When the Supreme Court takes up the border detention question — and a circuit split now makes that likely — the answer should already be settled by statute. Congress ordered the detention of illegal entrants in 1996; administrations of both parties ignored that command for almost 30 years, and only now is it being enforced. The Senate should not leave that enforcement hanging on litigation.

Please support legislation codifying the border detention mandate in unmistakable terms, and press Senate leadership to act when the House sends over H.R. 9773, the Permanent Trump Secure Border Act. A mandate that can be ignored for three decades is not a mandate at all — make it one.

Greg Raven, Apple Valley, CA

Sent to:
Alex Padilla, Adam Schiff