Posted on December 8, 2016

Taking Back the Border

Steve King, Washington Times, December 8, 2016

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With a Trump presidency approaching, I look forward to continue proving the establishment wrong and fighting for We the People, beginning with building an “impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall.” As I have stated before, politicians were never afraid of building a fence but instead, afraid that if we succeed in closing the border, the next step would be effective, internal enforcement.

For years, I have fought tooth and nail for a border wall, even building my own design on the House floor. I worked to block border legislation allowing a “virtual” wall that would have never stopped the flow of illegal narcotics, guns, terrorists and cheap, illegal labor from entering our country. Under a Trump administration, my long fight for a physical wall will be achieved.

In 2014, Senate Democratic leadership labeled me as the man behind opposition to amnesty, ultimately blocking the open borders and amnesty agenda in the House — a title I accept. Leveraging Congress’ control over the power of the purse, I have continuously fought to defund executive amnesty in each spending bill. I also drafted multiple defunds of sanctuary cities that have passed the House.

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I was the first to organize a legal challenge to the president’s claim of authority to create executive amnesty.

This year, I was honored to chair the Executive Overreach Task Force that held a hearing on the Obama administration’s unconstitutional and illegal actions on immigration, including the release of 85,000 criminal aliens during the last three years. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the 20,000 offenders released just last year had a total of 64,197 convictions, yet they were neither punished nor deported.

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President Obama has not only opened our borders to illegal immigrants, but he has also welcomed thousands of unknown and unaccounted-for Syrian refugees despite risking our national security. He blatantly ignored warnings from federal agencies, including FBI Director James Comey, who testified before Congress, saying there is no way to thoroughly vet these refugees. Furthermore, these concerns are not limited to those in the U.S.

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In 2012, Democrats definitively argued, “Republicans will never win another national election unless we first provide a path to citizenship for the undocumented.” Wrong. Donald Trump has set an unprecedented standard to fight for every American in securing our borders. I look forward to playing my part in helping him achieve our common goal.