Jamiesfeast – Texas Representative Dan Crenshaw expressed his disappointment on Thursday towards fellow Republicans who seemed to be forsaking a bipartisan border bill in order to please former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 GOP.
Speaking with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Crenshaw expressed his deep disappointment in the peculiar tactics employed by many on the right to thwart a potential border reform bill.
Crenshaw emphasized the importance of staying true to our promises to voters. He stated that if we have a bill that effectively reduces illegal immigration, it would be contradictory to sabotage it.
House Republicans have been pressing Congress for months to address the crisis along the U.S. southern border with Mexico. However, it seems that many conservative lawmakers are not in favor of the $106 billion bipartisan bill proposed by a coalition of senators after weeks of negotiations. House Speaker Mike Johnson has expressed his opposition to the current deal, stating that it is “dead on arrival” in his chamber, as hardliners believe it falls short in effectively curbing illegal immigration.
Trump has been encouraging Republicans to reject any border bill that falls short of being “perfect” before the upcoming November elections. There are concerns that certain conservative lawmakers are opposing the current bill, which President Joe Biden has characterized as the most stringent and equitable set of border reforms in U.S. history, with the aim of supporting Trump’s reelection campaign. Johnson finds the idea of House leadership discussing the border proposal with Trump to be “absurd.”
“There are likely numerous reasons that people will conjure up,” Crenshaw stated to reporters, alluding to lawmakers’ opposition to the deal. “However, neglecting your duty in such a manner would be highly unacceptable.”
During his first term in office, the Texas lawmaker showed his support for Trump. However, he has since diverged from the former president on various matters.
Johnson’s office and Trump’s campaign were contacted for comment by Newsweek via email on Thursday evening.
As part of the current border deal, President Biden would be granted the power to close the U.S. border in the event of overwhelming circumstances. In a recent statement, the former president expressed his intention to exercise this authority immediately upon signing the bill into law.
The president emphasized the need for Congress to allocate the funding he requested in October to enhance border security. He specifically highlighted the requirement for an additional 1,300 border patrol agents, 375 immigration judges, 1,600 asylum officers, and over 100 state-of-the-art inspection machines. These resources are crucial in detecting and preventing the entry of fentanyl at our southwest border.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has shared data indicating a steady rise in the number of encounters along the U.S. southern border in the past few months. In December alone, there were over 300,000 reported encounters.