• Be ready for H.R. 9773

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that America’s labor force shrank by 720,000 people in June, household employment fell by 507,000, and participation hit 61.5 percent — a fifty-year low outside the Covid era. Behind those numbers are millions of Americans who have stopped looking for work altogether.

Into a labor market like that, the last border surge delivered millions of additional workers in four years — through parole abuse, catch-and-release, and asylum loopholes that remain written into law to this day. The current administration closed those doors by executive action, but executive action lasts only until the next election. The 2021 crisis began exactly that way: enforcement switched off, and the surge followed within months.

H.R. 9773, the Permanent Trump Secure Border Act, has now cleared the House Judiciary Committee and is moving toward the floor. It would end catch-and-release, rein in parole abuse, and strengthen asylum screening — permanently, in statute. When the House passes it, please be ready to take it up and pass it without delay. American workers should never again have to compete with the consequences of a preventable surge, and permanence is something only Congress can deliver.

Greg Raven, Apple Valley, CA

Sent to:
Alex Padilla, Adam Schiff