Chip Roy rips fellow Republicans for lack of action on the border

Rep. Chip Roy (Texas) on Wednesday delivered a searing indictment of his fellow Republicans for what he said is their lack of action on border security, ripping lawmakers for not delivering on their campaign promises from the House floor.

Speaking a day before Texas Independence Day — when settlers officially declared their independence from Mexico — Roy challenged other GOP members, asking them why they fought for independence. 

“A federal government that opens our borders to cartels?” Roy said. “A group of Republicans who campaign on securing the border, who run away in abject surrender, refusing to actually do it?”

Roy, who represents a district that includes parts of both San Antonio and Austin, has focused on border security issues since he took office in 2019. He told Republicans that if they did not act on their promises to address the border, they were not giving people the confidence to elect them again.

“If you do not secure the border now — now — you are giving up any argument you have for the American people to put their faith in you,” he said. “If my Republican colleagues believe that they are going to be moving through relatively meaningless provisions, doing precious damned little for the very people who sent us here to change things … they are sorely mistaken.”

Republicans made border security one of the main platforms of their campaign to retake the House in 2022, which they ultimately did, claiming a slim majority after the November elections. But with a Democratic-controlled Senate and President Biden in the White House, the role that Republicans have played in border security thus far is one of oversight of the federal government.

In January, Roy floated the idea that Republicans would try and defund the Department of Homeland Security, which has been a target of ire from conservatives over its handling of the southern border. The looming fight to re-up the federal debt ceiling may present Republicans with a chance to get concessions from Democrats and the White House on border policies.