Grand Canyon Times

Steve Cortes, president of the League of American Workers, said U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly's vote on a recent border bill would "allow a border bull rush" that would harm the American economy and bring "dangers to our streets."

“Senator Kelly just voted to advance a ridiculous border bill that would allow a border bull rush of up to 1.8 million illegals every single year, bringing unlawful competitors into to the American job market and dangers to our streets,” Cortes told Grand Canyon Times.

According to Senate Democrats, the border bill in question, S.4361, is a revival of H.R. 815, the "bipartisan border bill" that failed to advance in the Senate this past February.

H.R. 815 would mean the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Secretary would have discretionary authority to activate the emergency authority at the border if there are an average of 4,000 migrant encounters per day for a period of seven consecutive days. When activated, "border emergency authority" would allow the Biden Administration, and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, to "summarily remove" from the United States and prohibit further entry of illegal aliens. 

In addition to the discretionary authority, the DHS Secretary would be mandated to activate the authority if migrant encounters reach at least 5,000 per day for seven consecutive days or if there are at least 8,500 encounters in a single day. 5,000 encounters per day would total 1.8 million across a calendar year. 

Andrew R. Arthur, Resident Fellow in Law and Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), said the "'5,000 a day' rule would have conceded defeat at the border, and codified a decline in security there." Arthur notes that apprehensions on our Southwest border "hit their pre-Biden peak in FY 2000, as agents apprehended more than 1.643 million aliens who entered illegally."

According to a CIS report, in fiscal year 2019, there were just over 851,000 migrant encounters, an average of 2,333 per day. In response, then-President Donald Trump activated the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), aka "Remain in Mexico," after which migrant apprehensions fell by nearly 70 percent from May 2019 to September 2019. 

In January 2020, there were slightly more than 29,000 apprehensions, or an average of 942 per day. When President Joe Biden took office, he ended MPP and reversed other Trump-era policies designed to curb illegal immigration.

Senator Mark Kelly voted in favor of the advancing the bill. Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), who helped draft H.R. 815 along with Senator Chris Murphy (D-DE) and Senator James Lankford (R-OK), and who is not running for re-election, voted against it. In all, 43 senators voted to advance the bill, 50 voted against, and seven abstained from voting.

Cortes is a political advisor and commentator. He previously traded global currencies and interest rates for 25 years for large international hedge funds. He has been an on-air broadcaster for CNBC, Fox News, and CNN. Cortes founded League of American Workers in 2022 to conduct research and develops proposals on public policies impacting American workers and the economy.