SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – Attorney General Sean D. Reyes joined a letter, led by the State of Florida, to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives urging swift passage of H.R. 1337, the Immigration Enforcement Partnership Act of 2023.
H.R. 1337 was introduced by U.S. Representative Bill Posey (FL-08) earlier this year. The legislation “authorizes an office of a state attorney general to request in writing that the Department of Homeland Security adequately fulfill certain duties related to immigration enforcement.” Once DHS receives such a request, the department must direct its agents or the State’s officials to enforce those immigration duties – or risk a lawsuit from the State’s attorney general. The bill is currently before the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary.
The coalition of attorneys general explains that federal government officials are “ignoring federal law, setting immigration release quotas, and adopting policies to speed up the rapid influx of millions of immigrants,” adding that “every State is a border State” under the current administration. Although the attorneys general note that they have “won multiple victories” to force the president to reverse course “over some of his unlawful immigration policies,” they acknowledge that “the judicial system alone is not a sufficient battlefield to quickly and adequately address the urgent crisis.”
In their letter, the States also detail the vital importance of passing meaningful legislation to solve the border crisis, writing that “illegal immigration is threatening every State in our nation. We are setting new drug overdose death records every year due to illicit fentanyl from Mexico. Hundreds of terrorists are likely being allowed into our interior, and the federal government has already lost track of more than 85,000 immigrant children.”
Joining Utah and Florida on this letter were the States of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
