My Weekly Column: American families deserve a secure border and safe communities
By now, Iowans and Americans nationwide have seen with their own eyes the devastating crisis that President Biden has created at our southern border. Every day, illegal immigrants, drug traffickers, and terrorists are crossing our border in overwhelming numbers. This lawlessness and chaos are fueled exclusively by the Biden administration’s open-border policies.
As a father of four, I’m beyond grateful for our incredible border patrol agents – who are on the front lines of this crisis – for doing everything in their power to keep our communities safe from criminals and drugs. However, since President Biden refuses to take action to secure our border, our law enforcement officials cannot possibly prevent every person with malicious intentions from unlawfully entering our country.
To make matters worse, cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Denver have declared themselves “sanctuary cities” to shield illegal immigrants from accountability and the rule of law. In other words, these cities have made clear that they will not uphold our nation’s laws and instead protect illegal immigrants from answering to the same laws that American citizens must follow. It’s not just wrong and unfair. It’s dangerous.
In the latest example of sanctuary-city policies gone amok, a hospital in Denver has turned American citizens away from receiving quality medical care to instead attend to the needs of illegal immigrants. In 2023 alone, this hospital was forced to accommodate roughly 20,000 visits from about 8,000 illegal immigrants. These figures strain hospital resources and stretch medical staff thin, in turn, impacting care for law-abiding taxpayers who shouldn’t be forced to wait while illegal immigrants skip the line.
Upon learning of this alarming news, my Republican colleagues on the House Ways and Means Committee and I sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra requesting a detailed description of the steps that HHS has taken to ensure that illegal immigrants are not preventing Americans from receiving high-quality healthcare. I fear that, without proper oversight and immediate action, this crisis will spread to hospitals across the country and apply financial and emotional strain on our healthcare workforce and impact millions of patients.
In addition to this issue, we are also hearing reports that sanctuary cities are actively releasing criminal illegal immigrants from jail even when federal law enforcement has ordered that these criminals remain in prison. These reckless policies threaten the safety of our kids, our families, and our communities. That’s why I helped send a letter to President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas calling for clear answers as to why sanctuary cities are blatantly ignoring the orders of law enforcement and instead releasing criminal illegal immigrants back on to our streets. The American people deserve answers, our communities deserve better, and our police and law enforcement officers deserve our full support. We can start by banning sanctuary cities and holding illegal immigrants accountable for their actions.
Our border is wide open because President Biden refuses to enforce our nation’s laws and protect our communities. That’s the truth. He has the power to end the border crisis by restarting construction on the border wall, ending “catch-and-release” policies, and reinstating the “Remain in Mexico” program.
I strongly denounce the Biden administration’s open-border policies that have allowed deadly fentanyl to flood our rural communities and terrorists to infiltrate our country. We must secure our border, finish the wall, and hold drug traffickers accountable for their horrific crimes. Our national security depends on it.