My Weekly Column: Illegal immigrants don’t deserve a free pass at our airports

President Biden’s open-border policies have rolled out the welcome mat for illegal immigrants, drug traffickers, terrorists, and foreign nationals with ties to China to unlawfully enter our country. Yet, he refuses to enforce our nation’s immigration laws and keep our families and communities safe. Instead of securing our border, he has spearheaded efforts to tear down barriers and fencing at our southern border, rescind the successful “Remain in Mexico” program that required illegal immigrants to wait in Mexico while they were being processed by border patrol agents, and fund free healthcare and legal services for illegal immigrants.

Now, to make matters worse, his administration recently authorized a policy that allows illegal immigrants to use the CBP One app – a system created to help illegal immigrants enter our country – to independently upload information like a photo I.D., date of birth, and other details necessary to board U.S. flights. The major concern for me – aside from the fact that President Biden is flying illegal immigrants to every corner of our country at taxpayer expense – is that this new app does not have any mechanisms in place to verify the uploaded information and similarly has no record of previous submissions. In fact, illegal immigrants don’t even have to have their photo taken at TSA checkpoints like U.S. citizens must. That means that terrorists and drug traffickers, who seek to harm our families and flood our communities with deadly fentanyl, can conceal their true identities to sneak through the cracks of President Biden’s open border.

That’s why I immediately sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas requesting answers from his department over credible reports that illegal immigrants are boarding and flying on U.S. planes without proper identification.

By law, American citizens are required to show valid state or federal photo identification to go through TSA and board domestic and international flights, but, under the Biden administration, illegal immigrants don’t. This ridiculous policy – which allows illegal immigrants to circumvent our laws and submit potentially false and misleading information into the CBP One app – leaves our nation vulnerable to terrorists, drug traffickers, and criminals who wish to hurt American citizens and destroy our country.

To date, hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants have flown in the United States without proper identification. That must end now. I will not allow President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas to jeopardize our national security and the safety of our communities because they refuse to enforce our nation’s laws and close the border. Iowans and Americans nationwide deserve answers from the Biden administration and assurance that this dangerous policy will be swiftly suspended.

In Congress, I will continue to do everything in my power to finish the border wall, keep deadly fentanyl out of our rural communities, detain criminals and terrorists, and secure our border for good.

We are government together, and your thoughts and opinions matter to me. Please contact my office at Feenstra.House.Gov or by phone at 202-225-4426 if I can ever be of assistance. I am proud to represent our families, farmers, main street businesses, and rural communities in Congress.