Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) serves as the top Republican, or the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Sen. Inhofe is a proud Oklahoman and long-time resident of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
While our country is in the most threatened position in American history, Sen. Inhofe remains committed to rebuilding our military from the readiness crisis and addressing the growing threats from our enemies. As the Chairman for the Senate Armed Services Committee, he plays a key role in ensuring that our military has the best equipment, training and resources necessary to meet our nation’s diverse security challenges.
I was a builder and developer in south Texas for 20 years and know the situation we face at the border. After visiting it regularly for the last five years, I know the situation is getting worse. That’s why we need to build a wall to secure our southern border. I’ve introduced the WALL Act, the only legislation to fully pay for the construction of the wall by closing loopholes that allow illegal immigrants to receive federal benefits and increasing minimum fines on illegal border crossers.
Under the failed Biden border policies, Border patrol is completely inundated. Reports indicate that nearly all border patrol sectors are above 100 percent capacity, with some sectors double, triple or even at significantly higher levels of overcapacity.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Former President Donald Trump understood that border security is national security. He took real steps to secure the border by building the wall and made enforcing our immigration laws a priority. As a result, illegal crossings in the Yuma Sector decreased by 87% from fiscal year 2019 to fiscal year 2020 in areas with a new border wall system. In Rio Grande Valley Zone 1, an area that did not previously have border infrastructure, U.S. Customs and Border Protection saw a 79% decrease in apprehensions and a 26% decrease in narcotics seizures after completion of the border wall.
We need to get back to building the wall along the southern border, and we also need to close the loopholes that illegal aliens use to come into this country. Smugglers and illegal aliens use false claims of asylum to gain entry to the United States. That must be stopped.
By reforming our asylum process, we can minimize false asylum claims, ease the backlog on our immigration courts and end “catch and release” — all while improving the process for those who truly need it. That’s why I introduced the Asylum Abuse Reduction Act.
My legislation is just one part of many actions we must take to improve our nation’s border security. Paired with building the wall, increasing support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection and eliminating sanctuary cities, we can make meaningful reform to improve our immigration process and protect American families.