I just returned from the U.S.-Mexico border. What I saw should trouble us all. | Opinion

I recently returned from a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas. This was the second trip I have taken there as a congressman, and it was the most disturbing. During our visit, a group of migrants waded through the Rio Grande River and crossed into the U.S., right in front of 60 Members of Congress and hundreds of local, state, and federal officers and military members. Those crossing clearly had no apprehension in doing so.

Our immigration system is profoundly broken, and we are seeing the worst border crisis on record in U.S. Customs and Border Patrol history as a result. In November 2023, over 240,000 people crossed the southern border and over 8 million border crossings have taken place since President Biden took office. The consequences of a nonexistent border are present from every angle as humans fall subject to the most brutal treatment by cartels. More than 85,000 unaccompanied minors are unaccounted for as of April 2023. During my visit, Border Patrol agents shared that they estimate that number to now be over 100,000, and communities are forced to drain their resources to account for increased crime and homelessness due to the migrants residing within our borders.

(Editor's Note:U.S. Customs and Border Protection defines border crossings as "encounters" that include U.S. Border Patrol Title 8 Apprehensions, Office of Field Operations Title 8 Inadmissibles, and Title 42 Expulsions. In writing about claims about the border and immigration system, PolitiFact has reported that crossing data represents events not people, noting "if the same person tries crossing the border different times, each time is counted as a separate encounter." In addition, "encounters" data does not include the number of people returned. For example, "there were more than 3.6 million expulsions, removals and returns from the U.S. from February 2021 to September 2023, according to the Department of Homeland Security," PolitiFact reports.)

PolitiFact: Claim that “Biden’s let in 8 million people just in four years" rated mostly false

Border security is national security, and the current vetting process puts Americans’ safety at significant risk. When a person crosses the border and cannot provide any physical identification, they are asked to verbally provide a name, birthdate, and country of origin. If the information provided is not found in Border Patrol’s databases, our government accepts this information as their true identity and issues them an identification card, further cementing this potentially false identity.

President Biden's border policies have created humanitarian crisis

President Biden’s border policies have also created a humanitarian crisis. It is deeply troubling that there are over 100,000 unaccompanied minors who have crossed the border and simply disappeared. The reason we are unable to locate these children is multifold, including the volume of children, poor identification methods, and the lack of response from the children’s stated sponsors.

We can put an end to the crisis at our border. The most obvious policy change that would have an immediate, positive effect on reducing illegal border crossings, is to reinstate the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy. ‘Remain in Mexico’, officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols, requires people who are seeking asylum in the U.S. to stay in Mexico until their U.S. immigration court date. The policy was initially terminated by President Biden on his first day in office, and according to the Border Patrol agents we spoke to, reinstating it would reduce illegal crossings by 70%. ‘Remain in Mexico’ was a Trump-era program that was removed when Biden took office, and the Biden administration can reinstate it.

We also must hold Mexico financially responsible for its non-existent attempts to mitigate illegal border crossings. During discussions with Eagle Pass officials, we were informed that when the rail traffic that runs from Mexico to Eagle Pass was temporarily shut down in early December 2023, illegal crossings went from more than 1,500 per day to less than 200. These closures were implemented due to increased migrant traffic that required customs personnel to shift responsibilities toward assisting Border Patrol agents in other areas along the southern border. Consequently, the halted rail traffic not only lowered the number of migrants attempting to enter the U.S., but also cost the Mexican government approximately $50 million in lost economic revenue each day it was closed.

I acknowledge the adverse effects of halting U.S.-Mexico rail traffic for both parties, but if the Biden administration is looking for a policy that would deliver immediate results, this is one way to accomplish that.

Small communities struggling to deal with migrant influx

It is also imperative to adhere to the U.S. democratic process and that American citizens are duly represented. Smaller communities struggle to deal with the unprecedented influx of migrants placed in them by the federal government due to minimal coordination with local community members and governments. To prevent this, if any foreign nationals illegally entering the U.S. is to be released into the country, they should be transported to formally self-declared sanctuary cities, and only those cities. The current “system” of releasing migrants by the hundreds and thousands into non-designated sanctuary cities places tremendous economic, housing, health care, educational, and public safety strains that smaller communities cannot manage. By requiring their placement to be only in sanctuary cities who are willing to accept them, we protect the overall well being of our small and rural communities.

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The national security and humanitarian implications of our overrun southern border have come to a head, and we can no longer expect local and state governments to clean up the Biden Administration’s mess. The current immigration system in place is broken – from the initial point of entry to the settling of these individuals into communities around the country.

There are simple solutions, as I have laid out, that can be implemented to significantly reduce the mass migration of illegal immigrants. However, the House of Representatives has already passed a comprehensive immigration package that includes many of the recommendations I mentioned. The Secure the Border Act of 2023, which passed the House last year, is the strongest border security package in American history and would provide the Biden administration with the necessary policies to fix our borders. It includes strengthening current law to protect unaccompanied children from human trafficking, end the catch-and-release protocol that permits people to reside in the U.S. while they await their asylum hearing, streamline the asylum process, and increase the number of Border Patrol agents and technology at the southern border so our resources are not stretched so thin that this crisis remains unmanageable.

It’s time for Biden and his administration work with House Republicans to put an end to this crisis once and for all.

Derrick Van Orden, a Republican, represents Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District in the House of Representatives. He was first elected in November 2022.