $1,000 fine, and the second offense a felony punishable by up to a $2,000 fine and up to two years imprisonment.
Among numerous other provisions, the bill would ensure that CBP has access to the criminal history databases of all countries of origin and transit so that CBP is aware of the criminal history of illegal aliens encountered at the southern border, states the summary.
S. 2824 is the Senate companion bill to the same-named H.R. 2, which U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Tom McClintock (R-CA) introduced on May 2. H.R. 2 on May 11 passed the U.S. House of Representatives on a 219-213 vote before advancing to the Senate.