Republicans tout immigration enforcement record ahead of midterms
With over two dozen states having begun early voting, a group of U.S. House Republicans is highlighting the party’s immigration policy wins since the second Trump administration took office.
U.S. Reps. Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., and David Rouzer, R-N.C., touted the 95% reduction in illegal border crossings during the second Trump administration, which has also overseen the deportation or self-removal of more than 2 million migrants who had illegally lived in the U.S.
“The Biden-Harris administration wreaked havoc on our country with their reckless open border policies. And the worst part has been watching Biden tie the hands of law enforcement, leaving our communities to deal with the consequences,” Brecheen said on the Republican Study Committee’s newest podcast episode, first shared with The Center Square.
“Their catch and release policies put lives at risk. Illegal aliens released into the country under the previous administration, they were committing these heinous crimes,” Brecheen added. “Innocent Americans that were the victims of this – Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, Jocelyn Nungaray, and many others.”
During the former Biden administration, more than 14 million illegal entries were reported nationwide, The Center Square exclusively reported, including two million “gotaways,” those who entered between ports of entry and evaded capture.
The Biden administration also allowed at least two million migrants who illegally crossed the U.S. border to claim asylum – without having to provide evidence of eligibility – and released them into the country on parole, The Center Square reported.
Likely thousands of those parolees obtained Commercial Drivers Licenses to drive 18-wheelers, a 2025 report from Overdrive found, calculating that 60,000 non-domiciled CDLs were active at the time. Nondomiciled CDL drivers caused at least 17 fatal crashes and 30 deaths in 2025, according to the Trump administration.
“You want to know that everybody behind the rig, a big rig, is qualified and is a safe driver and knows what they’re doing,” Rouzer said. “This administration took the bull by the horns and they have implemented a number of administrative rules and new processes to ensure that only those who deserve to be driving a big rig are the ones driving the big rigs.”
According to President Donald Trump, since 2025 the DOT has forced states to cancel at least 28,000 CDLs to immigrants illegally residing in the country.
Republicans, Brecheen said, “are working hard to reverse the radicalization of these rules and laws and these policies that have created such havoc.”
“And, of course, with every election, the American people have a choice,” Rouzer added. “Do they want to go back to wide open borders like we were right, or do they want safety and security? And I think I know the answer to that.”
Democrats have criticized the implementation of the Trump administration immigration enforcement policies – particularly the conduct of federal immigration enforcement agents and the detention of migrants who illegally entered the U.S. but had no other criminal convictions.
Senate Democrats even triggered the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history in 2026, lasting from Feb. 14 to April 30, over demands that Republicans implement dozens of reforms to federal immigration enforcement operations. The government eventually reopened, without Republicans instituting the proposed restrictions.
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