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Editors Note: The Morning Call solicited Your Views from candidates in contested primaries in the Lehigh Valley region. The three Republican candidates running for the nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Susan Wild in November were asked to discuss what they see as they biggest issue(s) facing the 7th Congressional District and how they would approach solving the issue(s). Their responses are running this week, in alphabetical order by last name. Your Views from state House races will run next week.

I am running for Congress because we are losing our country.

The disastrous policies coming out of Washington are making us less safe and creating conditions where Americas next generation may not be better off. Its a serious concern for me personally. My wife and I are expecting our first child a son who is due any day now.

Like any new parent, I find myself reflecting on the conditions my child will be born into. With that in mind, I am extremely worried about the direction of our country.

I have had the honor and pleasure of serving as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing portions of western and northern Lehigh County, working every day to help make our community better.

But its getting harder and harder to have a positive outlook on Americas future. We have a wide-open border that allows migrants to enter the country illegally in record numbers hundreds of thousands of people each month. That adds up to millions over the last few years. That situation is leading to an increase in drugs, crime and human trafficking. Its diverting resources that should be spent to help struggling Americans and rebuild crumbling communities.

We also have an economy where inflation and high prices continue to spiral out of control. With wages not keeping pace, the increased cost of food, energy, housing and other necessities have made life unaffordable and upward mobility unattainable. The biggest driver of inflation has been massive overspending in Washington funded by debt that must be paid by future generations.

In spite of all of this, we continue to hear from members of both parties that they want to continue their reckless spending. They want to send more of our money overseas and hand out Americans hard-earned tax dollars to people in our country illegally. This fiscally irresponsible approach is unsustainable and must be stopped. And I know how.

As a state representative, I have experience authoring and passing legislation that directly addresses illegal immigration and improves our states economic climate.

Currently, I serve as Republican chair of the House Labor & Industry Committee. A number of years ago, both union and nonunion construction industry stakeholders approached me about the increase of illegal labor in their field and how it harmed American workers. So, I acted fast and authored and passed legislation making E-Verify mandatory for all employers in the construction industry.

E-Verify is a Department of Homeland Security program that allows employers to rapidly check the legal working status of individuals before they are hired. It is available for employers to use voluntarily, but my legislation made it mandatory to address the problem of illegal labor in Pennsylvanias construction industry. The bill also makes clear that failure to use E-Verify could lead to fines and other penalties for offending businesses. Ultimately, it passed both the House and Senate in 2019 with veto-proof majorities and become law without Gov. Tom Wolfs signature.

More recently, I introduced a package of legislation to crack down on illegal immigration. It includes bills to further expand the mandatory use of E-Verify, protect vulnerable children from labor exploitation, end sanctuary cities, increase cross-checks to clean up voter rolls, and add language to our state constitution to make it clear that people in the country illegally are not eligible to vote in state or local elections even if officials try to allow for that practice.

On an economic front, I have built a proven record of putting taxpayers first. I never voted for a tax increase, opposed the gas tax increase, voted to reform the broken pension system to save billions of dollars, and I supported property tax elimination for homeowners. I have also led by example when it comes to fiscal responsibility, refusing taxpayer-paid per diems and a state car, supporting legislation to do away with those perks, and also voting to reduce the size of the Legislature.

Another law I authored eliminated the inheritance tax for small family businesses in 2013, streamlined excessive regulations in 2012 and 16, and protected local tax dollars from fraud in 2017. I was also part of a group that scoured state funds to stave off a massive tax increase proposal by Wolf.This effort helped pass a balanced budget without an additional burden on taxpayers.

As a dedicated public servant with a history of reforming government, protecting taxpayers and securing our communities, I am raising my hand to serve in Congress because Im uniquely suited to address illegal immigration and massive overspending in Washington.

We must finish building the wall on our Southern border and end the forever wars overseas. We must stop the wasteful overspending and protect programs like Medicare and Social Security. We must elect candidates who are willing to tackle these issues and I hope you will join me in this fight to get our country back on the right track. For my family and for yours.

State Rep. Ryan Mackenzie of Emmaus is a Republican candidate for the 7th Congressional District.

Tuesday: Kevin Dellicker: Ill apply experience in military, business to solve nations problems

Coming Thursday: Maria Montero: I want to restore faith in the American dream

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Election 2024 Your View by Ryan Mackenzie: My experience in Harrisburg will help me address illegal immigration ... - The Morning Call

March 29, 2024 | Austin, Texas | Press Release

Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), and the Texas National Guard continue to work together to secure the border; stop the smuggling of drugs, weapons, and people into Texas; and prevent, detect, and interdict transnational criminal activity between ports of entry. Since the launch of Operation Lone Star, the multi-agency effort has led to over 506,500 illegal immigrant apprehensions and more than 41,200 criminal arrests, with more than 36,700 felony charges. In the fight against the fentanyl crisis, Texas law enforcement has seized over 471 million lethal doses of fentanyl during this border mission. Texas has also transported:

Operation Lone Star continues to fill the dangerous gaps created by the Biden Administrations refusal to secure the border. Every individual who is apprehended or arrested and every ounce of drugs seized would have otherwise made their way into communities across Texas and the nation due to President Joe Bidens open border policies. RECENT HIGHLIGHTS FROM OPERATION LONE STAR: Governor Abbott Discusses Border Security With Speaker Johnson Governor Abbott yesterday met with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson at the Governors Mansion in Austin to urge him to pass border security legislation that will help stop illegal crossings between ports of entry along the southern border. The Governor and Speaker also discussed the need to hold President Biden accountable for his disastrous policies.

Governor Abbott: Texas Tactical Border Forces Arrives In El Paso On X, formerly known as Twitter, Governor Abbott announced that nearly 200 soldiers from the Texas Tactical Border Force arrived in El Paso to bolster Texas border security efforts.

Governor Abbott: Touts Operation Lone Star Border Security Efforts Earlier this week, Governor Abbott touted Operation Lone Stars border security efforts that have decreased illegal crossings in Texas. The Governor pointed to Texas comprehensive border security tools and strategies as the primary reasons that illegal crossings are going down in Texas, while other border states like New Mexico and California are experiencing increases in illegal immigration.

WATCH: DPS Lt. Olivarez Defends Texas Right To Secure The Border DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez joined Fox News Live this week to defend Texas right to secure the Texas-Mexico border after the Biden Administration blamed Governor Abbott for the migrant surge in El Paso. The last three years we continue to see this gaslighting from the federal government to the American people where they continue to deflect and blame Texas and Governor Abbott, like what happened in El Paso, said Lt. Olivarez. The fact of the matter is, we have been addressing this for the last three years with Operation Lone Star, which shows in the number of arrests that our troopers have made, over 41,000 criminal arrests, the amount of drugs [Texas] has seized from criminals, arresting human smugglers, and rescuing children.

DPS Troopers Arrest Six Illegal Immigrants For Criminal Trespass At Shelby Park DPS troopers swiftly responded to a group of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Honduras attempting to breach the barrier along the Rio Grande River at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass. All six illegal immigrants were arrested for criminal trespass.

WATCH: DPS Arrest Two Illegal Immigrants After High-Speed Pursuit Ends When Vehicle Catches Fire A human smuggler in a Toyota Camry led DPS troopers on a high-speed pursuit in Kinney County, reaching speeds of 100 mph, until the vehicle caught on fire. Two illegal immigrants bailed out and ran toward the brush. The driver and passenger, both illegal immigrants from Venezuela, were arrested and charged with evading arrest and smuggling of persons.

WATCH: DPS trooper Stops Human Smuggling Attempt In Kinney County A DPS trooper stopped a Chevy Malibu in Kinney County and discovered a mother and her two-year-old child were being smuggled inside. The driver, from Florence, Texas, and the passenger, from Tyler, Texas, were both arrested and charged with smuggling of persons and smuggling of persons under the age of 18. The mother and child, from Mexico, were referred to Border Patrol.

WATCH: Texas National Guard Surges Air, Ground Forces To El Paso Earlier this week, the Texas National Guard surged personnel and resources to ramp up border security activity in El Paso. Approximately 200 soldiers were deployed to support existing ground forces to reinforce existing border barriers and repel illegal crossings.

Read more from the original source:
Texas Surges Soldiers, Resources To Boost Border Security In El Paso - Office of the Texas Governor

The Washington Examiners Byron York reflected on how much the Democratic Party has shifted its stance on illegal immigration, as many members used to view it as unacceptable.

York, the chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner, discussed how then-Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both spoke out against illegal immigration when they were in the White House, as it used to be a bipartisan political point. However, York argued that things have changed since at least the mid-2000s and again in 2013 when Congress had worked on addressing illegal immigration within the country.

A lot had changed inside the Democratic Party, York said on Fox Newss America Reports. There was a move toward being more pro-illegal immigrant, essentially. In the earlier events, old-style Democrats like Bernie Sanders actually voted against an immigration reform on the labor union belief that having lots and lots of unskilled immigrants in the United States would lower American wages. That changed, and in the early 10s and the mid-10s, and now it has become in Joe Bidens time an actual encouragement of millions to cross into the United States.

York was also asked about footage from November 2006 of then-Sen. Joe Biden, who said he had voted for a 700-mile fence along the southern border. The footage stands in contrast with Bidens leadership as president, during which time he has feuded with Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) over border security.

York noted how Congress had initially passed the Secure Fence Act of 2006 in a bipartisan movement, but then Congress essentially decided not to do it, meaning the 700-mile fence was never constructed. Congresss decision not to go through with the border wall allowed Donald Trump to campaign on the matter when he ran for president in 2016.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The Center Square Voters Voice Poll released last month showed that illegal immigration was the second-biggest concern among likely voters ahead of the 2024 election at 44%, right behind inflation at 45%. The poll consisted of 2,510 voters, including 1,044 Republicans, 1,126 Democrats and 340 true independents, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

The 2024 presidential election is likely to be a rematch between Trump and Biden. Trump is making a campaign stop Tuesday in Michigan, where he is expected to focus on his criticism of Bidens border policies.

See the original post here:
Democrats have shifted stance on illegal immigration: Byron York - Washington Examiner

According to a new report from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University,200,000 deportation cases have been dismissed by Immigration Judgesbecause the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), led by recently-impeached Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, failed to file a Notice to Appear (NTA). An NTA is issued upon an aliens arrival at the border and serves as the first step in initiating removal proceedings undersection 239(a)of theImmigration and Nationality Act(INA). After issuing an NTA to an alien, DHS must also then file the NTA with an immigration court to ensure the case can proceed. Filing an NTA is one of DHS most basic responsibilities to ensure cases are properly adjudicated in immigrationcourt.

The Biden Administration has seen a higher number of dismissals due to failure to file an NTA compared to past administrations. During the Trump Administration, an average of 1.2 percent of new cases (approximately 3,880 per year) were dismissed. But those numbers have exploded since Secretary Mayorkas assumed office, jumping to an average of 8.5 percent dismissed from 2021-2023 (more than 60,000 cases per year). As a particularly stark example, under Mayorkas immigration courts in Miami and Houston dismissed more than 50 percent of new cases because NTAs were notfiled.

If an NTA is not filed properly, DHS has the option to restart the process by issuing a new NTA to ensure that aliens have their cases heard and adjudicated. However, TRAC revealed that in nearly three-quarters of the 200,000 dismissals, DHS did nothing to remedy its mistake. The result is that the illegal aliens will not have to face any consequences for violating our immigrationlaws.

Currently, theimmigration court case backlogsits at over 3.4 million cases. This is more than double the 1.4 million backlogged cases when President Biden took office in 2021, and nearly nine times the backlog of 396,978 cases in 2014. Shockingly, only a small fraction of cases are completed each year, resulting in many illegal aliens remaining in the country for years before cases are even heard. And, with policies that incentivize the flow of illegal aliens flooding the border and being released into the country, the backlog will only continue togrow.

Rather than implementing meaningful policy change to decrease the backlog, the Biden Administration has bypassed important authorities such as expedited removal in favor of mass catch-and-release policies. Expedited removal, undersection 235(b)(1)of the INA,grants border officials the authority to quickly remove illegal aliens, while still providing for asylum claims to be heard. The Biden Administration, however, has instead sought to limit its use, quickly release aliens at the border, and place them in regular removal proceedings, which can take years.As a result, illegal aliens are flooding across our borders, with immigration agencies buckling under the weight, and the court backlog rising sharply.If the Biden Administration took advantage ofexisting statutory authoritieslike expedited removal, the backlog would be dramaticallyreduced.

Not content to usher in the worst border crisis in history, the Biden Administration is now failing to follow through on immigration cases too. With this combination of failed policies and non-enforcement, more and more illegal aliens will be able to take advantage and reside in the country indefinitely, creatingenormous costs for American taxpayers. Under Secretary Mayorkas, DHS has been characterized by a lawless, open-borders agenda with no real intention to remove illegal aliens from the United States. The Secretary has proven time and time again that he is unfit to lead DHS, and the Senate must take action to officially remove him fromoffice.

To learn more about the case against Secretary Mayorkas, clickhere.

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200,000 Deportation Cases Thrown Out as Mayorkas' DHS Fails to File Paperwork | FAIRUS.org - Federation for American Immigration Reform

Since taking office three years ago, President Biden has taken every step necessary to make illegal immigration legal. In just his first 100 days, the President took 94 actions to open our border and weaken immigration law, including halting border wall construction, pausing deportations, and ending the successful Remain in Mexico policy. As a result, 9.2 million immigrants have entered our country illegally including countless cartel members, violent criminals, and suspected terrorists.

While President Biden continues to push his radical agenda, border states such as Texas are stepping up to do what the administration wont: secure our border and secure our communities. To see firsthand how Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and authorities in the Lone Star State are working to keep Americans safe, last week I visited Eagle Pass, Texasonce a hotspot for illegal entry that has seen a dramatic decrease in migrant encounters.

One of the biggest reasons for the decline: border barriers including buoys, shipping containers, and razor wire fences that Texas officials have placed in and along the Rio Grande river as part of the states Operation Lone Star campaign to deter migrants from illegally entering our country.

Texas Department of Public Safety officials and Border Patrol agents point to these barriers, more than anything else, as the driving force behind the states decreasing number of illegal entries: As the state has ramped up its efforts to put in place temporary barriers, illegal border crossings in Texas fell from 149,806 in December to 68,260 in Januarya 54% decrease. Instead, illegal immigrants are now traveling further west to other border states, such as California and Arizona, that have much weaker restrictions on illegal entry.

At the same time, Texas has deployed thousands of National Guardsmen to the border to help block illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and human trafficking. In total, Texas authorities have apprehended more than 500,000 illegal immigrants and intercepted 467 million lethal doses of fentanyl, among countless other illicit substances.

One thing is clear: Under Republican leadership, Texas is accomplishing so much to secure our border, protect families, and save American lives.

Yet, without support from the Biden administration, the state and its localities face a tremendous burden in defending their communities.

While in Eagle Pass, I heard from ranchers who have had their property destroyed, stolen, or broken into by illegal immigrants crossing into our country from Mexico. In one instance, two migrants broke into a ranchers home while his 16-year-old daughter was studying at home alone.

Texas law enforcement also warned about the ways cartels are using new technology to aid their smuggling operations, including by using Chinese-owned TikTok to recruit Americans into their human trafficking rings. At the same time, cartels are flying drones into the United States to scope out the location of border agents and redirect their smuggling routes.

More than anything else, authorities in Texas told me that they need more border wall construction, better technology, and additional agents to help combat this threat. But time and again, President Biden has refused to help them. Instead, his administration is suing Texas for placing barriers along the border to prevent illegal entries and for enacting a new state law that empowers local law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants.

Make no mistake: President Biden is targeting Texas because Texans are standing up to his open border policy. And if the President refuses to support the communities on the front line of combating his border crisis, Congress must step up.

Thats why in the U.S. Senate I introduced the Creating Obstructions Necessary to Address Illegal and Nefarious Entry Rapidly (CONTAINER) Act, which would empower border states such as Texas to place temporary barriers on federal land to protect their communities. No state or locality should face lawsuits from the federal government for trying to secure our border and protect the sovereignty of the United States.

I also introduced the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal (CLEAR) Act, which would reaffirm the authority of state and local governments to enforce federal immigration laws by apprehending, detaining, or transferring illegal immigrants to federal custody.

Among its important measures, this legislation would require the Department of Homeland Security to provide grants to state and local governments to help them enforce immigration law and construct detention facilities. It would also require DHS to take illegal aliens into custody within 48 hours after receiving a request from a state or locality and provide the Justice Department with essential information about illegal immigrants who have overstayed their period of stay.

After my visit to Eagle Pass, I know these pieces of legislation would do so much to support border states and communities that are forced to confront the consequences of President Bidens border crisis every single day. It is far past time Congress took action to help them.

Go here to see the original:
Biden Created the Border Crisis. Now, Texas Is Stepping Up to Defend Our Sovereignty. - The Mountain Press