Biden, Wild are playing politics with the border
Just weeks after taking office in 2018, U.S. Rep. Susan Wild joined her Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives in shutting down the government because she refused to agree to President Donald Trump’s request for border wall funding. The end result was the longest government shutdown in history and the border wall funding was not agreed to.
When President Joe
Biden took office, he said he would not build “another foot” of the border wall, and he rescinded many of Trump’s border security provisions.
Since then, the American people have been crying out for help and asking the government to put a stop to people entering the country through our southern border. However, Biden and Wild have done nothing to effectively stop the flow of immigrants. In the past 2.5 years, Customs and Border Protection has tracked encounters with over 7 million undocumented immigrants, with millions of those individuals being released into the country and more than 1 million “gotaways” (who eluded border agents).
Finally, on Oct. 5, Biden changed course and said he would adopt some Trump-era policies “after an outcry from blue state governors and big city mayors,” according to Axios, a national political publication. Wild quickly chimed in on WFMZ that the issue “should not be a political football” and that she now supports “border security funding,” but she stopped short of saying she supports a border wall.
The problem is that Biden and Wild are doing exactly what Wild proclaims she is against — playing politics with border wall funding. The American people are the ones that are suffering because of the doublespeak and lack of action.
The federal government came dangerously close to a shutdown recently, which would have created problems across our government and left our nation’s service members, including our 1.3 million active-duty troops, without pay. One of the key sticking points remains funding for a wall on our southern border, along with other border security improvements.
It is hard to believe that Wild and others refuse to support funding for a border wall. Over the last fiscal year, U.S. border patrol agents seized enough fentanyl to kill every American. From laced drugs to secondhand exposure, children, parents and families are suffering from the effects of the continued border crisis while our border patrol agents struggle to keep up with the illegal border crossings they are facing each day.
Undocumented immigrants continue to enter the country in record numbers each month, creating numerous issues related to housing, employment and social services. Some of these immigrants are also bringing crime into our cities and communities.
While this issue needs to be handled at the federal level, I have been a consistent leader on fighting illegal immigration at the state level for years. I am the co-sponsor of legislation to crack down on sanctuary cities.
Additionally, in 2019, I authored a law that expanded the required use of E-Verify in Pennsylvania to stop undocumented immigrants from being hired in the construction industry and protect American jobs and wages. This became law after I stitched together support from both union and nonunion players in the construction industry, and we were able to have this become law even without Gov. Wolf ’s signature.
Now, at the federal level, we need our elected officials to step up and finish building the wall. We need to secure our open borders, and improve security at legal ports of entry, to take real action on illegal immigration. We should withhold taxpayer-funded grants from sanctuary cities, and require deportation for undocumented immigrants caught committing other crimes. We should reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy.
While we certainly need to reform our legal immigration system, we should reject the notion from establishment politicians like Wild who continue to say that comprehensive immigration reform — dealing with both legal and illegal immigration at the same time — is the answer.
Congress has proven incapable of handling both issues at once. We need real solutions to immediately address the illegal immigration that is hurting our country and our people.
Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh is the state representative for the 187th District, which includes Lower Macungie, Upper Macungie, Weisenberg, Lynn, Heidelberg and Washington townships. He is a Republican candidate for the 7th Congressional District seat currently held by Susan Wild.