Congress should not provide the Obama administration with any additional funding until it uses current resources to secure the border and confront illegal immigration, according to Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith.
“This isn’t a funding problem, it’s an enforcement problem. Rather than enforce our nation’s immigration laws, the President has chosen to ignore them. Instead, he continues to call for massive amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants,” Smith said.
Tuesday, President Obama submitted his emergency funding request to Congress – seeking $3.7 billion to deal with the ongoing influx of unaccompanied children and family units illegally entering the United States.
Since October, more than 52,000 unaccompanied children and 39,000 women with children have been detained illegally crossing the southern border. The vast majority are from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala – and come believing they will be allowed to remain in the United States.
“The President has no one to blame but himself for the current crisis on the Southern border. He granted amnesty to illegal immigrant minors by promising not to deport those brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents,” Smith said. “As a result, tens of thousands of illegal immigrants are now flooding across the border.”
According to Smith, if he believed Obama would secure the border, he would have no problem supplying the president with $3.7 billion. However, the Texas Republican believes Obama has shown he “cares more about the interests of illegal immigrants than of law-abiding citizens.”
“Congress shouldn’t give President Obama a single penny until we see him use the current resources to secure the border, increase interior enforcement, and reduce illegal immigration,” Smith concluded.
Smith is not the only one saying conditions must be met before Congress appropriates additional funding.
The reduced immigration group Numbers USA is calling on its supporters to call lawmakers on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and demand that, before they allocate the billions in additional funding Obama has requested, three conditions must be satisfied:
1) change the 2008 law so unaccompanied alien minors from noncontiguous countries are treated the same as those from Canada and Mexico,
2) no money is sent to foreign countries that refuse to take back their citizens, and
3) any extra funds should ONLY go to Border Patrol and ICE to stop the surge.
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