It’s no secret that our southern border is out of control. When President Biden took office, our border remained intact with policies that stop migrants from entering and staying illegally.

Currently, under the Biden administration, there have been over 9.6 million illegal immigrant encounters across the country, with the majority of these occurring at the southern border, and as a result, news headlines are filled with violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants.

In many cases, these criminals were caught by Border Patrol agents and then released. Republicans have consistently called on Biden to close the border, but the current administration has taken no real action.

In August 2023, 37-year-old Rachel Morin was murdered by a Salvadoran immigrant who entered our country illegally. The mother of five was assaulted, raped, and murdered while hiking along a Maryland trail by Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez. He was recently arrested behind bars in Oklahoma and was denied bail due to the severity of the charges. If this illegal immigrant had never been here, the death of the mother of five could have been prevented.

Border security is national security. New York is not a southern border state, yet in broad daylight, Ecuadorian immigrant Cristian Giovanni Inga Landi brutally raped and murdered a 13-year-old girl at knifepoint. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that Inga Landi was apprehended illegally crossing the border in Eagle Pass, Texas in 2021 and has since been released.

Recently, two illegal immigrants from Venezuela murdered a 12-year-old girl in Houston and dumped her body in a creek. These three victims' lives were lost because of the open border policy.

Biden's border crisis affects all of us, and every community is now a border community. From Houston to New York to Maryland, preventable crimes happen every day. House Republicans passed HR2, the strongest bill in history to fight the crisis on our southern border, yet Biden still sees criminals, drugs, and traffickers flood into our country. These crimes show how dangerous an open border is. I remain steadfast in the fight to make our country safer.

This week, I and my colleagues will vote to pass the FY25 Homeland Appropriations bill to stop far-left border policies from infiltrating and destroying our communities.

Biden's border catastrophe cost taxpayers $150.7 billion last year. House Republicans and I included $600 million in our budget for a wall on the southern border and nearly $5 billion to remove dangerous criminals already in the U.S. The Homeland Spending bill not only funds the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, it will also force unelected officials like Secretary Mayorkas to comply with current law.

Protecting the American people from outside threats like illegal immigration is one of my top priorities, and I will continue to fight to secure and restore order on our southern border.

Jerry Carl represents Alabama's 1st Congressional District and resides in Mobile with his wife, Tina.