SC Mississippi News

Washington, D.C.– Vice Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security (CHS) Michael Guest (MS-03) joined Majority Leader Steve Scalise (LA-01), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (OH-04), House CHS Chairman Mark Green (TN-07), and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (TX-10) in a press conference detailing the importance of passing H.R. 2794, the Border Reinforcement Act of 2023. The highly anticipated legislation seeks to address critical portions of border security that have failed under the Biden Administration.

A transcript of Vice Chairman Guest’s remarks can be found below.

“Make no mistake, our border is broken. This Administration has been unwilling or unable to secure the southwest border. Statistics show [that in] FY 21, under President Biden, we set a record of 1.9 million encounters along our border. Last year in FY 22, we shattered that record with more than 2.7 million encounters along the southwest border. And now in FY 23, we are expected to break that once again with a number that is projected to exceed over 3 million [encounters]. That number is projected before Title 42 expires two weeks from today. 

Additionally, we know that drugs smuggled across our borders are killing young people at an alarming rate and our border agents are experiencing a crisis of morale. Secretary Mayorkas — as Chairman Green spoke of moments ago — continues to deny the crisis that exists on the border, even as his chief of [Border] Patrol recently testified before Congress that five of the nine sectors along the southwest border were not secure. House Republicans are stepping in to fill that gap — that gap of leadership created by the inactions of this Administration.

This legislation will hire thousands of new agents, it will pay retention bonuses to front line officers, we will invest in new technology, we will construct hundreds of miles of walls and barriers, and we will support our local and our state partners.

The time to act is now, and Republicans must lead this fight: the fight to secure our border, the fight to support the hard-working men and women of law enforcement, and the fight to stop the flow of illegal drugs coming into our communities that are killing young Americans.

I promise you, I pledge to you, that as Republicans we will not back down from this fight, that we will bring this legislation to the floor, and that we will combat the failures of the Biden Administration.

”

The legislation passed the Committee on Homeland Security early this morning and awaits action on the House floor.

The Border Reinforcement Act of 2023 would:

• Direct the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resume border wall construction.
• Bolster Customs and Border Protection (CBP) staffing by mandating hiring of agents to meet the goal of 22,000 CBP agents.
• Require CBP to develop a technology investment plan and to upgrade existing technology.
• Require DHS to disclose monthly border data to the public and to Congress by the seventh day of each month.
• Establish retention bonuses for U.S. Border Patrol personnel.
• Provide increased support through Operation Stonegarden grants to local law enforcement jurisdictions.

H.R. 2794 also includes two measures that Congressman Guest has introduced in the 118th Congress or in previous Congresses—the Eradication of Narcotic Drugs and Formulating Effective New Tools to Address Yearly Losses of life (END FENTANYL) Act, which would require Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to updates its policies and manuals at least every three years to help prevent drug and human smuggling at ports of entry, and the Operation Stonegarden Authorization Act to support law enforcement in border states that are aiding in border operations.

For more information, click here to view a press release from the Committee on Homeland Security.

To watch the full press conference, please click here.

Congressman Michael Guest represents Mississippi's Third Congressional District. Currently serving his third term, Congressman Guest serves as the Chairman of the Committee on Ethics. He is also a member of the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Homeland Security.

Original source can be found here.