Fischer, Colleagues Introduce Senate Companion to House-Passed Secure the Border Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) recently co-led the introduction of the Secure the Border Act of 2023 in the Senate. The legislation, which is the most comprehensive border security legislation in decades, was already passed by the U.S. House of Representatives as H.R. 2.

The Secure the Border Act will resume construction on the wall, tighten asylum standards, criminalize visa overstays, increase the number of Border Patrol Agents, defund NGOs receiving tax dollars to help traffic illegal aliens throughout the heartland, and prohibit DHS from using its app to assist illegal aliens. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) led the introduction of the legislation.

“I’ve been to the southern border and seen the chaos there. It is nothing short of a humanitarian and national security crisis. Our legislation will force this administration to finally take steps to secure the border — like resuming construction of the border wall, ending catch-and-release, and reinstating President Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy. If President Biden won’t act to fix the crisis he has created, Congress must,” said Senator Fischer.

In addition to Senators Fischer and Cruz, the legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), JD Vance (R-Ohio), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), and John Kennedy (R-La.).

Background:

The Secure the Border Act enacts effective border security solutions, including:

  1. Requiring the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resume border wall construction
  2. Increasing the number of Border Patrol Agents
  3. Tightening asylum standards by restricting asylum to only aliens who present at ports of entry and by requiring aliens to prove they are “more likely than not” to qualify for their asylum claim
  4. Narrowing DHS’s power to unilaterally grant parole to illegal aliens
  5. Criminalizing visa overstays by making the first offense a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and the second offense a felony punishable by up to a $2,000 fine and up to two years imprisonment
  6. Stopping NGOs from using tax dollars to transport or lodge illegal aliens and provide illegal aliens with lawyers
  7. Restricting DHS from using its CBP One app to welcome illegal aliens into the country
  8. Requiring employers to use E-Verify
  9. Reversing the Biden administration’s adverse wage rule that would increase costs and create administrative burdens for American farmers using the H-2A
  10. Ensuring U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has access to the criminal history databases of all countries of origin and transit so that CBP is aware of the criminal history of illegal aliens encountered at the southern border

The full text of the Secure the Border Act is available here.