Reps. Gonzales, Slotkin Introduce Bipartisan Bills to Enhance Border Security, Combat Migrant Trafficking

Press Release

U.S. Representatives Tony Gonzales (R-TX-23) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI-08) this week introduced two bills, titled the Emergency Migration Response Act and the Border Security and Migrant Safety Act, aimed at preventing migrant surges at the southern border and combatting human trafficking into the United States. In the last year, transnational criminal organizations made $1.7 billion by smuggling migrants just from the three Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

The Emergency Migration Response Act would direct DHS to treat migration surges similarly to natural disasters by demanding that large-scale migrations treated with a swift, coordinated response from the federal government, deeming these events as "extraordinary migration events." The framework for the coordinated response established in the bill would include: criteria and thresholds for "extraordinary migration events"; an interagency group overseeing the DHS response with a designated federal coordinating officer; migration response teams; and instructions for coordination with relief organizations. You can read the full text of the Emergency Migration Response Act here.

The Border Security and Migrant Safety Act would create an intelligence group to analyze and provide insight on concentrated surges of migration and require DHS to form a joint task force focused on partnering with neighboring countries to counter malicious actors like transnational criminal organizations. You can read the full text of the Border Security and Migrant Safety Act here.

"Every day migrants are dying on their journey to our southern border due to overheating, drowning, and other risks associated with crossing remote and dangerous terrains," said Gonzales. "This border crisis has resulted in a record number of border crossings, and thus migrant deaths, and has made way for cartels to make billions off vulnerable populations. It's long overdue that Congress provides a bipartisan solution that secures our borders and begins the conversation about legal immigration. I am proud to co-lead this effort with Congresswoman Slotkin to work across the aisle, increase migrant safety and combat criminals at the southern border."

"Let's be honest with ourselves: Our immigration system has been broken for multiple administrations -- Democrat and Republican. Neither party has provided real solutions to the crisis at our southern border that incentivize people to apply from their home country," said Slotkin."I've always been supportive of a bipartisan plan that both secures our border and reforms our laws, so today I'm putting my money where my mouth is. I reject the idea that we have to choose between border security and welcoming those who want to come to the U.S. legally in search of a better life. We can and must do both -- to improve our national security and grow our economy by filling the many job vacancies that continue to hold American small businesses back. In Congress, we're the ones who write the laws, and that means we're responsible for rising above partisan politics and finding bipartisan situations. I urge the Democratic leadership to take up legislation like mine to get to the root of this challenge and pass a real solution."

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