BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined a letter led by Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland seeking answers on actions taken by the Biden Administration to open America’s borders and encourage illegal immigration in the midst of an ongoing crisis at the southern border.
“Instead of doing more to secure our border and discourage illegal immigration, the Biden Administration is now making it easier for economic migrants to make dubious and fraudulent asylum claims, to the delight of the cartels,” wrote the senators. “We are extremely skeptical of the changes proposed by the Biden Administration, and remain concerned that these changes will encourage more economic migrants to illegally immigrate when our border is already in crisis.”
To better understand the Biden Administration’s asylum policies, the senators have asked for a response to the following questions no later than August 2, 2021:
- Did the Biden Administration conduct an analysis of the impact of vacating Matter of L-E-A- and Matter of A-B- on illegal economic migration before taking this course of action? If so, did this analysis consider the pull factor of drawing more illegal immigrants to the border and enabling the cartels who profit from asylum abuse?
- How many asylum seekers currently request asylum based on private criminal activity, and are being denied as a result? How many more asylum seekers would qualify due to the Biden Administration’s actions?
- In light of a historic immigration backlog, DOJ requested an additional 100 immigration judges in its FY2022 budget request. If the Biden Administration’s promotion of asylum fraud goes through, will DOJ request additional judges to help process the inevitable wave of claims based on private criminal activity?
- Has the Biden Administration conducted a cost review to determine how much encouraging fraudulent asylum claims will cost the American taxpayer? What resources may be diverted from DOJ which could otherwise be directed towards protecting public safety and prosecuting dangerous criminals?
Senators Cramer and Tillis are joined on the letter by Senators Mike Braun (R-IN), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Tom Cotton (R-AR), James Inhofe (R-OK), and James Lankford (R-OK).
