Gallego Introduces Two Bills to Address Arizona’s Border Crisis, Mitigate Broken Asylum System

May 22, 2024

Gallego Introduces Two Bills to Address Arizona's Border Crisis, Mitigate Broken Asylum System

WASHINGTON - Today, Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ-03) introduced the Direct Hire Actand the Screening Efficiency Act, both aimed at speeding up migrant processing and providing relief to Arizona's frontline border communities.

"Arizonans deserve real solutions to the crisis at our southern border, which is why I'm fighting to tackle it from every angle, including providing additional resources to federal officials and first responders in our border communities," said Rep. Gallego. "Today, I'm proud to introduce two commonsense bills that will make it easier to hire officers and eliminate redundancies in the asylum screening process. We must do more to cut bureaucratic red tape and free up resources to address border surges."

The Direct Hire Act creates a five-year direct hire authority for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), making it easier for the agencies to hire processing and enforcement officers to reduce backlogs and expedient screenings and removals.

The Screening Efficiency Act creates a combined screening for credible fear and other asylum or removal standards, removing duplicative interviews and reducing wait times and agency capacity needs.

Both provisions are included in the Senate's bipartisan border bill, which is expected to come back up for a vote later this week.

Background on Rep. Gallego's Wins to Support Arizona's Border Communities:

Following numerouslettersurging FEMA and the Biden Administration to deliver Arizona's frontline border communities essential resources to deal with the border crisis, as well as a one-on-one call with Sec. Mayorkas, Rep. Gallego announced in September that he had secured over $2 million in emergency funding from the DHS to support Arizona's border communities as they address an increase in migrant crossings.

After close coordination with Arizona's non-profits, border community leaders, and law enforcement officials, Rep. Gallego rolled outhis plan to institute sweeping reforms to address the problems plaguing FEMA's failed Shelter and Services Program (SSP) that has shortchanged Arizona's border communities on the front line of the border crisis.

In December, Rep. Gallego traveled across Arizona meeting with border community leaders. He met with local officials, farmers, and business owners in Yuma to discuss the impact the closing of the Lukeville Port of Entry had on their businesses and Arizona's economy, and he visited Nogales, Bisbee, and Tucson to meet with local leaders, nonprofit officials, and representatives from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to discuss the impact of increased migration on Arizona's border communities.

To stop the flow of fentanyl across the border, Rep. Gallego introduced the Buck Stops Here Act to authorize the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to designate financial institutions, transaction classes, or accounts as primary money laundering concerns in connection to illicit fentanyl trafficking. This bill was signed into law in April.

In April, Rep. Gallego announced $54,573,093 in funding from SSP to support Arizona's border communities on the frontlines of the border crisis. Rep. Gallego helped secure $650 million in SSP funding as part of the fiscal year 2024 government funding package. He immediately called on Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to swiftly disperse the funds and to prioritize Arizona border communities.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.