Cartwright, Democratic colleagues urge Biden to take further action to 'restore order' at border

U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright and more than a dozen other Democratic lawmakers are urging the president to use all tools at his disposal, including executive action, to “restore order” at the southern border.

The Moosic Democrat and 14 of his House colleagues sent President Joe Biden a letter this week describing the current border situation as “untenable” and accusing Republicans of “playing politics on border security.” It followed the collapse earlier this year of a bipartisan border security proposal that presumptive 2024 GOP nominee former President Donald Trump came out hard against.

Senate Republicans rejected in February the bipartisan package, which included foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other allies, at the urging of Trump and amid fierce opposition from many House Republicans. GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson called the proposal “dead on arrival” in the lower chamber that it never reached.

In their letter, Cartwright and other signatories noted their appreciation for Biden’s “good faith efforts” on the bipartisan Senate proposal. But they faulted Johnson and House Republicans with squandering an opportunity to work on a bipartisan basis to secure the border, writing “our House colleagues would rather see the crisis continue and use it as a campaign ad instead of actually addressing this national security issue.”

“It is well past time for both parties to come together and agree on common-sense, bipartisan immigration reforms that both strengthen enforcement at the border and provide a path to citizenship for those who have been living, working, and paying taxes in the United States for many years,” the letter continues. “All of our constituents, no matter our congressional district, have felt the impacts of the current border situation. Communities across the country are grappling with the fentanyl crisis and struggling to find appropriate shelter and services for those seeking asylum.”

The letter also notes Democratic support for nearly $19.6 billion in Customs and Border Protection funding included in the recently passed Fiscal Year 2024 government funding package.

“It has become clear that the current situation remains untenable, but with Republicans playing politics on border security, it is time for your administration to act,” the lawmakers wrote to Biden. “We urge you to use all tools at your disposal, including executive action, to better address security at the Southern border, interdict illicit fentanyl and allow for orderly legal immigration.”

In a press release, Cartwright highlighted his vote to increase Customs and Border Protection funding to stop the flow of fentanyl through ports of entry, bolster border security technology and hire more border patrol agents. He also voted with Republicans during the Trump administration to fund $1.6 billion for border wall construction, he said.

Despite the earlier collapse of the bipartisan border proposal that included foreign aid, Congress passed and Biden signed last month a $95 billion aid package delivering key funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Cartwright, who supported the foreign aid, missed a separate vote on Republican-backed border legislation that failed to pass the House.

That bill, similar to one that passed the Republican-controlled House last year, would have revived several Trump-era immigration policies but likely died in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Among its many Republican supporters was U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, who criticized Democrats for blocking it in the House.

In a statement late last month, Meuser blasted “Biden open border policies,” claiming terrorists, gang members and murderers were among the millions who have illegally crossed the border during his administration.

“Fentanyl, the leading cause of death of our young people, is being made in China and shipped across our porous southern border, wreaking havoc and destruction in our communities,” Meuser said in the statement. “With their votes against border security legislation last week, Congressional Democrats affirmed they are okay with these consequences of Biden’s Border Crisis.”

While Cartwright, a member of the Democratic Border Security Task Force, missed the vote on the Republican-backed bill, he told the newspaper he would have voted against it “as it did not reflect the terms of the bipartisan agreement, which our task force is pushing to come to a vote.”

“We can solve this crisis,” he said in that late April statement, “and we need to stop the posturing and come together to make it happen.”