James Comer: “Oversight and Reform Committee Republicans witnessed firsthand the crisis on the border after the southern border trip I…”

“Oversight and Reform Committee Republicans witnessed firsthand the crisis on the border after the southern border trip I led earlier this month. By pushing blanket amnesty and eroding interior enforcement, President Biden has now signaled to the world that our laws can be violated with little to no consequence. In 2021, over 2 million apprehensions of illegal immigrants were made. This is the most ever recorded by U.S. Border Patrol. In fact, I want to quote Punchbowl News because they really put it into perspective yesterday morning when they reported: ``According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, during the past 3 weeks, the agency has `encountered an average of 7,800 migrants per day across the southwest border. This compares to a historical average of 1,600 per day in the prepandemic years,' a roughly 480 percent increase.'' The surge of illegal immigrants is overwhelming the Department of Homeland Security. As a result, DHS was forced to release hundreds of thousands of these illegal border crossers into the United States. Catch and release does not work. It only encourages more illegal immigration. The numbers we have don't even account for illegal immigrants who have evaded capture entirely. That number is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. The situation only gets worse when we look at how much fentanyl and other deadly drugs are being smuggled across the border by cartels.…”