The Broken Immigration System: A Call for Congressional Action

The current state of the immigration system in the United States is a crisis. The number of individuals crossing the border illegally has reached unprecedented levels, and the backlog of asylum cases has more than tripled since 2019. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas acknowledged the crisis during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” stating that “Congress is the only one who can fix it.”

The immigration system in the United States has been broken for decades. Before Mayorkas entered the Department of Homeland Security in 2009, the case backlog had been growing year over year. The time between when an individual is encountered at the border and the final adjjudication of an asylum claim case has been years, with some cases taking five to seven years.

The failure of Congress to address the issue has led to a broken system that is in dire need of repair. The bipartisan group of senators presented a piece of legislation that would provide the tools and resources needed to fix the system. However, the legislation was killed before it could even be read in the Senate.

The inability of the administration to take executive actions to address the crisis has led to legal challenges, and the implementation of regulations that create a rebuttable presumption of ineligibility for asylum seekers if they do not avail themselves of the lawful pathways. Despite these efforts, more individuals have been removed, returned, or expelled in the past three years than in all four years under the previous administration.

The issue of border security and immigration is not a new one. The system has not been fixed for 30 years, and it is time for Congress to take action. The bipartisan group of senators has presented a solution, and it is up to Congress to pass it into law. The longer the issue is left unaddressed, the more individuals will continue to cross the border illegally, and the longer the backlog of asylum cases will continue to grow.

It is important to remember that the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security is to enforce the law, not to create new policies that circumvent existing ones. The administration must prioritize the enforcement of existing laws and the securing of the border. The implementation of catch-and-release policies and the rolling back of Trump-era policies have only made the crisis worse.

The ongoing crisis at the southern border is a result of the failure of the administration to enforce existing laws and secure the border. It is time for Congress to take action and pass legislation that will fix the broken immigration system. The longer the issue is left unaddressed, the more individuals will continue to cross the border illegally, and the longer the backlog of asylum cases will continue to grow.

The United States is a nation of laws, and it is the responsibility of the government to enforce them. The immigration system is in crisis, and it is up to Congress to take action and fix it. The longer the issue is left unaddressed, the more damage it will cause to the country and its people. It is time for Congress to step up and do what is necessary to repair the broken immigration system.