GOP lawmakers focus on border and crime, as bipartisan group introduces the Dignity Act
WASHINGTON (TND) — It hasn’t even been a year since 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton was found strangled to death in the mobile home she shared with her boyfriend.
The suspect, who was 16-years-old at the time, was not arrested until months later. Upon detainment, police discovered he was an undocumented migrant and suspected MS-13 gang member from El Salvador.
During a hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday, Tammy Nobles, the mother of the victim, talked about her daughter and the horrors of her murder.
I don’t want any other parent to live the nightmare that I am living," she said.
Nobles blamed her daughter's death on the unsecured border and the administration's lax border policies which allowed the suspect – who was detained as an unaccompanied minor at the border but then released to a relative – to roam freely in a country struggling to reach consensus on border policy.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., said under the Biden Administration the country has “an acceptance of weakness that has turned public parks, police stations and school gymnasium into makeshift shelters."
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement hearing focused on the ongoing border crisis, especially in the wake of the end of Title 42, specifically the vetting of undocument migrants as well as an alleged surge of cartel members and other criminals wreaking havoc in the country.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 212 people on the Terror Watchlist have been caught between ports of entry in the last two years, compared just 14 while President Trump was in office
One witness at the hearing, Rodney Scott, the former chief of U.S. Border Patrol, said, "In my professional assessment, the U.S. Border Patrol has lost the ability to know who and what is entering our homeland.
The former Acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Mark Morgan, said that with so many border agents forced to work on processing, much of the border is left unsecured, leading to more and more repeat offenders .
"Once you get into this country illegally – part of the 1.7 million total getaways – this secretary has said, 'You're not going to be a priority.' Being here illegally is not enough to remove you so they are going to keep trying because chances are they are going to succeed," Morgan told The National Desk in an interview Tuesday.
Democrats insist the hearing was called in an effort to pander to Republican grievances, since GOP lawmakers have so far been unwilling to strike a deal on immigration.
"They don't want to solve the problem, that’s not worth anything to them politically they want to stoke fear," said Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers did introduce new immigration legislation today called The Dignity Act, which provides billions of dollars for border security. It also seeks to establish humanitarian campuses for asylum seekers to stay, while they are waiting no more than 60 days to have their claims heard and allows those who have been here for five years to remain for seven more ,if they work and pay additional taxes and fees.
