{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.young.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/young-colleagues-introduce-senate-companion-to-house-passed-secure-the-border-act/", "Young, Colleagues Introduce Senate Companion to House-Passed Secure the Border Act", "2023-09-19", "2023", "2023-09", "Republican", "Senate", "IN", "Todd Young", "Y000064", "www.young.senate.gov", "toddyoung", "https://www.young.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.) joined with Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and a group of Senate Republican colleagues to introduce the Secure the Border Act of 2023. This bill passed the House of Representatives as H.R. 2 earlier this year.\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 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) receiving tax dollars to help traffic illegal aliens throughout the heartland, and prohibit the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from using its app to resettle illegal aliens.\n\n\u201cThe Biden Administration\u2019s open border policies have created a national security and humanitarian crisis on the U.S. southern border. This legislation will better protect our country by resuming construction of the border wall, reinstating proven border security policies, and increasing resources for our Border Patrol agents,\u201d said Senator Young.\n\nIn addition to Senators Young and Cruz, Senators Mitch McConnell (R- Ky.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), JD Vance (R-Ohio), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Thune (R-S.D.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) also co-sponsored this legislation.\n\nBackground:\n\nThe Secure the Border Act would enact effective border security solutions, including:\n\nRequiring 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; and\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.", 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.young.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/young-colleagues-introduce-senate-companion-to-house-passed-secure-the-border-act/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9059419389814138, "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"}