Texas House Republicans and I hosted a press conference to unveil our border security agenda for the 118th Congress, titled “A Commitment to Secure the Border, a Framework by Texans, for Texas.”

More than 4 million illegal migrants have been encountered at our southern border since President Biden took office. The Biden administration has released between 1-2 million of these individuals into our nation’s interior — not including approximately 1 million known gotaways since the start of FY21.

Furthermore, at least 78 people on the terrorist screening database were apprehended in FY22 and more than 24,000 lbs of lethal fentanyl have been seized under this administration.

A Commitment to Secure the Border states that Texas Republicans are committed to:

• Paying Texas back for border operations and damages
• Forcing the Biden administration to enforce our current laws
• Leveraging the power of the purse to advance border security
•  Immediately shifting policy to bring much-needed security to our state and country

On a daily basis, criminal cartels traffic thousands of illegal immigrants into our nation. These migrants are willingly relying on the cartels for a better life, but tragically, many of them are being abused by the cartels and sold into slavery. The Biden administration’s only response is to turn a blind eye. 

The cartels understand that this Administration has taken a soft approach to border security.

As I have said before, if you could design a framework for border security that best supports the cartels’ operation, it would be the one currently implemented by the Biden administration. Under President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas's regime, our border security apparatus has become merely a processing and transportation mechanism for illegal migrants. 

We must secure our border and put a stop to this humanitarian crisis.

You can watch my remarks on Washington Watch HERE.

And you thought that the US Postal Service was just delivering the mail...

Last week the House Oversight and Reform Committee held a markup on a resolution to investigate the potential censorship of conservative voices by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIC).

I supported this resolution when we took a vote, but sadly, it failed. While much of the concern regarding censorship correctly focuses on social media companies, there are plenty of federal agencies that must not be ignored. We saw in 2013 the ability of federal agencies to target political opposition with Lois Lerner’s IRS going after conservative groups for their tax-exempt status.  One agency that has been overlooked is a USPIC program called the Internet Cover Operations Program (iCOP). iCOP primarily investigates illegal mail activities, however, many civil liberties groups have raised concerns that this arm of the post office is surveilling American citizens — commonly using social media to track potential “threats.”

The Biden administration has a history of attempting to silence critics of their failures, including the infamous DHS “Ministry of Truth.” Though the resolution of inquiry failed in committee, Republicans will open an investigation into this matter next Congress, ensuring that iCOP and any other federal agency are not being used to target political opposition.

The federal government’s primary duty is to protect the rights of individuals–notably, that of religious liberty. However, the House voted on the "Respect for Marriage Act" this week, which failed to adequately account for Americans’ religious convictions. 

Like many bills that come before Congress, it has a great name designed to cover up the fact that the bill does the opposite. 

This bill would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and allow a single state to define what marriage means in every other state. It also allows the Attorney General to bring a civil action against anyone who, acting under their own state law, and perhaps for religious beliefs, does not recognize these marriages. 

Though the bill specifies that religious organizations, businesses, and others may not be sued under this act for refusing to provide services, the bill still establishes a private right of action, giving people the ability to sue others for their stance on gay marriage. This makes it unclear whether businesses would be protected. 

Moreover, an amendment was offered that would have ensured the federal government does not discriminate against people and businesses for their views on marriage. This was struck down, however, giving me cause for concern over the true intent of this bill. 

Our United States Constitution recognizes the inalienable right of its citizens to freely exercise their faith.  The free exercise thereof is not limited to one practice within the walls of their place of worship but also in their lives and livelihoods. Religious liberty is enshrined in our Constitution and we must continue to defend that at all costs. 

Last week we said a heartfelt goodbye to our wonderful D.C. intern, Maddie.

Maddie is a senior at Texas A&M University, majoring in Agricultural Economics. She has been immensely helpful to our team and we are so excited to see where she goes next. On behalf of Texas's 27th District, thank you for all your hard work Maddie!

If you are interested in serving South Texas, my offices (Corpus Christi, Victoria, and Washington D.C.) are still accepting internship applications. To apply, please use this link!

YOU’RE INVITED! My DC office is hosting an Open House for District 27 constituents to join me ahead of my swearing in ceremony.

If you’re able to join us in DC, please RSVP with this link. We look forward to hosting you!

God Bless,

Rep. Michael Cloud

Member of Congress

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