Bill Text: TX SR535 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Declaring the crisis at the Texas-Mexico International Border an emergency and requesting Congress to adopt a budget that fully funds all means necessary to fully secure the Texas-Mexico International Border.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 19-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-04-02 - Reported enrolled [SR535 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-SR535-Enrolled.html
By: Bettencourt, et al. | S.R. No. 535 |
|
||
WHEREAS, The United States Congress has the moral and | ||
constitutional responsibility to fully maintain the operational | ||
security of the Texas-Mexico international border; and | ||
WHEREAS, The United States Congress has neglected to fully | ||
fund the maintenance, order, and safety of the Texas-Mexico | ||
international border; and | ||
WHEREAS, An unprotected border facilitates drug smuggling | ||
and human trafficking and opens the door to spillover violence | ||
from criminal cartels and poses a grave threat to homeland | ||
security; and | ||
WHEREAS, On March 28, 2019, the U.S. Department of | ||
Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, sent an | ||
urgent request to the United States Congress describing the | ||
border as "a humanitarian and security catastrophe that is | ||
worsening by the day"; and | ||
WHEREAS, DHS is expected to report the interdiction of | ||
100,000 migrants in March 2019, which would be the highest | ||
monthly total in a decade; and | ||
WHEREAS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had | ||
12,000 migrants in custody the last week of March 2019, an | ||
unprecedented number; and | ||
WHEREAS, Secretary Nielsen reports that the volume of | ||
"vulnerable populations" is unsustainable and DHS, CBP, and | ||
Health and Human Services (HHS) facilities are at peak capacity | ||
to shelter unaccompanied alien children (UAC); and | ||
WHEREAS, Due to the unprecedented influx of migrants | ||
overwhelming the capacity at CBP stations and the ongoing crisis, | ||
U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Del Rio Sector have | ||
begun releasing detainees into Texas; and | ||
WHEREAS, News reports reveal undocumented women have made | ||
their way into American border towns after being beaten for | ||
disobeying smugglers, impregnated by strangers, coerced into | ||
prostitution, shackled to beds and trees, and – in at least a | ||
handful of cases – bound with duct tape, rope, or handcuffs; and | ||
WHEREAS, 194,000 criminal aliens booked into Texas jails | ||
from 2011-2019 were charged with more than 299,000 criminal | ||
offenses; and | ||
WHEREAS, CBP reports the unprecedented increase in migrant | ||
interdictions is having a detrimental impact on CBP's primary | ||
border security mission and security posture resulting in up to | ||
40 percent or more of CBP personnel working to care for, | ||
transport, and process vulnerable families and children; and | ||
WHEREAS, Transnational criminal organizations and | ||
smugglers are using large groups of families as diversions to | ||
exploit and profit from reduced border enforcement presence; and | ||
WHEREAS, Members of Congress have filed legislation to | ||
designate drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations for | ||
their undermining of American national security with a | ||
relentless attack on our border while trafficking in human | ||
beings; and | ||
WHEREAS, The President of the United States has declared | ||
the situation along the border a "crisis"; and | ||
WHEREAS, The United States Congress has consistently | ||
delayed meaningful action on border security, forcing Texas to | ||
expend significant resources to keep the international border | ||
with Mexico secure and placing an undue burden on the state's | ||
taxpayers; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas Senate hereby expresses its | ||
dissatisfaction with the United States Congress' inadequate | ||
efforts to fully fund the operational security of the | ||
Texas-Mexico international border; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas Senate calls upon the United | ||
States Congress to adopt a budget that fully funds all means | ||
necessary to fully secure the Texas-Mexico international border, | ||
including, but not limited to, deploying personnel, implementing | ||
effective technologies, and erecting barriers where needed; and, | ||
be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas Senate requests the federal | ||
government cease separating families at the border as a means of | ||
deterring refugees, and to humanely process refugee and asylum | ||
seekers; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas Senate declares this crisis at | ||
the Texas-Mexico International Border an emergency; and, be it | ||
further | ||
RESOLVED, The Texas Senate supports the President in his | ||
efforts to move forward with emergency action; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Secretary of the Texas Senate forward | ||
official copies of this resolution to the President of the United | ||
States, to the President of the U.S. Senate, and to the Speaker of | ||
the U.S. House of Representatives, and to all members of the | ||
Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this | ||
resolution be entered in the Congressional Record. | ||
_______________________________ | ||
President of the Senate | ||
I hereby certify that the | ||
above Resolution was adopted by | ||
the Senate on April 2, 2019, by | ||
the following vote: Yeas 19, | ||
Nays 12. | ||
_______________________________ | ||
Secretary of the Senate |