Dear Friend,

Earlier today, the House responded to the unprecedented and unconstitutional actions President Obama took in November to change our country’s immigration laws without the consent of Congress. By fully defunding the executive orders the House has taken an important step in stopping President Obama’s executive overreach on immigration from being implemented. The president’s egregious executive orders on immigration have only created more loopholes in an already complicated immigration system, which is why the president shouldn’t be legislating via executive action.  

In addition to taking steps to stop President Obama’s immigration executive actions, the House fully funded the Department of Homeland Security for the remainder of the fiscal year. In December, the House stopped short of funding the Department of Homeland Security through the end of the fiscal year because we wanted to challenge the president’s executive overreach when the new Congress convened. As a result, the House has now fulfilled its promise to defund the executive orders while taking the responsible step to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

This bipartisan bill includes critical funding for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as agencies dedicated to counterterrorism. The recent terrorist attacks in Paris are a reminder that we must remain vigilant against the threat of terrorist acts on American soil, which is why this bill makes important investments to keep our country safe.

The bill provides for the largest operational force in history with 21,370 Border Patrol agents and 23,775 Customs and Border Protection officers to fully support efforts to protect our borders. It is the fundamental responsibility of the federal government to protect the homeland and that includes a robust effort to secure our borders.

This legislative package now goes over to the Senate for consideration.  

Sincerely,
Kay Granger