The Biden administration has been defined by the crises it creates—particularly at the southern border. Upon taking office in January 2021, the Biden administration immediately halted wall construction, paying contractors to not build wall, leaving over 150 miles of planned border wall left unbuilt, and materials left to rust in the desert; undercut Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) efforts by prohibiting agents from carrying out deportations for 100 days; and took immediate steps to end the Migrant Protection Protocols.

The results speak for themself. There have been nearly 3 million migrant encounters along the border since President Biden took office. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has lost operational control of the border as record number of illegal aliens, criminals, and gang members are being apprehended and unprecedented amounts of drugs are flowing across the border into American communities. The Biden administration has turned its back on the crisis. In the half-century since President Biden began his career as a federally elected official, he has never visited the border. I have been down to the southern border three times since President Biden took office. 

Last month, CBP reported that our southern border had 199,976 illegal border crossings - over 300% increase from the final July of President Trump's administration. In July, at least 10 more suspects on the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) were apprehended attempting to illegally cross our southern border. 

From June 2022 to July 2022, fentanyl seizures increased OVER 200%, bringing the total to OVER 10,000 pounds of poisonous fentanyl seized this fiscal year alone – and there is still a month and a half left.

Joe Biden and House Democrats’ open borders, mass releases, halted border wall, and zero enforcement policies have created a historic border crisis. 

Governor Greg Abbott has sent buses carrying migrants from Texas to New York and Washington D.C. I fully support sending migrants to Democrat-led cities. Maybe they will finally call on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to take responsibility for the crisis on our southern border. 

One year ago, the world was watching in horror as Afghanistan was overrun by terrorists, as thousands of American citizens and hundreds of thousands of our Afghan allies desperately tried to get to the airport and onto a plane to safety. We now know that more than 1,000 American citizens were left behind to fend for themselves, and tens of thousands of our Afghan allies were abandoned to be hunted by the Taliban.

THE FACTS ABOUT BIDEN’S FAILED WITHDRAWAL: 

• President Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan has led to:
  • On July 8th, 2021, Joe Biden said: “There’s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy of the United States from Afghanistan.” 
    • In fact, It was actually much worse. 
  • At least 600 Americans were abandoned behind enemy lines in Afghanistan for months.
    • The administration admitted initially that they did not know how many Americans remained in Afghanistan.
  • The deadliest attack on Americans in Afghanistan since August 2011 occurred because of Biden’s failed leadership.
  • Unknown BILLIONS of dollars in U.S. military equipment is now in the hands of the Taliban.
• Terrorists are now emboldened to attack Americans.
  • Now, reports indicate that Biden’s catastrophic failure in leadership has emboldened our adversaries in the region, culminating in the U.S. strike on an Al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan's very capital just earlier this month.
  • ISIS-K has demonstrated the ability to launch attacks despite recent setbacks and depleted numbers.
  • Al Qaeda has renewed calls for lone-wolf attacks on the U.S. homeland.
• Earlier this year, leaked documents from the Biden White House revealed that those outside of the administration felt Biden “lacked urgency” as the administration was still scrambling to prepare an evacuation and relocation plan for civilians and Afghan staff the afternoon before Taliban forces took over the capital city of Kabul.

My heart still breaks for the lives lost unnecessarily in an attack that could have been prevented had this withdrawal been managed properly. Americans deserve answers and accountability from the Biden administration.

This week, I have been traveling the district. It‘s important that I spend as much time at home in Texas hearing what the people of Texas-14 need!   

It was a great honor to speak at the Golden Triangle Business Roundtable Contractor Safety Banquet. This award brings out the best of the best of Jefferson County chemical, refining, and energy companies, several of which have proven to be models of safety excellence in the industry. This year, 11 companies were honored; even more impressive, there were 76 nominations for the Golden Triangle Business Roundtable Contractor Safety Awards. Each of these companies is keeping their safety standards high and their injuries low. 

I stopped by TAN Healthcare in Beaumont to discuss healthcare in our community with their Board of Directors and various employees. And I toured Port of Beaumont to check out one of their newly completed projects. 

As children filled the classrooms this week - school safety is on everyone's minds. In the last few months, I have introduced three bills to better protect our children in schools and plan on introducing another bill in the coming weeks. 

H.R. 7907, the Protect Our Children’s School Act, would allow schools to redirect unobligated federal funds originally allocated to the Secretary of Education for coronavirus measures to secure their campuses. Each school could use this money at their discretion, whether to hire school resource officers, install more secure locks on doors, deploy security cameras, or anything else that would help the school be safer.

H.R. 7908, the Protect Against School Shootings (PASS) Act, would allow certain active and retired law enforcement officers to carry a concealed firearm in a school zone. This would only apply to individuals who are legally allowed to conceal carry currently and would help amplify a school’s response to a threat. As y’all know, it takes a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun.

The third of my recently introduced bills, H.R. 7909, would provide an exclusion from gross income for compensation of school resource officers. Under this legislation, these school resource officers would be retired law enforcement officers. This is a win-win situation, as it would provide job opportunities to well-trained retired police officers and make the school a safer place for students and staff.

Currently, I am working on a bill that would create a grant program to allow schools to have updated critical-incident mapping data made and shared with local first responders, so in the event of an emergency, first responders have the most up-to-date maps of the campus and can respond quickly to any situation.

I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to ensure that these meaningful pieces of legislation are passed and enacted into law. I am proud that TX-14 has some of the best schools in all of Texas, and for that matter, the United States, and that is a message that I’m not shy about sharing with my fellow lawmakers.

To all the students, teachers, staff, and parents, welcome back to school and have a great school year!

Legislation cosponsored:

• H.R. 8656 - To designate the clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Mishawaka, Indiana, as the "Jackie Walorski VA Clinic".
• H.R. 8702 - To prohibit the implementation of the proposed rule entitled "Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities".

God Bless you and God Bless Texas!