Senator Lankford Commends ICE for Work to Protect Southern Border

CLICK HERE to watch Lankford’s Q&A.

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) questioned officials from the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Justice at a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing to obtain updates on immigration processes including issues with state e-verify participation, government immigration attorney shortages to process immigration claims, and ongoing border security issues including detention facility bed shortages.

Last July, Lankford visited facilities along the southern border to see first-hand the overcrowding issues and apprehension processes for illegal crossings along our southern border. In addition to having an opportunity to thank our border law enforcement agencies and personnel, today’s Q&A focused on how to be ready for a potential similar surge at our borders this coming spring and summer.

Lankford continues to pursue workable solutions to our nation’s broken immigration and border security processes to address Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, provide additional immigration judges, help fund a physical barrier in areas along our southern border, and visa cap relief for temporary workers that affect Oklahomans’ ability to find seasonal and agricultural employees. Lankford supported the bill to reopen the government earlier this year, which provided funding to address a number of deficiencies in immigration and border security. Lankford has questioned immigration and border security officials on unaccompanied alien children (UAC) care and facilities as well as family reunification. In 2018, Lankford co-authored the SECURE and SUCCEED Act to address the situation for DACA recipients. Additionally, Lankford continues to press to end human and drug trafficking along our border.

Excerpt

Lankford: Thanks for standing up for the laws of the United States. You don’t hear enough—and so let me add a voice that I hear a lot in my state of people that are incredibly grateful for the work that’s happening and understand we have laws in our country and you and your teams are stepping up and enforcing the laws that are on the books, so thank you for doing that. I listened to some of the current debate nationally, and there is a move to be able to transition DHS to being more like greeters at the border than they are law enforcement at the border. And I’m grateful that we have law enforcement folks there and for the stories that you have already told about some of the dangers and the risks that are there.

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