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The Texas Border Coalition this week joined Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez in urging President Joe Biden to visit the Texas-Mexico border.
The Rio Grande Valley officials are urging the president to do so before his administration makes any substantive changes to U.S. border policy, a reference to the upcoming May 23 termination of Title 42, a public health rule that has thwarted asylum efforts amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beyond a visit, TBC officials are calling for Biden to press for a bi-partisan compromise to immigration reform that goes beyond an “ineffective enforcement-only policy.”
“We share Judge Cortez’s belief that your presence on the border would help provide momentum for real long-term solutions for border security at and between the land ports entry rather than a piece-meal, band-aid approach,” Cameron County Judge and Texas Border Coalition Chairman Eddie Treviño, Jr., wrote in a letter to Biden.
The TBC letter was dated and sent Thursday.
Further, the letter says immigration reform “is the key to securing the border and border communities. It would strengthen border enforcement by providing regulated entry of legal workers, allowing immigration enforcement officers to focus on real security threats.
“Reform would also help solve our nation’s acute labor shortage that is contributing to a surge in inflation, lost opportunities for companies, and strains in supply chains across economic sectors. In addition to a larger, more productive workforce, immigration reform would increase economic growth and tax revenues. The alternative is a continued reliance on an ineffective enforcement-only policy.”
TBC has advocated for immigration reform over three decades, including House passage of three immigration reform bills last year, and strengthened border security through improved U.S. Customs and Border Protection manpower and technology.
“By coming to the border, we hope you can boost momentum for passage of the many bipartisan reform bills now pending in the U.S. Senate,” Treviño said.
Cortez sent a two-page letter to Biden on Monday.
“President Biden, as a public servant in a border community I must implore you to visit our region before the existing (Title 42) Order is suspended,” Cortez wrote.
