Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is introducing legislation to halt President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from issuing photo identification (ID) cards to migrants arriving at the southern border and subsequently being released into American communities.
DHS officials confirmed in May that the agency will begin implementing the Secure Docket Card program in the summer, offering photo IDs to thousands of migrants who cross the United States-Mexico border and are released into the U.S. interior.
In response, Hawley has introduced the “No Taxpayer Funds for Illegal Immigrant Identity Cards Act” to prevent taxpayer money from being used to fund DHS-issued photo IDs for migrants.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“Joe Biden opened the border and ushered in an era of unprecedented chaos in the U.S.,” Hawley said in a statement:
Now, rather than getting the crisis under control, he wants to use Americans’ money to fund ID cards for illegals. Enough. Biden should be deporting illegal immigrants and securing our border — not giving them IDs and making it easier for them to take advantage of taxpayer benefits. [Emphasis added]
In addition to blocking the DHS from using taxpayer money to issue photo IDs to migrants, Hawley’s legislation would require the agency’s inspector general to publicly disclose all costs associated with the program.
As far back as 2022, when Biden’s DHS first began developing the program, Hawley started sounding the alarm over migrants reportedly using arrest warrants, deportation orders, and Notices to Appear (NTAs) to get through TSA screenings at U.S. airports.
“This policy subverts the rule of law and should be rescinded immediately,” Hawley wrote to Biden’s top TSA officials.
The DHS’s photo ID program, once fully rolled out, is likely to benefit tens of thousands of migrants every few weeks who are released into the U.S. interior. Andrew Arthur with the Center for Immigration Studies has previously noted that migrants arriving at the border have about a 70 to 90 percent chance of being freed into American communities.
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John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.