From the Lone Star State, Senator Ted Cruz (R) has been on the frontlines of the U.S. border debacle between Republicans and Democrats.
As tension has heightened between both sides of the aisle, Senator Cruz has now directed a letter to Kevin McAleenan, the acting Secretary of the DHS, calling for the Department of Homeland Security to reimburse Texas border communities for their efforts to secure the border.
In the letter, Senator Cruz argues that “for decades, Congress has failed to fully secure our southern border which has invited hundreds of thousands of illegal crossings per month.”
He explained that “this is placing a substantial burden on border communities in Texas who are absorbing much of that overflow.”
As well, “local governments have risen to this great challenge… yet they are worse positioned than the Department of Homeland Security and the federal government to meet these needs, and lack the capability to absorb a large influx.”
Furthermore, the Texas Senator stressed that “necessity has compelled Texas border communities to assist you in your efforts to secure our border and deal fairly and humanely with those who have entered into the United States: two-thirds of apprehensions so far in this fiscal year have occurred in El Paso, Del Rio, and Rio Grande Valley.”
Cruz then concluded that McAleenan should “take all possible steps to ensure that the burden of paying for this crisis does not fall disproportionately on those border communities.”
Since President Trump’s election, his hard-line stance on immigration has drawn contention from Democrats, and Republicans have maintained that there is a crisis at the border that needs to be resolved.
However, as the measures are taken to combat the concern, Texas lawmakers are making sure that the burden does not fall on the constituents.
