House panel OKs modified version of border wall.
President Donald Trump’s border wall — or at least a modified version of it — won the endorsement of the House Homeland Security Committee Wednesday as the panel voted along partisan lines in favor of Chairman Michael McCaul’s border security legislation.
The bill calls for a combination of structures, technology and additional personnel on the border. It includes $10 billion for building a physical barrier “where practical” as well as $5 billion to shore up the ports of entry — Texas has 29, more than any other state — and provides for the hiring of 5,000 more Border Patrol agents and 5,000 more Customs and Border Protection agents.
The committee adopted an amendment by U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, meant to protect Big Bend National Park and other rugged, remote areas from wall construction by stating that a “structure would not be built where it is impractical and ineffective.”
Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said that while the amendment was “well-intentioned,” it gave the Department of Homeland Security chief the sole authority to determine where to build the wall and therefore “Big Bend will likely be threatened.”
The vote was a victory for McCaul, an Austin Republican, who last week learned he had been rejected as a candidate for secretary of homeland security, reportedly because White House officials did not think he had taken a strong enough position on constructing a border wall and fighting illegal immigration.
Nonetheless, in a statement after the bill was approved by his panel, McCaul gave a shoutout to Trump. “We have been talking about border security for many years. Now that we finally have a partner in the White House who has prior- itized this issue, it’s time for Congress to do its part and get the job done,” he said.
McCaul’s bill, the Border Security for America Act, along with a border security bill introduced by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, are expected to be combined with legislation to resolve the legal status of immigrants brought to the country illegally as children and shielded from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The Trump administration has canceled the program as of March 5, giving Congress a few months to come up with a new plan. Cornyn told Texas reporters Wednesday that he expected Congress to act on both border security and DACA this year.
U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, offered a series of failed amendments to McCaul’s bill, including one mocking Trump’s tweets on the border wall, saying he was voting against it but wanted to highlight “the conflicting and absurd version of Trump’s vision.” Among the descriptions: “big and beautiful, see-through, not a fence, solar.”
McCaul smiled and said “I appreciate the gentleman’s creativity in this amendment,” before voting against it.
Vela also proposed an amendment calling for Mexico to pay for the wall. No one voted for the amendment.