Reps. Slotkin and Spanberger (VA-07): “While you inherited this problem, it is now your responsibility – with necessary help from Congress – to address our broken immigration system.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. –– In a new letter sent this week to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and White House Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice, U.S. Reps. Elissa Slotkin (MI-08) and Abigail Spanberger (VA-07) urged the Biden administration to delay lifting Title 42 until a comprehensive plan is ready to “address the inevitable migration surge” at the U.S. southern border.
“We are concerned about how DHS will contend with an increase of people – including children and families – that will more than triple the department's capacity without ample and robust planning,” the Representatives wrote. “And while the administration gave itself two months to prepare, what has been shared with us to date seems like too little, too late – especially when the removal of Title 42 will occur at the same time that a spike in seasonal migration occurs.”
Slotkin and Spanberger – both national security professionals who served in the CIA – recommended that the administration also expand options for “in-country immigration processing in Central America” to make applying for legal status outside the U.S. a viable option and to free up resources for asylum seekers at the border. The Congresswomen also reiterated the need for the administration and Congress to work together on comprehensive immigration reform that will secure the border in the long-term while also making legal immigration – tied to the U.S.’s economic needs – easier.
Slotkin has been a staunch advocate for securing our border and reforming the U.S.’s outdated immigration laws. In the 116th and 117th Congresses, Slotkin introduced the bipartisan INTEL At Our Borders Act, which would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to apply cutting edge technology to help secure the border. The legislation was endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council and the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Original source can be found here.
