Joyce Spearheads Letter To Governor Wolf Urging National Guard Support Be Offered To Address Crisis At Southern Border
Congressman John Joyce (PA-13) today lead a group of Pennsylvania lawmakers in a letter to Governor Tom Wolf to request that Pennsylvania's chief executive offer President Trump the support of the commonwealth's National Guard for the purposes of addressing the crisis on the southern border. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (PA-14) , Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-11), Rep. Scott Perry (PA-10), and Rep. Mike Kelly (PA-16) joined Joyce in making the request.
The letter to Wolf comes on the heels of a House Committee on Homeland security hearing Wednesday where Secretary Kevin McAleenan testified to Joyce that the National Guard has been "absolutely essential in helping maintain the DHS border security mission." McAleenan also stated that expanding the National Guard's presence at the southern border is "absolutely an option that DHS is considering" in order to combat the ongoing crisis.
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"While I had a number of takeaways from my recent visit to the southern border, it is clear that a major obstacle that our law enforcement officials are facing is a lack of manpower," said Congressman Joyce. "Border Patrol agents are spending far too much time on humanitarian and administrative tasks, which is hindering their ability to apprehend dangerous individuals such as drug smugglers and cartel members. Pennsylvania's National Guard could provide Border Patrol agents with the support necessary to free them up to spend more time catching persons of interest. While the crisis at our southern border can only be resolved by fixing the loopholes in our immigration laws that are perpetuating it, an immediate surge in manpower at the border is absolutely necessary while Congress continues to work through long-term legislative solutions."
"Due to years of insufficient resources and irregular enforcement, illegal immigration and the crisis at our southern border continue to escalate," added Congressman Reschenthaler. "Our citizens, legal immigrants, and all those who respect our generous immigration policies deserve better than the status quo. Those of us in local, state, and federal government need to work together to solve this security and humanitarian crisis. I hope Governor Wolf joins this effort by providing Pennsylvania's National Guard troops to assist overwhelmed border patrol agents at our southern border."
"There's very clearly a crisis on our southern border and it's critical for our Border Patrol agents to have all the assistance necessary to secure it," said Congressman Smucker. "By providing additional personnel to CBP, Pennsylvania's National Guard would be a tremendous help for CBP agents to gain operational control of our southern border."
"The Border Patrol, along with bipartisan and humanitarian groups, as well as the majority of Americans recognize the crisis along our Southern Border," Congressman Perry added. "We're simply asking the Governor to put aside politics, uphold the precedent, and do what's best for our National security."
"Border Patrol agents have told me they lack the resources to address the crisis at our southern border," said Congressman Kelly. "Migrants are pouring over the U.S.-Mexico border. We have been told that apprehensions could reach one million by year's end, double the amount last year. The Department of Homeland Security announced it is likely to exhaust its resources by the end of September. I implore Governor Wolf to join the other governors who have lent support to the border security effort to help fulfill his and our most important duty as elected officials: to protect American citizens."
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In April, more than 109,000 undocumented immigrants crossed the border. Around 98,000 of those 109,000 migrants were apprehended between ports of entry. On March 26th, U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained more than 4,100 migrants in one day, the highest such total in a decade.
Experts from both political parties have confirmed that illegal immigration has created an emergency at the southern border. Former Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Kirstjen Nielsen likened the situation to a category five hurricane. Kevin McLennan, Acting Secretary of DHS, has called it a "breaking point." Former Secretary of DHS Jeh Johnson has described the southern border as, "truly in a crisis."
President Trump has also stated that he needs additional manpower at the southern border to gain control of the current situation, and may call for additional troops to be deployed there.
The purpose of the letter signed by Joyce, Reschenthaler, Smucker, Perry, and Kelly is to address a tweet from Governor Wolf from July 19, 2018 in which he preemptively stated that he would not honor any requests to send Pennsylvania National Guard troops to the southern border. The lawmakers wrote to Wolf to make sure, in light of this current crisis, that he does not still hold that position and to make sure he has not refused any requests to date to send Pennsylvania National Guard troops to the border. If Wolf has not yet fielded such a request from the Trump administration, Joyce, Reschenthaler, Smucker, Perry, and Kelly are asking Wolf to proactively offer those resources.
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In order to offer a more permanent solution to the crisis on the southern border, Joyce recently cosponsored The Fix the Immigration Loopholes Act, (H.R. 586), which does the following:
- Fixes the Flores settlement to allow children and parents to be sheltered together in custody
- Keeps children safe by prohibiting DHS from releasing a child into the custody of any person besides a parent or legal guardian
- Ensures unaccompanied alien children can be quickly and safely returned home
- Strengthens the asylum system by tightening the ?credible fear' standard
A link to the full letter can be found HERE and the text is also pasted below and McAleenan's full exchange with Joyce at Wednesday's Homeland Security hearing can be viewed HERE.
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