By Senator John McCain
Did you hear the news? Today we took a positive step forward in the fight to secure America’s borders.
The Senate Homeland Security & Government Affairs Committee has approved the Arizona Borderlands Protection & Preservation Act, which I introduced earlier this year.
For decades, drug cartels and human smugglers have exploited U.S. land management laws by crossing our border through federal wildlife reserves – where current law strictly limits Border Patrol Officers’ movement.
It’s deeply frustrating that the very laws in place to protect federal lands can also prevent Border Patrol agents from doing their jobs by making it more difficult to access large swaths of land and respond to threats quickly.
When some Democrats from the East Coast objected to my bill today, I had to give them some straight talk: “I don’t give a damn if somebody that lives in Delaware doesn’t like my efforts to [secure] our border so that people who live down on our border can live in an environment of peace and security that the people of Delaware can live in.”
When it’s passed by Congress, my common-sense bill will change that, cutting bureaucratic red tape to provide border agents the access they need to better secure our border.
This is exactly the kind of work that I’m determined to continue as Arizona’s Senator.
Sincerely,
John McCain