Atlanta, Ga. — Today, in response to news reports that Donald Trump is lobbying Republicans to sabotage bipartisan border security efforts because he wants to campaign on the issue in November, U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff released the following statement:
“As I have said repeatedly, chaos at the southern border is a threat to our national security. The terrorism threat associated with unlawful entry must be addressed.
“For months, Senators in both parties have been working on a bipartisan border security measure.
“Despite the urgency of this bipartisan effort, Donald Trump this week launched a self-serving campaign to sabotage it so he can wield the border as an election issue.
“Republicans in Congress must reject Trump’s sabotage of bipartisan efforts to strengthen border security.”
For years, Sen. Ossoff has urged bipartisanship to strengthen border security and has worked to advance bipartisan legislation to hire and retain more border security officers.
Last week, on WSB Radio’s Atlanta’s Morning News, Sen. Ossoff urged bipartisanship to tackle the crisis at the border, saying Republicans and Democrats needed to work together toward solutions.
In an interview with The Atlanta-Journal Constitution in December, Sen. Ossoff noted the failure to achieve compromise over the last decade, adding, “The disorder and chaos at the border is a real national security issue.”
Last year, Sen. Ossoff helped pass the bipartisan Securing America’s Ports of Entry Act through the U.S. Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, which would require U.S. Customs and Border Protection to hire, train, and assign no less than 600 additional CBP officers a year, until the agency’s staffing needs are met, to secure ports of entry across the country.
Last year, Sen. Ossoff also helped pass the bipartisan Border Patrol Enhancement Act through the U.S. Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee to ensure U.S. Border Patrol can hire, train, and fairly pay law enforcement officers who are keeping our borders safe.
In an interview with Fox News in 2022, Sen. Ossoff placed blame on both parties for failing to achieve meaningful immigration reform, saying “Democrats are afraid to talk about border security, and Republicans are afraid to talk about establishing a path to legal status for the folks who are here and otherwise follow the law who are part of our society, and until we’re willing to acknowledge that, and until we’re willing on that basis to pass legislation that secures the border and that addresses the undocumented persons who otherwise follow the law in this country at a time when we have severe workforce shortages, we’re going to be re-litigating these same issues year after year after year.”
In 2022, Sen. Ossoff also pressed a Biden Administration official during a U.S. Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on the Administration’s plans to manage a projected influx of migrants into the U.S. that summer.
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