CONGRESSMAN PAT RYAN CALLS FOR EXECUTIVE ACTION TO RESTORE ORDER AT SOUTHERN BORDER

Congressman Pat Ryan Calls for Executive Action to Restore Order at Southern Border 

With far-right Republicans using the border to score political points rather than solving the problem, Ryan writes letter to President Biden calling on him to take executive action to restore order at the Southern border

Earlier this year, House Republican leadership refused to even hold a vote on bipartisan Senate immigration legislation 

WASHINGTON, DC –  Today, in a letter to President Biden, Congressman Pat Ryan called for the President to take further action to restore order at the Southern border and fix our broken immigration system. Earlier this year, in what Congressman Ryan called “the most cynical and disappointing display of partisanship” he’s seen in Congress, Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik refused to even allow the House to vote on bipartisan Senate immigration legislation. 

“I’m fighting to restore order at the Southern border. But instead of taking action to actually fix the problem, the far-right House leadership under Mike Johnson and Elise Stefanik would rather use immigration to score political points. After repeated refusals from Republicans to work with us to get the job done, it is time for President Biden to take matters into his own hands,” said Congressman Pat Ryan. “We need to secure the border, stop the flow of dangerous fentanyl into our communities, and provide a path to citizenship for those who have been living, working, following the law, and paying taxes in the United States for many years. It’s time to come together as Patriots, put country ahead of party, and deliver for the Hudson Valley.”

Congressman Ryan has repeatedly called on House leadership to bring comprehensive, substantial immigration reform and border security funding to a vote. In February in a speech on the House floor and in a letter, Congressman Ryan called on Speaker Johnson and GOP Conference Chair Stefanik to bring the Senate-proposed national security supplemental to a vote in the House. The supplemental included the most comprehensive border security and immigration reform in decades and had been negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators and the Biden Administration. 

In August of 2023, Congressman Ryan joined colleagues in a letter calling on then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to bring the Biden Administration's proposed over $4 billion border security funding supplemental to a vote in the House. Biden’s proposal would have hired 1,300 border patrol agents, 1,000 law enforcement personnel, 1,600 asylum officers and 375 new immigration judge teams. 

In April, Ryan cosponsored H.Res 1132 “Condemning Republican inaction to address comprehensive immigration reform and border security” after the repeated failed responses by House leadership to bring readily available, bipartisan border and immigration legislation to a vote in the House.

While House Republicans have blocked votes on full border security funding and comprehensive immigration reform, Congressman Ryan has built a record of calling for and working towards solutions, including calling for streamlining the process of granting asylees work authorization and calling extensively for and helping secure Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans, the largest population of migrants coming to New York City, so they could immediately gain work authorization. Ryan also introduced the Courage to Serve Act to create a pilot program that would allow a qualified set of migrants to receive an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for military service. Ryan also cosponsors the Dignity Act that would improve the work authorization process, increase pathways to citizenship, and bolster the processing of asylum requests. 

Congressman Ryan has been adamant that border security legislation must include funding to combat the trafficking of illicit fentanyl across the borders, including demanding that $800 million be included in H.R. 2, the border bill passed by House Republicans that failed to include any mention of illicit fentanyl. Ryan also cosponsors the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, the Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act, the END FENTANYL Act, and the Disarming Cartels Act. Ryan also cosponsors legislation to improve U.S. Customs and Border patrol hiring and employee retention.

When governors from southern border states began transporting migrants to New York State in the summer of 2023, overwhelming the state’s available resources, Congressman Ryan immediately joined with Congressman Mike Lawler on a bipartisan letter calling for President Biden to issue  a major disaster declaration to usher in additional federal resources.

A copy of Ryan’s original letter to President Biden, co-signed by 14 of Ryan’s fellow Members of Congress, appears below:

Dear President Biden: 

We write to you to respectfully request that you and your administration immediately take further action to restore order at the Southern border and fix our broken immigration system. 

We appreciate your good faith efforts on the bipartisan border agreement in the Senate. As such, this Congress had an opportunity to work together on a bipartisan basis to secure the border but House Speaker Mike Johnson has refused to bring that bill to us for debate because our House colleagues would rather see the crisis continue and use it as a campaign ad instead of actually addressing this national security issue. It is well past time for both parties to come together and agree on common-sense, bipartisan immigration reforms that both strengthen enforcement at the border and provide a path to citizenship for those who have been living, working, and paying taxes in the United States for many years. All of our constituents, no matter our congressional district, have felt the impacts of the current border situation. Communities across the country are grappling with the fentanyl crisis and struggling to find appropriate shelter and services for those seeking asylum. 

Democrats have repeatedly stood ready to support funding for increased border patrol personnel and fentanyl scanning technology, as well as immigration judges and asylum officers to allow for orderly processing at ports of entry. We were proud to support $19.6 billion for Customs and Border Protection in the recently passed Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 government funding package– including $75.5 million to acquire additional nonintrusive inspection detection systems and $20 million for an additional 150 CBP Officers to support counter fentanyl efforts. We recognize that ultimately fixing our broken immigration system is complex and requires Congress to act, but while Republicans continue to refuse to come to the table and intentionally destroy bipartisan solutions, we still must act to protect our country. 

It has become clear that the current situation remains untenable, but with Republicans playing politics on border security, it is time for your administration to act. We urge you to use all tools at your disposal, including executive action, to better address security at the Southern border, interdict illicit fentanyl and allow for orderly legal immigration. Thank you for your attention to this matter. 

Sincerely,

###