Stop the Invasion Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2737 To require the President to suspend the entry of aliens into the United States when the average number of ‘‘encounters’’ exceeds a certain num- ber, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 20, 2023 Mr. OGLES (for himself, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. POSEY, Mr. ROSENDALE, Mrs. BOEBERT, Mr. GOSAR, Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, Mr. BIGGS, Mrs. LESKO, Mr. GOOD of Virginia, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. WEBSTER of Florida, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. BABIN, Mr. WEBER of Texas, and Mr. LAMALFA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on the Judiciary A BILL To require the President to suspend the entry of aliens into the United States when the average number of ‘‘en- counters’’ exceeds a certain number, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop the Invasion 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2737.IH H2737 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2737 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds the following: 2 (1) The U.S. Customs and Border Protection 3 Agency (in this Act, referred to as ‘‘CBP’’) ‘‘encoun- 4 tered’’ 251,978 illegal aliens at the Southwest bor- 5 der in December 2022, the highest monthly total 6 ever recorded; this represented 10 consecutive 7 months of over 200,000 illegal alien ‘‘encounters’’. 8 (2) Since the creation of the Department of 9 Homeland Security, the number of monthly ‘‘en- 10 counters’’ had never crossed the 200,000 threshold; 11 the Biden administration is responsible for the 6th 12 highest and 8 of the 10 highest months ever re- 13 corded. 14 (3) While January 2023 ‘‘encounters’’ fell 15 below 200,000, that number reached 156,274, a 16 record high for the month of January. 17 (4) February 2023 saw 154,998 ‘‘encounters’’ 18 at the Southwest border, the 24th consecutive month 19 that ‘‘encounters’’ exceeded 150,000. Nearly half of 20 the February total stemmed from expulsions under 21 title 42. 22 (5) In fiscal year 2022, CBP ‘‘encountered’’ 23 nearly 2,380,000 illegal aliens at the Southwest bor- 24 der (excluding a reported 600,000 known 25 ‘‘gotaways’’) and more than 2,700,000 nationwide. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2737.IH H2737 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2737 IH CBP data indicates that from February 1, 2021, 1 through February 28, 2023, nearly 4.85 million ille- 2 gal aliens have been ‘‘encountered’’ at the United 3 States Southwest border. 4 (6) In the first 5 months of fiscal year 2023, 5 CBP has ‘‘encountered’’ 1,029,953 illegal aliens at 6 the Southwest border, putting the Department of 7 Homeland Security on pace to ‘‘encounter’’ nearly 8 2,500,000 illegal aliens this fiscal year. 9 (7) According to congressional testimony pro- 10 vided by U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz on 11 March 15, 2023, the number of known ‘‘gotaways’’ 12 since January 20, 2021, has exceeded 1,300,000, 13 bringing the total number of aliens attempting to 14 cross the Southwest border well in excess of 15 6,000,000. 16 (8) Six million is a greater population than the 17 populations of 31 of the 50 States. It is more than 18 the populations of North Dakota, South Dakota, 19 Rhode Island, Alaska, Vermont, Delaware, and the 20 District of Columbia combined. 21 (9) The ongoing border crisis has inflicted 22 harrowing costs on the welfare of women and chil- 23 dren. The number of unaccompanied alien children 24 ‘‘encountered’’ by CBP at the Southwest border in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2737.IH H2737 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2737 IH fiscal year 2017 was 48,681. In fiscal year 2022, 1 that number stood at 152,057, a 212 percent in- 2 crease. Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable chil- 3 dren have been ‘‘encountered’’, trafficked, and smug- 4 gled across the Southwest border in the 2 years 5 since President Biden took office, representing hun- 6 dreds of children every day. 7 (10) According to CBP, migrant deaths at the 8 Southwest border of the United States totaled 856 9 in fiscal year 2022, the deadliest year on record. 10 (11) A May 2017 report from Doctors Without 11 Borders indicated that out of the number of women 12 surveyed, nearly one-third had been sexually as- 13 saulted as they approached the Southern border. 14 (12) According to Drug Enforcement Agency 15 statistics, over 50,600,000 fentanyl pills were seized 16 in 2022, including over 10,800 pounds of fentanyl 17 powder; these fentanyl seizures are enough to kill 18 over 379,000,000 people. Recent data from the Cen- 19 ters for Disease Control and Prevention indicate 20 that 107,735 Americans died of a drug overdose in 21 the 12-month period ending July 2022. 22 (13) Due to rampant drug trafficking at our 23 Southern border, the leading cause of death for 24 Americans aged 18–45 can now be attributable to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2737.IH H2737 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2737 IH fentanyl overdoses; in 2020 and 2021, fentanyl was 1 responsible for killing more Americans in this age 2 group than COVID–19, car accidents, cancer, and 3 suicide. 4 (14) According to CBP data, in the first five 5 months of fiscal year 2023, 106,000 pounds of 6 drugs were seized at the Southwest border, including 7 11,000 pounds of fentanyl. The first five months of 8 fiscal year 2023 have seen a 179.3 percent increase 9 in fentanyl seizures over the same time frame in fis- 10 cal year 2022. 11 (15) The historic crisis at the Southwest border 12 demands decisive action on the part of Congress. 13 SEC. 3. MORATORIUM. 14 Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality 15 Act (8 U.S.C. 1182) is amended— 16 (1) by striking ‘‘Whenever’’ and inserting ‘‘(1) 17 Whenever’’; and 18 (2) by adding at the end the following: 19 ‘‘(2)(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of 20 law, if the average number of apprehensions and 21 findings of inadmissible aliens documented by U.S. 22 Customs and Border Protection exceeds an average 23 of 30,000 per month over the most recent 12-month 24 period, the President shall suspend the entry of cov- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2737.IH H2737 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2737 IH ered aliens until the monthly average number of ap- 1 prehensions of illegal aliens is less than 30,000. 2 ‘‘(B) For the purpose of this paragraph, the 3 number of apprehensions and findings of inadmis- 4 sible aliens shall be the total number of U.S. Cus- 5 toms and Border Protection enforcement actions 6 taken under this Act and section 362 of the Public 7 Health Service Act. 8 ‘‘(C) In this paragraph, the term ‘covered alien’ 9 means an alien seeking entry to the United States 10 who is inadmissible under subsection (a)(6) or sub- 11 section (a)(7).’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 Apr 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2737.IH H2737 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS