GOP Texas Rep. Chip Roy is unhappy with how the border crisis is being handled. Given that he’s a conservative in a border state, this is hardly a surprise.
What is surprising is who he’s turning his ire toward: his fellow Republicans, who he says are only offering “words” and not solutions to illegal immigration.
In a Wednesday speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, Roy invoked the specter of the Alamo and urged his colleagues on the right to address the crisis now — lest their voters lose faith in them.
“If you do not secure the border now — now — you are giving up any argument you have for the American people to put their faith in you,” the congressman said in a fiery speech.
“Will Republicans honor their campaign commitments to secure the border, yes or no?”
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The proud Texan also said that the GOP of today paled in comparison to the bravery of their forefathers in the Lone Star State.
“What I am seeing right now from my Republican colleagues does not give me faith that they will stand up in the breach, as did those men who stood on the wall at the Alamo,” Roy said.
“I am tired of words. Things are going to change in this body,” the congressman said.
“If my Republican colleagues believe that they are going to be moving through relatively meaningless provisions, doing precious damn little for the very people who sent us here to change things, and they think that some of us are just going to go along for the ride, they are sorely mistaken. We will not.”
“I am tired of words. Things are going to change in this body”
“Will [Rs] honor their campaign commitments to secure the border? …What I am seeing right now for my Republican colleagues does not give me faith that they will stand up in the breach”https://t.co/s0ygKI4riF pic.twitter.com/qmbHONPfER
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) March 1, 2023
In addition, Roy said that just two months into the 118th Congress, Republicans in the newly retaken House of Representatives have “ran away from actually holding the executive branch responsible.”
Among the issues Republicans refuse to tackle, Roy said: vaccine mandates, executive overreach and rampant overspending.
“Two months into the 118th Congress, I’m not seeing a hell of a lot different than the same old, same old,” he said. “The American people gave Republicans a majority. We ought to darn well use it.”
Rep. Chip Roy R-TX finished today’s House session by blasting his own party. “Two months into the 118th Congress, I’m not seeing a hell of a lot different than the same old same old. The American people gave Republicans a majority. We ought to darn well use it.” pic.twitter.com/0JbctbiAFg
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) March 1, 2023
Roy was initially one of the Republican holdouts who kept Rep. Kevin McCarthy from cake-walking to the House speakership, casting his vote for Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan instead.
He would switch his allegiance to another candidate who’s more conservative than McCarthy, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, in later votes.
According to The Texas Tribune, as the standoff continued, Roy emerged as a negotiator between the party establishment and the so-called “NeverKevins” — GOP representatives such as Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Matt Gaetz of Florida.
Whatever comity may have been established during that process, however, seems to have eroded.
Just days after McCarthy was elected speaker, Roy and former GOP Texas Rep. Mayra Flores wrote a Jan. 19 Op-Ed for Fox News lambasting the Biden administration’s seeming decision to reinstate “catch-and-release” for illegal immigrants with pending asylum claims — allowing them to remain free while their case is adjudicated with minimal restrictions — and urging lawmakers to press for the Border Safety and Security Act.
“Immediate release of migrants before adjudication of claims is not only a problem in each case, but also represents a ‘pull-factor’ for more illegal migrants. An incomprehensible 4 million migrants have been encountered under the Biden regime, overwhelming border patrol,” Roy and Flores wrote.
Is the GOP failing to do anything about the border?
Yes: 0% (0 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
“Agents have been taken away from patrolling to ‘processing’ and this creates security gaps for cartels to traffic in drugs like fentanyl, which killed at least 72,000 Americans in 2021. More, it has allowed cartels to move some 1 million ‘got aways’ who evade arrest and are often the more dangerous individuals – sometimes affiliated with gangs or terrorist organizations.”
As for the Border Safety and Security Act, Roy and Flores said “the bill provides the Secretary of [the Department of Homeland Security] with the authority to turn away illegal migrants without admissible documentation if the Secretary sees it necessary to obtain operational control of the border.
“Operational control is not a controversial idea and is already required by the ‘Secure Fence Act of 2006,’ which then-Senator Joe Biden and current Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer voted for.”
Furthermore, they noted, this was little different in concept from keeping in place Title 42 pandemic protections that allowed officials to summarily deport all illegal immigrants — including asylum seekers — due to COVID-19.
“We will never solve this border crisis if Congress is not willing to step in and fix the policies causing it. The Border Safety and Security Act is the single best policy we would put forward to do that today,” they wrote.
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But this Congress isn’t the Alamo, alas — which is why Chip Roy is calling out his party in a huge way to start getting things done.
