{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.fischer.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news?ID=6E006080-E17B-40E0-8537-AB7FA148948C", "Fischer, Colleagues Introduce Senate Companion to House-Passed Secure the Border Act", "2023-09-19", "2023", "2023-09", "Republican", "Senate", "NE", "Deb Fischer", "F000463", "www.fischer.senate.gov", "fischer", "https://www.fischer.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) recently co-led the introduction of the Secure the Border Act of 2023 in the Senate. The legislation, which is the most comprehensive border security legislation in decades, was already passed by the U.S. House of Representatives as H.R. 2.\n\nThe Secure the Border Act will resume construction on the wall, tighten asylum standards, criminalize visa overstays, increase the number of Border Patrol Agents, defund NGOs receiving tax dollars to help traffic illegal aliens throughout the heartland, and prohibit DHS from using its app to assist illegal aliens. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) led the introduction of the legislation.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been to the southern border and seen the chaos there. It is nothing short of a humanitarian and national security crisis. Our legislation will force this administration to finally take steps to secure the border \u2014 like resuming construction of the border wall, ending catch-and-release, and reinstating President Trump\u2019s Remain in Mexico policy. If President Biden won\u2019t act to fix the crisis he has created, Congress must,\u201d said Senator Fischer.\n\nIn addition to Senators Fischer and Cruz, the legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), JD Vance (R-Ohio), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), and John Kennedy (R-La.).\n\nBackground:\n\nThe Secure the Border Act enacts effective border security solutions, including:\n\nRequiring the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resume border wall construction\n\nIncreasing the number of Border Patrol Agents\n\nTightening asylum standards by restricting asylum to only aliens who present at ports of entry and by requiring aliens to prove they are \u201cmore likely than not\u201d to qualify for their asylum claim\n\nNarrowing DHS\u2019s power to unilaterally grant parole to illegal aliens\n\nCriminalizing visa overstays by making the first offense a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and the second offense a felony punishable by up to a $2,000 fine and up to two years imprisonment\n\nStopping NGOs from using tax dollars to transport or lodge illegal aliens and provide illegal aliens with lawyers\n\nRestricting DHS from using its CBP One app to welcome illegal aliens into the country\n\nRequiring employers to use E-Verify\n\nReversing the Biden administration\u2019s adverse wage rule that would increase costs and create administrative burdens for American farmers using the H-2A\n\nEnsuring U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has access to the criminal history databases of all countries of origin and transit so that CBP is aware of the criminal history of illegal aliens encountered at the southern border\n\nThe full text of the Secure the Border Act is available here.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:35:26Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.fischer.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news?ID=6E006080-E17B-40E0-8537-AB7FA148948C"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9180898778140545, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}