Border security and enforcement is an important issue

As the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement, I hosted my first hearing on how the Biden-Harris administration’s failed border policies fueled a historic crisis at our Southwest border, which the Trump administration is now addressing with bold, long-awaited action.  It is an honor to serve as chairman of this subcommittee, and I look forward to working with President Trump to address the critical challenges facing our nation’s border security.  On Jan. 20, 2021, President Joe Biden was sworn into office and on that very same day, with a stroke of a pen, he issued executive orders dismantling years of robust border security measures implemented by the first Trump administration. The results were catastrophic.  We have often heard the phase, “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeated it.”

The policies we put in place today will shape the future and ensure that the failures of the Biden-Harris administration will never be repeated.   Although the Biden-Harris administration is no longer in the White House, its legacy left our nation’s border in tatters. It is the responsibility of Congress to uncover what happened, identify why it happened, and determine how we can work together to implement solutions to prevent a future border crisis. Over the course of four years, the Biden-Harris administration introduced sweeping policy changes that prioritized rapid processing and release of immigrants over security enforcement, thereby dismantling border security policies meant to deter illegal immigration and protect Americans from foreign threats abroad. The consequences were devastating—as we saw record levels of illegal immigration, a surge in crimes committed by transnational criminal organizations, and a weakening of national security.  

At the same time, the previous administration expanded the CBP One app and created mass parole programs to facilitate the illegal entry of inadmissible aliens into the United States. As a result, every state in America has now become a border state.  Violent criminal gangs infiltrated American communities and carried out heinous criminal acts, such as murder, rape, assault and robbery — which jeopardized the safety of all American citizens.  When President Trump took office this January, he and his administration wasted no time in reversing the failed policies of the Biden-Harris administration.  His administration immediately declared a national emergency at the Southwest border and took aggressive actions, such as deploying troops to assist and support DHS operations to regain operational control. The President also resumed border wall construction, ended Biden-era mass parole programs, and terminated the failed catch-and-release policy.   The results were seen almost immediately. By the end of February, Customs and Border Protection data revealed record-low apprehensions at the Southwest border, thanks to the change in policy. Illegal entries between ports of entry plummeted 94 percent compared to February 2024. Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ramped up its enforcement efforts and increased arrests of public safety threats by 627 percent.  One our hearing witnesses stated: “The bottom line is this did not have to happen, and we need to prevent it from happening again.”  We must do all we can to learn from the past to protect the safety and security of the American people and to ensure that failures of the past will never happen again.

— U.S. Rep. Michael Guest is Mississippi represents Mississippi's Third District in Congress.