Most folks across East Alabama watched with excitement on January 25^th as President Donald Trump signed an executive order to strengthen our country’s immigration laws.

I, too, applauded our new president’s action to take seriously our nation’s immigration crisis.

As a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee, I have long been an advocate for protecting American taxpayers from the enormous costs of illegal immigration. 

President Trump’s action stated his intent to build a wall along our southern border.      

The Secure Fence Act of 2006 authorized the building of a fence along our southern border. I am proud to say that I was a cosponsor of that legislation then, and I remain a strong supporter of that law now.

Though President Obama ignored this public law, we in the Congress will work with our new president to build the wall once and for all.      

Recently, in a House Homeland Security Committee hearing I was able to speak with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kelly about our shared efforts.

I believe border wall construction is a time-sensitive issue and should start as soon as possible.

In order to jumpstart construction of the wall, I will sponsor a bill, the Border Security Funding Act of 2017, which will require illegal workers to pay a fee on money they send away to their home countries.

This bill will also strengthen penalties for any country benefitting from illegal immigrant work in America.

Thankfully, with Jeff Sessions becoming our Attorney General, we will finally have a strong supporter of the rule of law at the DOJ. By building a border wall and enforcing the laws on the books, American can start to reclaim its sovereignty. 

I am looking forward to working closely with the Trump administration to curb America’s illegal immigration problem.

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