Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) sent a clear message to illegal aliens on Thursday, warning them that President Joe Biden’s wide-open border will be slammed shut again if former President Donald Trump returns to office.
Nehls introduced the Accountability Through Deportation (ATD) Act, a bill that would impose real consequences on aliens attempting to evade law enforcement and disappear into the U.S. interior.
Under current law, if an alien fails to comply with terms of release from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) custody and absconds, the DHS must expend resources to locate the alien and then wait until the alien is ordered removed by an immigration judge before deporting the alien. Nehls’ bill would require immigration judges to order aliens who have failed to comply with the terms of their immigration release to be removed.
Nehls’ straightforward two-page bill would force the Biden administration to abide by successful Trump administration policies.
“President Trump’s border policy was only to release aliens at the Southwest Border under ‘very exigent circumstances,’” Nehls said in a statement to Breitbart News. “Under the failed leadership of Joe Biden, more than 7.8 million illegal aliens have entered the U.S. through our porous southern border, and, subsequently, many of them have been released from custody, often without proper monitoring, and disappear into American communities.
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“Until President Trump is back in the White House, we must ensure that the illegal aliens who fail to comply with their release are removed at all costs. Illegal aliens are on notice — if you fail to comply, we will find you, and you will be deported.”
Nehls’ office says DHS officers were dealing with a docket of more than 6.2 million aliens at the end of Fiscal Year 2023, the vast majority of them non-detained. His bill will assist them in dealing with this overwhelming caseload by ensuring that there will be serious ramifications for any alien who willfully impedes immigration enforcement and absconds.
The ATD Act builds off of legislation introduced by Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), the Reshape ATD Act, which would help law enforcement track immigrants. That bill, which Nehls cosponsored along with more than a dozen other Republicans, requires the utilization of both biometric technology and GPS technology to ensure that law enforcement can pinpoint the exact location of illegal aliens.
Nehls’ approach toward illegal immigration is far different than Biden’s. On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is bringing forward a pro-migration bill that failed earlier in 2024 as part of a broader deal to unlock tens of millions of dollars in foreign aid.
That bill is certain to fail once again, but the stand-alone vote gives vulnerable Democrats up for reelection cover in a year in which the threats from Biden’s border crisis continue to rank among Americans’ top concerns.
Nehls is considered one of Trump’s fiercest allies on Capitol Hill. In May, he appeared outside a Manhattan courtroom, where Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump is wrapping up, sporting a tie plastered with Trump’s iconic defiant mugshot.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.