| John, I’m Miranda Melvin, AFP’s federal strategies director. In 2023 and early 2024, I joined AFP Foundation in bringing over 200 activists, media figures, and state lawmakers to the border to witness the consequences of our broken immigration system firsthand. Thankfully, the border has improved markedly since then. But we can’t take our foot off the pedal. There’s one thing Americans still agree on — we need strong borders. Americans vividly remember the chaos at the border during most of the Biden administration — with 8 million illegal entries. This chaos prevented law enforcement from focusing on real threats. While they were busy processing asylum seekers, some 2 million people snuck by. The chaos undermined the rule of law. Most recently, we applauded the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which injected billions toward completing President Trump’s wall, building roads, upgrading technology, and hiring and retaining new border agents.
But this is just a start: Border security is not a simple one-time fix. One thing we repeatedly heard during our trips to the border was that there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. What works in one sector doesn’t necessarily work in another. Also, the smuggling organizations and cartels won’t stop trying to find cracks in the system. Thus, border security is something that Congress will need to continue addressing to keep our nation safe. ✅ Want to learn more? 📘 Download our free eBook — Pillar One: Secure Border & Ports — and discover how we can maintain order with smart, humane enforcement that leverages local knowledge to fit Border Patrol’s needs on the ground. 📰 Read our latest blog post to learn more about why border security is important, and how legal immigration can help mitigate illegal immigration. We can build an immigration system that upholds the law, respects human dignity, and meets the needs of our economy and communities. And we can secure the border, too. Best regards, Miranda Melvin
Federal Strategies Director
Americans for Prosperity | 
