U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) joined Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) to introduce the FINISH IT Act. This legislation would require the federal government to use previously purchased and unused border wall panels to extend the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border or to transfer them to state governments to be used for wall construction.
This bill is being introduced in response to an investigation that revealed the DoD is spending $47 million per year, or $130,000 per day, to store the panels in the Southwest United States. The FINISH IT Act would require the federal government to deploy the materials or transfer them to state governments who will use them for wall construction.
About the legislation, Sen. Cruz said:
“President Biden’s policies have created the worst border crisis that the United States has ever faced. This administration is utterly lawless, and that lawlessness is not just endangering the safety and security of Americans, but also draining America’s Treasury. We are paying extra to not build a wall on our southern border. We need to build a wall to secure our southern border, and I’m proud to work with Ranking Member Wicker and my colleagues to force the Defense Department to do its job and finish our border wall.”
Full text of the bill is available here.
Sen. Cruz has led the fight to secure the border:
- Sen. Cruz has led numerous groups of legislators on trips to the U.S. Mexico border to document the unrelenting crisis there under Joe Biden’s open borders agenda.
- Sen. Cruz continues to fight for “Kate’s Law” to impose a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for anyone trying to illegally reenter the United States after being expelled.
- Sen. Cruz introduced the WALL Act to fully fund the wall along the southern border, and the EL CHAPO Act, which would use money forfeited to the U.S. government as a result of the criminal prosecution of Mexican drug lord “El Chapo” and other drug kingpins for border security and the completion of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
- Sen. Cruz has fought to keep American communities safe, as “sanctuary cities” across the country refuse to enforce the laws and release violent criminals illegally into our country. The Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act would allow local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities and would pull taxpayer-funded grants to sanctuary cities.
- Sen. Cruz has successfully secured several amendments to the Coast Guard Authorization Act which support security efforts at our southern border. Sen. Cruz delivered on legislation that mandates real-time data sharing between U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (USCBP) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), legislation that would mandate the acquisition of enhanced surveillance capabilities for the southern maritime boundary, and legislation that would explore the creation of a Coast Guard facility at Port Mansfield.
- Sen. Cruz led the Asylum Accountability Act in the Senate, which would impose a significant increase in the penalty for illegal aliens who fail to appear in immigration court by permanently barring them from gaining any future benefit under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
- Sen. Cruz worked with colleagues to confront the Biden administration to address the humanitarian and security crisis at the U.S. southern border by establishing effective immigration controls in the United States. He also focused on targeting U.S. foreign assistance efforts to strengthen border security and migration management capacities in the region, and leveraging existing bilateral extradition treaties and the Palermo Protocols to prosecute transnational criminal actors facilitating illegal migration to the United State.
