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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Jim Risch (R-ID) published a report titled, “Biden’s Border Crisis: Examining Policies that Encourage Illegal Migration.” The report highlights the ways in which the Biden Administration is undermining U.S. efforts to stop the flow of illegal migration, enforce immigration laws, and jeopardizing U.S. security.

Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Rob Portman (R-OH), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Todd Young (R-IN), Mike Rounds (R-SD), and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) also signed the report. 

 
“For the first time in modern American history, our southern border is no longer controlled by the U.S. government – it is controlled by cartels,” Rubio said. “The Biden Administration’s woke priorities and strategy of appeasement are encouraging mass migration and emboldening dictators in the region. This is a national security threat, and it must be immediately addressed.”
 
“Illegal migration to the United States has reached record-breaking levels since the Biden Administration entered office,” Risch said. “In order to protect U.S. security and regional stability, it’s time the administration establish sound immigration controls within the United States and build political will and capacity in Mexico and the northern Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Our report offers concrete recommendations to address the root causes of illegal migration and to achieve safety and security at our U.S. southern border and the region at large.”
 
Key findings of the report include:

• President Biden has reversed important Trump-era reforms that effectively addressed illegal migration, and reinstated failed Obama-era policies. These policies are undermining U.S. efforts to build effective law enforcement and asylum processing mechanisms across Mexico and northern Central America, leading to the highest number of migrants attempting to illegally enter the United States in history.
• Transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) benefit from and prolong the illegal migration crisis by facilitating and profiting off the smuggling and trafficking of migrants, or by victimizing vulnerable people along the dangerous journey to the United States.
• The governments of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras are falling short on their own domestic and international obligations to address transnational organized crime and illegal migration issues, putting U.S. security at risk. The Biden Administration should seek to enforce these obligations, including the agreements the Trump Administration made with these countries.

 
Key recommendations of the report include:

• Establish effective immigration controls in the United States:
  • Extend Title 42 until the end of the COVID-19 health emergency.
  • Reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols and Asylum Cooperative Agreements.
• Strengthen border security and migration management capacities in the region:
  • Target U.S. assistance in Mexico and northern Central America towards strengthening the capacity, funding, and staffing of migration management and law enforcement agencies in those countries.
• Target TCO human smuggling and trafficking:
  • Leverage existing bilateral extradition treaties to prosecute transnational criminal actors facilitating illegal migration to the United States.