This Issue: GOP Presidential Hopefuls make opening pitches on how they would deal with the border crisis

Fri, Aug. 25^th

The 2024 presidential election season officially kicked off this week with the first GOP debate, featuring 8 of the Republican presidential hopefuls. Former Pres. Donald Trump skipped the debate, citing his large lead in the polls over the rest of the field.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much discussion on immigration despite one of the worst border crises in history. Earlier this week, the official border numbers for July were released by the Department of Homeland Security and showed a 33% increase in Border Patrol apprehensions compared to June. Border Patrol agents made 134,074 arrests in July compared to 100,611 in June.

Illegal aliens who showed up at a port of entry also increased slightly to a new high of 111,212. Overall, the number of total encounters along the Southwest border is the highest number recorded in July under the Biden Administration.

While most of the discussion centered around securing the border rather than stopping the flood of illegal aliens heading to the U.S.-Mexico border, former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Governor did discuss how they would deal with the illegal border crossers.

We secured the Southern border of the United States of America and reduced illegal immigration and asylum abuse by 90 percent...

I was negotiating on Capitol Hill around the clock. I negotiated the Remain-in-Mexico policy on behalf of the president of the United States...

It's because we used economic pressure to bring the Mexicans to the table, and they allowed us to have people wait in Mexico while they applied for asylum and ended asylum abuse overnight.

-- Mike Pence

Christie said how he would handle the millions of illegal aliens who have been released into American communities by the Biden Administration.

The first thing we need to do is to stop any more from coming. That's the first thing we need to do. Then, the next thing we need to do with the folks that are here is to, again, as we've talked about all night, tonight, we have to have one order in this country, we have to enforce the law. And what that means is to make sure that people who come here illegally are not rewarded for being here illegally...

DEBATE MODERATOR MARTHA MACCALLUM: Just to clarify, would you send those people back?

CHRISTIE: Of course. You'd have to.

Both businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suggested that, if elected, they would focus more on securing the Southern border than assisting Ukraine.

I think that we have to put the interests of Americans first. Secure our own border instead of somebody else's. And the reality is this is also how we project strength and making America strong at home.

-- Vivek Ramaswamy

I am going to declare it a national emergency. I'm not going to send troops to Ukraine, but I am going to send them to our Southern border.

When these drug pushers are bringing fentanyl across the border, that's going to be the last thing they do. We're going to use force and we're going to leave them stone-cold dead.

-- Ron DeSantis

The rest of the responses also focused on sending more resources to the border.

There's only 19,855 authorized people for the Border Patrol. But they're not all staffed, because the Biden administration doesn't enforce law enforcement.

But the Biden administration wanted to put 87,000 people in the IRS, as opposed to giving the money and the support we need to our own Border Patrol.

-- North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum

I just left Yuma, Arizona, about two weeks ago. The most pressing need of the American people from a national security standpoint is our Southern border. It has led to the death of 70,000 Americans because of fentanyl, plus six million illegal crossings since President Biden has taken office. And 200 people on our national security watch list have been caught at our border?

How many have not been caught at our Southern border? If we just spend $10 billion, we could finish the wall. For $5 billion more, we could have the military-grade technology to surveil our Southern border to stop the flow of fentanyl and save 70,000 Americans a year.

That should be the priority of this government. And, as the next president of the United States, I will make that border wall complete.

-- South Carolina U.S. Senator Tim Scott

The immigration issue ranks as one of top three issues in most polls for Republican voters, and yet, the issue received little time on the debate stage compared to the economy, abortion, foreign policy, and climate change. Hopefully, we'll see more time spent on both the border crisis and legal immigration policy during the next GOP debate on Sept. 27 hosted by Fox Business.

ChRIS CHMIELENSKI

The Telegraph: NumbersUSA CEO James Massa had an op-ed published, discussing uncontrolled immigration.

Americans have been waiting for "comprehensive immigration reform" since 1986, when President Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to most illegal immigrants in the country -- roughly 3 million at the time -- in exchange for lawmakers' promises to secure the border and penalize employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers.

Congress quickly reneged on those promises. Four decades and eight amnesties later, the border has never been less secure, with employers continuing to hire illegal workers with near impunity. In such circumstances, it's no surprise that the illegal immigrant population has ballooned to roughly 12 million...

Better immigration policy is possible and very much needed. Yet both political parties have failed to deliver reforms that promote economic fairness for American workers, especially the most vulnerable in our society, while safeguarding our natural resources for future generations.

Read the full op-ed here

The Washington Times: NumbersUSA Director of Government Relations Rosemary Jenks commented on states who allow illegal aliens to obtain jobs, including jobs in law enforcement.

"The whole thing is lunacy," said Rosemary Jenks, vice president at NumbersUSA, which lobbies for stricter immigration controls.

"We know nothing -- literally nothing -- about these people other than what they told us. We don't even know if they're giving us their real names, and if they have a criminal record back home, they're definitely not giving us their real names. So how are you going to vet people?" she asked.

NumbersUSA Revs Up State E-Verify Efforts

ANDREW GOOD

Fri, Aug. 25^th

As part of NumbersUSA's expanding push on states to take action to combat the huge increase in illegal immigration, our National Conference of State Legislatures exhibit centered on E-Verify. With a successful effort in Florida to expand the use of E-Verify, there's a growing momentum in state capitols across the country.

Border Numbers Back Near Record Highs

Fri, Aug. 25^th

The Biden Administration's lax to non-existent border policies imported nearly 250,000 illegal aliens during July - "bumping up the annual immigrant inflow to nearly one migrant for every American birth."

Industries Crying About Labor Shortages Keep Getting Busted Suppressing Wages

JARED CULVER

Fri, Aug. 25^th

Stop me if you've heard this one before: The United States is suffering through a labor shortage. Our nation's captains of industry simply cannot find Americans with the grit and determination necessary to complete an honest day's work. Because of this alleged deficiency in the American workforce, our government must open the floodgates and import vast numbers of foreign workers to fill the gaps.

Vast Majority of New Yorkers View Migrant Crisis as Serious Issue

Fri, Aug. 25^th

According to a Siena College poll released earlier this week, an overwhelming majority of New York voters believe mass immigration's impact on their state is a massive problem.

Department of Labor Details Surge in Child Labor

Jared Culver

Fri, Aug. 25^th

After The New York Times documented extensive child labor trafficking and exposed that Biden Administration officials both knew about it and tried to cover it up, the Department of Labor (DOL) started a task force to clean up the mess they made.