Eastern Shore Times

Many Democrat-controlled northern cities and states have declared states of emergency this year and seek help from the federal government due to the number of illegal immigrants living in their jurisdictions, Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) said in his weekly e-newsletter on Aug. 11.

"Massachusetts Governor Healey was the most recent official to declare a state of emergency due to an influx of immigrants to her state," he wrote. "According to the governor, thousands are being housed in emergency shelters around the state (some are bona fide refugees, but many are illegal immigrants). Governor Healey said that the state’s social services are overwhelmed, and the state needs help from the federal government," the newsletter said.

"Washington, D.C., Chicago, and New York City have all declared immigration emergencies in the last year. New York State declared an emergency not long before Massachusetts. D.C. issued a state of emergency last September. Mayor Bowser blamed Texas Governor Abbott for the emergency when he bussed immigrants who had illegally crossed into the state to the nation’s capital," Griffith wrote. "Northern Democrat-run cities and states must accept that the border crisis is their problem, too."

In May, he wrote, Chicago joined D.C. in declaring an emergency when the number of immigrants being cared for by local and state agencies was over 8,000.

Despite House Republicans passing the Secure the Border Act of 2023 to address the crisis, not a single House Democrat voted in favor of it. He said the Biden Administration would rather shift blame and signal that the situation may persist without comprehensive bipartisan efforts.

H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023, proposes comprehensive changes to U.S. immigration policies, a paper written by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says. The CBO says it aims to restrict the Department of Homeland Security's parole authority for non-U.S. nationals, alter asylum processes, modify procedures for unauthorized border entry, and require negotiations with Western Hemisphere countries on asylum claims.

The bill also proposes to phase in mandatory universal E-Verify usage by employers and change penalties for unauthorized hiring. It also calls for the resumption of border wall construction, the hiring of additional border patrol agents, enhanced surveillance efforts, and funding allocations for various DHS programs, including the federal grant program Operation Stonegarden to help states with immigrant costs and port technology upgrades, the CBO report said.

In a House hearing on border issues last February, Griffith said he was troubled by the lack of collaboration with law enforcement for vetting sponsors, the use of insufficient background checks, and inadequate child welfare training for case managers during a visit to the Emergency Intake operation at Fort Bliss, TX, in 2021.

A September 2022 Inspector General study reinforced these concerns, revealing children's distress, panic attacks, and self-harm due to case manager negligence, along with eliminated safeguards in the sponsor screening process and concerns over prioritizing quick releases over child protection, he said.

In the February hearing, Griffith said a Homeland Security investigation estimated that the human trafficking industry escalated from $500 million in 2018 to $13 billion today, and border patrol sources said criminal organizations earned up to $14 million daily from trafficking.