Bilirakis Demands Action on Border, Calls Out Biden Inaction

Washington, DC:  Earlier this week, U.S. Congressman Gus Bilirakis spoke on the House Floor about the crisis that is raging along the southern border.  Bilirakis outlined the steps he has taken to compel the Biden Administration to secure the border – including enforcement of existing statutes and reverse 64 policy decisions that have served to exacerbate the situation.  An excerpt of Bilirakis’s remarks are included below:

“December marked the highest number of illegal immigrant encounters in history –with 331 persons on the Terror Watch list entering the country since President Biden took office.  President Biden falsely claims that he needs Congress to act to give him the authority to take control over the border.  Let me be perfectly clear – President Biden has the authority to close the border today – he can simply direct his staff to enforce existing laws and reverse the 64 Executive Actions he has taken to worsen the border crisis since coming to office.   I’ll continue using every single tool at my disposal, including the power or the purse, to force President Biden to enact meaningful border security reform, such as the provisions we passed in HR 2.  Any action short of securing our border leaves our nation in peril and our citizens in jeopardy,” said Congressman Bilirakis. 

The full list of Executive Actions referred to by Bilirakis can be found here.    In addition to reversing these actions, Bilirakis supports the impeachment of Department of Homeland Security Mayorkas and has demanded that the following provisions of HR 2 must be immediately implemented to rectify the situation at the border:

• Forcing the Biden Administration to restart construction of the border wall,
• Deploying technology to the Southern and Northern border,
• Increasing the number of Border Patrol agents and provide bonus pay,
• Requiring transparency regarding illegal crossings from the Department of Homeland Security,
• Strengthening current laws to protect unaccompanied children from human trafficking,
• Ending catch and release,
• Ending abuse of executive immigration authority,
• Strengthening and streamline the asylum process.