WASHINGTON – Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) has introduced five pieces of legislation in the last several weeks to address the crisis at our southern border.

In case you missed it, Steve Kiggins with the Times News and MagicValley.com wrote about the substantial efforts from Senator Risch. Select excerpts from the piece are below. The full article is available HERE.

“In the last six weeks alone, U.S. Sen. Jim Risch has played a role in the introduction of five acts by different names but each with the same goal: To secure the United States’ border with Mexico.

“The ‘full-blown disaster’ at the country’s southern border, as Risch called it this month after rolling out his latest effort, titled the Solving the Border Crisis Act, is not only a humanitarian crisis ignored by President Joe Biden but a threat to the American way of life — including in Idaho, he told the Times-News.”

. . .

“‘Communities across Idaho have voiced extensive concerns about the growing border crisis at our Southern border, which has become significantly worse since President Biden took office,’ Risch said in an emailed statement. ‘The influx of fentanyl, in particular, has had a direct and deadly effect on many communities in Idaho. The Solving the Border Crisis Act was created to return the U.S. to reasonable border policies and address the concerns many Idahoans have voiced for the last several years.’

“‘It is pivotal to the safety of Idahoans, as well as all Americans, for Congress to institute commonsense border security measures. This bill is a step in the right direction.’"

. . .

“It was a week before SJM101 cleared the Idaho Senate that Risch introduced the Solving the Border Crisis Act, which called on the Biden administration to immediately resume construction of the border wall that Trump made central to his 2016 presidential campaign, for Congress to push Biden to declare a national security emergency at the Mexico border, plus other measures to manage migrants and asylum seekers, and to enforce the rule of the law.

“Twice in February, Risch’s name was on legislation in the same vein: He was a co-sponsor of the Build the Wall Now Act, brought forward by Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Ted Budd of North Carolina, calling for the use of $2.1 billion in allocated but unspent funding for the border wall to be used for immediate construction. Two weeks earlier, Risch joined with Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, to introduce four pieces of legislation, including the WALL Act to complete the border wall and a resolution to acknowledge a crisis at the southern border. The two other bills were aimed at asylum abuse through the codification of the Remain in Mexico policy that requires asylum seekers to stay outside the U.S. while their claim is under review, and at ending a federal “catch and release” policy that allows for the release of illegal immigrants into the U.S. after six months of detention.

“‘Border walls work. It successfully deters illegal immigration and helps reduce the flow of deadly illegal drugs, like fentanyl, from flowing freely into the U.S. But that didn’t stop President Biden from halting the construction of the southern border wall,’ Risch said in a Feb. 23 news release for the Build the Wall Now Act. ‘This commonsense measure is a critical step Congress can take to reverse President Biden’s disastrous failures to keep our border secure.’”

Read the full article HERE.

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