Biden's Border Crisis

by Rick Crawford: Last week, the House voted on H.R. 6, the Dream and Promise Act of 2021. On top of providing a pathway to legal status for millions of individuals who are currently living in the United States illegally, H.R. 6 will cost American taxpayers billions. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that last Congress that the bill would increase budget deficits by $34.6 billion over ten years. This bill expands the scope of green card eligibility, increasing the cost while using taxpayer dollars to incentivize illegal immigration. It would also create a taxpayer-funded grant program to help individuals apply for green cards, and it expands green card availability to criminals. The bill’s green card provisions apply to gang members, those who committed potentially serious crimes as juveniles, those with multiple DUI convictions, and those with misdemeanor firearms-related convictions.

The House also voted on H.R. 1603, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. This legislation acknowledges the many problems with the H-2A temporary worker program, but it doesn’t come close to fixing the problems. To counter this flawed legislation, I introduced my own H-2A bill called the AGRI Act that would completely repeal the H-2A program and replace it with the AGRI Program. Under the AGRI Act, seasonality requirements will be broadened and the dependence on the Adverse Effect Wage Rate will be changed, similarly to the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. However, the AGRI Program would allow employers to offer market-based contracts and wages while the Farm Workforce Modernization Act simply caps the wage increases. The AGRI Act replaces E-Verify and requires DHS to provide guest workers with a traceable, biometric ID card. Most importantly, the AGRI Act does NOT offer a path to legal residency, something my Democrat colleagues are pushing with H.R. 1603. Instead, it tightens enforcement so workers do not look for other jobs, and it requires workers to return to their country of origin for one month following every 10 months of labor. It incentivizes workers to return after their contract term by making the employee’s portion of FICA contributions refundable at the U.S. consulate in the worker’s country of origin.

Both H.R. 6 and H.R. 1603 would guarantee to spur additional illegal immigration and provide a pathway to legal status for millions of individuals who live in the U.S. illegally. The bill I introduced does not create a pathway to citizenship or provide amnesty. A pathway to citizenship already exists, and the legislation we voted on this week cheapens what other people have gone through to become U.S. citizens. These bills come at a time when data and evidence have proven our Southern border is in full-blown crisis and is seeing the largest surge in illegal immigration in two decades. There have been accounts of unaccompanied children crossing the border while holding hands, fentanyl traffickers exploiting the surge in illegal immigration, and apprehended migrants appearing on the terrorist watch list. President Biden and Congress must prioritize fixing our broken systems and our crisis at the border. I urge President Biden to acknowledge the crisis, finish the construction of the border wall, and fix our broken immigration and asylum systems.
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U.S. Congressman Rick Crawford represents Arkansas 1st District.

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