Young, Colleagues Publish SFRC Report on Biden Administration Policies Exacerbating Border Crisis

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) joined Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) in publishing a report entitled “Biden’s Border Crisis: Examining Policies that Encourage Illegal Migration,” that highlights how the Biden Administration is undermining U.S. efforts to reduce illegal migration and jeopardizing U.S. security.

“The Biden Administration continues to ignore the crisis at our southern border. Border security is national security, and it is time we pursue policies with that objective in mind. This report outlines what the Biden Administration needs to do here at home and with countries in the region to focus on the root causes of the crisis,” said Senator Young.

Key findings of the report include:

• President Biden has reversed important Trump-era reforms that effectively addressed illegal migration, and reinstated failed Obama-era policies. These policies are undermining U.S. efforts to build effective law enforcement and asylum processing mechanisms across Mexico and northern Central America, leading to the highest number of migrants attempting to illegally enter the United States in history.
• Transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) benefit from and prolong the illegal migration crisis by facilitating and profiting off the smuggling and trafficking of migrants, or by victimizing vulnerable people along the dangerous journey to the United States.
• The governments of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras are falling short on their own domestic and international obligations to address transnational organized crime and illegal migration issues, putting U.S. security at risk. The Biden Administration should seek to enforce these obligations, including the agreements the Trump Administration made with these countries.

Key recommendations of the report include:

• Establish effective immigration controls in the United States:
  • Extend Title 42 until the end of the COVID-19 health emergency.
  • Reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols and Asylum Cooperative Agreements.
• Strengthen border security and migration management capacities in the region:
  • Target U.S. assistance in Mexico and northern Central America towards strengthening the capacity, funding, and staffing of migration management and law enforcement agencies in those countries.
• Target TCO human smuggling and trafficking:
  • Leverage existing bilateral extradition treaties to prosecute transnational criminal actors facilitating illegal migration to the United States.

A copy of the full SFRC minority report can be found here.