The Securing Our Border States Act establishes a block grant program to enable southwest border States to construct barriers along their borders with Mexico.

Many argue the Administration has failed to effectively lay out an immigration policy to control the southern border. And the recent court ruling barring the CDC from ending the use of Title 42 public health authority to expel migrants is just a temporary lull in an ongoing political and legal struggle. Therefore, Members of Congress have introduced legislation to establish a block grant program to enable southwest border States to construct barriers along their borders with Mexico.

This bill requires the Department of the Treasury to provide grants to states for building barriers and related infrastructure along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Within 30 days of receiving a certification from a border state that it intends to use such grant funding for constructing a border barrier, Treasury must disburse funds to the state, with the amount based on the number of miles of border in that state that currently does not have a border barrier.

The bill provides $22 billion of funding for this grant program and permanently rescinds $22 billion from funds made available for various assistance programs related to COVID-19.

The Securing our Border States Act will establish a block grant program, the “Empowering States to Build the Wall Fund,” for border states to continue constructing a barrier along their borders with Mexico. Once the Governor of a southwest border state certifies that they want funding for wall construction, the money will go directly to them – eliminating the ability for President Biden to stop it. 

For Border Barriers:

“On day one of his presidency, Biden set in motion the worst border crisis in our nation’s history,” said Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX). “Central to that was his presidential proclamation to pause construction of President Trump’s border wall. Without physical barriers, border agents have little chance of stopping much of anything coming across our wide-open southwest border. Drug smugglers and human traffickers simply go through the countless gaps of unfinished wall, evading our agents and burdening and endangering our border states.

 “The only viable path to fixing this dire situation is to put resources directly into the hands of the states and bypass the Biden administration and their political games entirely. This bill reinforces Republican Governors around the country who are sending resources to Texas and Arizona, and I am proud to join in this effort.” 

Opposed to Border Barriers:

"Congress has already spent close to $2 billion on border-barrier construction despite the fact that the southwest border is more secure than ever. According to a September 2017 DHS report, ‘available data indicate that the southwest land border is more difficult to illegally cross today than ever before.’ DHS must provide us with concrete data showing the need and efficacy for such a wall,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA).

“Moreover, Congress must take meaningful steps to address the previous administration’s cruel immigration policies: family separation; tear gassing toddlers; illegal denial of asylum-seekers; relentless attacks on immigrant communities of color; and termination of the DACA program and grants of Temporary Protected Status. Polls show consistent national majorities oppose a border wall. Our decision not to fund any more destructive and ineffective border walls would send a values-based and fiscally responsible message to the American people. Our communities deserve better than to be divided and our taxpayers deserve accountability and transparency.”

Should Congress pass the Securing Our Border States Act?