Members of the House Border Security Caucus pledged to back President-elect Trump and his border czar Tom Homan's mass deportation plans and vowed to crack down on "particularly pernicious" sanctuary city policies protecting "evil terrorists" and "cartel thugs."
Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, decried the historic level of illegal immigration under the Biden administration and the subsequent dramatic rise in migrant crime and gang activity, including the violent Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua.
He called for the rest of Congress to stand behind Trump's border security plans, saying that "every single one of these cartel thugs and evil terrorists needs to be deported immediately."
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"The American people can finally breathe a very big and deep sigh of relief," said Babin. "The disastrous Biden administration is coming to an end and with that, that will be an end of open borders, asylum abuse, lawlessness, sanctuary cities - all these will end as well."
"But for us, as members of the House Border Security Conference," Babin went on, "our job is just begun."
California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock also said congressional Republicans' "first priority" must be passing the Secure the Border Act. He said this would "assure that future presidents cannot subvert the law as Biden has."
"President Trump proved that simply enforcing laws can produce secure borders," he said. "But President Biden proved that a president intent on leaving our borders wide open can do so as well."
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McClintock also said Congress needs to sanction sanctuary jurisdictions that are protecting criminal illegal immigrants from deportation.
Texas Republican Rep. Michael Cloud backed this idea as well, saying that Republicans in Congress need to "steel our spine" to defund agencies and cities that serve as magnets to draw illegal immigrants into the country.
"As Congress, we need to defund the wrong things. We need to stop sending these agencies' money to do bad things. And that includes the magnet that continues to draw people here through wrong and illegal processes," he said. "So, we will have to take the tough votes. We will have to do the job that's required of us in Congress… to make sure that we make good on the promise that we have given the American people."
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Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs called the sanctuary city issue "particularly pernicious."
He mentioned how his home state governor, Democrat Katie Hobbs, has pledged to resist Trump's efforts to secure the border, saying she "unequivocally" "will not tolerate" the plan. Hobbs is one of several other Democratic leaders in over a dozen sanctuary states and dozens more sanctuary cities who have similarly pledged to resist the mass deportations.
"The problem is this, when you prevent the arrest of a criminal, illegal alien, you prevent the safety of the community," said Biggs. "When you ignore the law, the community is put at risk."
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Biggs said mayors and governors doubling down on sanctuary policies and pledging resistance are "going to find themselves in hot water," and will likely face obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting criminal cartel charges.
"The cartel knows that Donald Trump means business and Tom Homan means business," he said. "And, hopefully, Congress means business."
