Our own Senator John Cornyn and Texas Representative Henry Cuellar have proposed a new bipartisan bill. They call it the HUMANE Act. Its purpose is to help address the crisis at our southern border. The bill improves the asylum process and border security by fixing loopholes, establishing regional processing centers, hiring more DHS personnel and immigration judges, and more.
Cornyn said we are on the “brink of collapse,” at the border. “It has now gone from a humanitarian and security crisis to full blown system failure,” he said.
This bill is partially in response to outcries from Texas business owners negatively impacted by congested truck traffic delays of up to 10 hours while attempting to legally cross our southern ports of entry. These delays are occurring because there are not enough officers to effectively facilitate the flow of legal goods and people crossing between and at ports of entry.
In a letter sent to Senators Cornyn and Cruz, members of the San Antonio and San Antonio Hispanic Chambers of Commerce wrote that exporters are losing $800 million a day in truck delay costs. These delays also result in higher prices for American consumers of Mexican goods like fruits and vegetables, 40 percent of which are imported from Mexico. An average of $1.7 billion in goods crosses the US-Mexico border every day.
“Any delay should not be tolerated. Ports of entry between the United States and Mexico should be fully staffed. The continued delays should not be felt on the backs of the international trade community and passed down to the consumer. Full cooperation is needed to avoid this issue becoming an international crisis impacting our economy,” said leaders of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. I agree!
Congress needs to allocate the resources for DHS to do its job. Cornyn’s bill would be a great step toward addressing the humanitarian, security, and economic problems occurring at the border.
Meanwhile, Republican senators met Tuesday to discuss the immigration plan that Jared Kushner has been working on for the Trump Administration. Reportedly, the plan will focus on reforming the legal immigration system to allow people to come in based on their skills.
These are both good steps towards fixing our broken immigration system. We will also need a solution for the undocumented workers who are already here. To earn their legal status, they should be required to provide a positive ID, pass a criminal background check, provide proof of employment and proof of US residency for at least five years, learn English, and work only for employers that deduct and match taxes.
Please continue contacting your lawmakers to let them know you support the HUMANE Act and sensible immigration policy.
May God bless you, and may He continue to bless America.