Border securityTexas Republican lawmakers introduce border security bill

Republican Sen. John Cornyn and Rep Michael McCaul introduce border legislation // Source: HSNW composite

Two Texas Republican legislators have introduced a bill which will mandate that DHS meet several demanding border security standards, but sad that these  standards will not delay progress  on immigration reform.

Analysts say the proposed  bill will ensure that Texas conservatives have more of a say in the immigration reform debate.

The Texas Tribune reports  that Senator John Cronyn (R-Texas) and Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas) filed the Border Security Act of 2013 on Tuesday. The bill requires that DHS return to reporting  how much of the border is under “operational control,” reporting which the agency discontinued in 2010.

The bill also requires that border agents set a goal of apprehending 90 percent of people who attempt to cross the border illegally, as well as  cut wait times at the nation’s ports of entry. Finally, the bill would require that DHS consider  expanding the use of drones to monitor the border.

Muzaffar Chishti, a lawyer and the director of the Migration Policy Institute’s office at the New York University School of Law, told the Tribune that the bill could lead to a more open conversation on border security.  

“When senators feel strongly about various aspects of this bill, they’ll start introducing either amendments or bills like this,” Chishti said. “I don’t think that it finally means much about where we will end up, and I don’t think advocates should assume that just by introducing this bill that this will take precedence.”

Chishti noted that Cornyn is the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Refugees and Border Security Subcommittee, and McCaul is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and that both are up-front about their ideas concerning  immigration reform.

“They are sort of showing their cards in advance of the introduction of the Gang of Eight,” Chishti told the Tribune. “That’s the only important thing one can read of this. If the ranking member of the subcommittee and the chair of the House Homeland Security committee are saying this, this will be an important part of the debate.”

Cornyn and McCaul stressed their goal was not  to throw a wrench into the current immigration discussion, or to tell DHS how to secure the border. Rather, both said  they believe members of Congress should be informed before making any serious decisions.

“We are not expressing in this bill any opinion on whether this will be a trigger or a sequence of events” on