In trip to southern border, Mark Alford pushes hard-line approach to immigration

While visiting the southern border on Wednesday, Rep. Mark Alford asked one U.S. Border Patrol agent if he felt the border was secure. The agent demurred, saying the agency was doing the best it could.

“My contention is, ‘the best that we can’ is not good enough,” Alford, a Missouri Republican, said in an interview with The Star. “We need HR 2. We need to secure the border now. On that there will be no compromise.”

Alford was among 60 Republicans who made the trip to Eagle Pass, Texas, this week to highlight illegal immigration as some members of Congress seek a compromise on immigration policy. He supports a House-passed immigration bill, HR 2, that Democrats consider a non-starter.

The group, led by House Speaker Mike Johnson, toured a processing center, had lunch with local sheriffs and held a press conference taking a hard-line position calling on President Joe Biden to reinstate pandemic-related border policies to keep people from illegally crossing into the country.

In the time since the policy has been lifted, the hundreds of thousands of people crossing the southern border each month – most of whom are seeking asylum from their home countries – have become a pressing political problem at the start of a presidential election year that may pit Biden against former President Donald Trump, who has aggressively campaigned against illegal immigration.

At the same time, senators are engaged in serious talks about reforming border policies, with a focus on asylum and border security, as the public’s trust in Biden to handle illegal immigration has cratered. Just 32 percent of Americans say they are somewhat or very confident Biden can handle immigration issues, according to a December Pew Research poll.

But any compromise faces likely opposition from conservatives in the House like Alford, who wants a hard-line bill that limits asylum claims, restarts the construction of a southern border wall and limits the ability of the executive branch to grant parole to people who cross the border illegally.

“I am hopeful that they will come to their senses and pass a meaningful border security bill that we can find common ground and reach consensus on for the American people,” Alford said. “But it has to make our border secure. It can’t move more money to hire more Border Patrol agents to process more people and become pencil pushers.”

The conservative immigration push comes as a record number of people have crossed the southern border, over the past three years, coming from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and other countries. In the 2023 fiscal year, border patrol agents encountered more than 2.4 million people crossing the southern border, a 4 percent increase from 2022, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other southern Republicans have hoisted the issue onto liberal-leaning cities in the north, like Washington, New York and Chicago, by paying to transport the migrants to those cities, forcing mayors to attempt policies limiting how and when migrants can arrive in their cities. Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, has tried to block buses of migrants from entering the city.

But any compromise legislation is complicated by House Republicans, who have a narrow majority easily derailed by more conservative members of their caucus.

Speaking near the southern border on Wednesday, Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, indicated House Republicans aren’t open to compromise legislation that doesn’t adopt all the provisions the House passed last year.

“Our position is very clear and we’ve made that very clear for seven months,” Johnson said. “HR 2 is the necessary ingredient.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday that Biden believes the immigration system is broken. She offered no details on the progress of the bipartisan negotiations in the Senate, but said House Republicans – who are proceeding with an effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas – are merely pulling political stunts.

“We need the resources to actually do the work, and they keep getting in the – Republicans keep getting in the way of doing the work to deal with what we’re seeing at the border,” Jean-Pierre said. “So they’re obstructing. House Republicans are obstructing, that’s what they’re doing right now.”

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Kansas City Democrat, said he visited the border as a member of the House Homeland Security Committee to hear from people who have lived experience and expertise on border crossings. Cleaver criticized the fact that only Republicans made the trip this week, saying the fact that no invitations were extended to Democrats suggests House Republicans aren’t looking for a bipartisan solution.

“Unfortunately, once again, MAGA Republicans have refused to accept any sort of compromise, just as they refused to allow a vote on comprehensive immigration reform a decade ago,” Cleaver said. “Some have even threatened to shut the government down if their extreme demands are not met, which would only further exacerbate the crisis.”

Cleaver supports a plan by the Biden administration that would provide additional funding to hire more Customs and Border Patrol officers, increase the number of asylum officers at the border and boost technology at the border to help stem the flow of fentanyl.

Republicans have frequently used illegal immigration and the rise of fentanyl overdoses as a political cudgel in election years.

Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat in a district targeted by the National Republican Congressional Committee in 2024, said she supports a compromise on immigration policy.

“Rep. Davids agrees that our country’s immigration system has been broken for decades while Washington has failed to fix it,” said Zac Donley, a spokesman for Davids. “She’s ready to work with both Republicans and Democrats on a bipartisan, comprehensive immigration plan that actually secures our border, treats children and families humanely, and addresses the fentanyl crisis.”

Still, it hasn’t stopped the NRCC from attempting to tie her to Biden’s policies, including criticizing Davids’ vote against a House bill that would have prevented federal land from being used to house migrants, which has little chance of passing the Senate.

“Democrats will stop at nothing to change the America we know and love for the worse,” Bomar said.

McClatchy D.C. bureau reporter Gillian Brassil contributed to this article.