Members of the Republican Study Committee's Steering Committee voted to endorse a slate of border security policies this week as part of a future House border package, including ending catch-and-release and immediately expelling migrants who cross the border illegally.
"Each day the House of Representatives does not take action to secure the border is another day in which the Biden administration perpetuates the national security and humanitarian calamity it has created at our southern border," the RSC Steering Committee, which is made up of 18 GOP leaders, said in a press release.
"Since Biden took office, there have been over 4 million apprehensions at the southwest border. Beyond the legal crisis is the humanitarian one. In 2021, drug related deaths in America rose above 100,000 for the first time in American history," RSC Chairman Rep. Kevin Hern said in a statement.
The policies include restoring operational control of the border, asylum reform, ending incentives for illegal immigration, border infrastructure and combatting cartels.
The RSC statement was released a day after the head of the U.S. Border Patrol told lawmakers the agency doesn't have operational control of the U.S. southern border.
U.S. Border Patrol chief Raul Ortiz, speaking at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing in McAllen, Texas, was asked by Chairman Mark Green about Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' claims last year that DHS has operational control of the border.
"Does DHS have operational control of our entire border?" asked Green.
"No sir," Ortiz responded.
Hern in a statement slammed the Biden administration for creating the crisis at the southern border.
"RSC's Steering Committee unequivocally condemns the Biden Administration's dereliction of duty and stands ready to advance proven conservative policies that combat cartels, secure the border, and enforce the immigration laws already on the books," he said.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.