Finish building the wall
By U.S. Sen. Katie Britt
R-Alabama
As President Donald Trump begins his second term in the White House, there is one infrastructure project that towers above the rest: the construction of a wall on our southern border.
President Trump made significant progress in his first term toward completing a southern border wall, and with Republican majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate, now is the time to finish the job.
When the American people sent President Trump back to the Oval Office in November, they delivered a verdict. They let lawmakers in Washington, D.C., know that they would no longer tolerate elected officials neglecting the needs of the people they’re meant to represent.
For four years, the previous administration ignored the crisis at our border, thus ignoring the safety and security of the American people. That ended when the GOP took control of both chambers of Congress and when President Trump took the oath of office for the second time.
It’s why I reintroduced the WALL Act in January.
It is long past time to finish building the wall, and this bill would put us on the path to doing just that. It would appropriate the funding necessary to complete construction of our border wall and allow President Trump to do so without raising taxes on American citizens or increasing our national debt by a single cent.
We would fund the wall by eliminating taxpayer-funded entitlements and tax benefits for illegal aliens. We would also close the loopholes illegal aliens have taken advantage of for four years, meaning the benefits intended for citizens and legal residents would only go to citizens and legal residents.
But we would not stop there. The WALL Act would impose monetary fines on illegal aliens and immigrants who overstay their visas, creating another source of revenue with which to build the wall.
Not only would the WALL Act not add to our national debt, but it would also actually save significant money.
The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated in 2018 that enacting the provisions in this bill would save our country $33 billion over ten years.
The WALL Act would save both dollars and lives, and there can be nothing more important than keeping our country safe and restoring fiscal responsibility to our government.
President Trump has taken significant steps to address illegal immigration in his first few weeks in office.
Immediately after being sworn in, he signed a series of executive orders to curb the crisis at our border. He ended catch-and-release for illegal aliens, reinstated the Remain in Mexico policy, cracked down on criminal sanctuaries, and enhanced the vetting and screening of migrants attempting to enter our country.
And we’re already seeing returns: Illegal border crossings dropped to the lowest levels on record during the month of February, decreasing by 94% from February of last year and 96% from the all-time high in the Biden administration.
As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and chair of the Homeland Security subcommittee it is my mission to provide President Trump his team the resources they need to enforce our country’s laws and end the border crisis once and for all.
To do so, we’ll need to make a lasting impact. The WALL Act will do just that. It’ll keep our border secure and help our CBP agents do their jobs.
For many Americans, the word “infrastructure” may conjure images of road maintenance and bridge construction, and to be sure, these are critically important projects. But what the WALL Act demonstrates is that the strength of our country’s infrastructure is also the strength of our national security. Turning the WALL Act into law will ensure both are strong for years to come.
Sen. Katie Britt has been the junior U.S. Senator for Alabama since 2023. This was first published in The Washington Times.