(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Newly-elected Texas Republican Rep. Mayra Flores has put forth a bipartisan bill meant to help alleviate some pressure on the nation’s southern border.
The representative joined an Ohio Republican and two Democrats to announce the proposal, which aims to assist law enforcement responding to cross-border criminal activity more efficiently, the Washington Examiner reported.
The GOP representative from Texas is married to a Border Patrol agent.
Flores partnered with Reps. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, Susie Lee, D-Nev., and Chris Pappas, D-N.H., to introduce the legislation, which also hopes to create physical locations where federal, state, local and tribal police can work collaboratively to fight human-smuggling and drug-trafficking done by the cartels.
“I came to Congress promising to solve problems confronting our district, and this is exactly what my first bill delivers,” Flores said in a statement. “It is evident, from what we are witnessing at our southern border, that the only group benefiting from this self-inflicted chaos are criminals, drug and human traffickers, and the cartels.
“Our bill will put an end to this by bettering our law enforcement coordination and their ability to counter these dangerous groups,” she concluded.
The Advanced Border Coordination Act has built on the idea of state-run centers that act as a centralized hub for all law enforcement to work in one space. The bill requires at least two centers along the southern border.
Assorted officers and agents would have the opportunity to streamline operations along the border, share information about investigations and intelligence and carry out joint workforce training.
Federal departments including Homeland Security, Defense and Justice would have representatives placed at each site.
“As a former prosecutor, I know how successful joint operations centers can be, especially when it comes to detecting drug and human trafficking, and have no doubt they will help us address the national security and humanitarian crisis that has exploded at our southern border,” Joyce said in a statement, referring to the record-high numbers of illegal immigrant encounters at the border on an annual and monthly basis.
