Hageman talks border, election security in Sheridan town hall

SHERIDAN — Sheridan County residents raised concerns about border and election security during a town hall with U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman Thursday.

Hageman, Wyoming’s lone delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives, has made it a goal to visit each of the state’s 23 counties for a town hall meeting every year she’s in office. Her visit to Sheridan College Thursday served as Sheridan County’s 2024 town hall and came in the middle of a string of eight events in 13 days while Congress is on its August break.

She said she’s traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border three times since getting elected.

“In February 2023 when I went down there, I would have called it a crisis,” Hageman said. “At this point, it’s a catastrophe beyond anything you could possibly imagine.”

Hageman added there are an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and several major cities have spent significant money to help them.

The U.S. House passed the Secure the Border Act of 2023 last year and, despite being placed on the U.S. Senate calendar for consideration, it has not hit the Senate floor for debate. The bill is intended to make significant changes to border security, including limiting asylum eligibility and requiring employers to verify prospective employees’ eligibility using an electronic system.

In May, a bipartisan border security bill failed a procedural vote necessary to hit the floor in the U.S. Senate after losing support from multiple Democratic senators and backing from several Republicans.

The bill would have allowed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to process migrants and given the department authority to turn away migrants if it encountered an average of more than 4,000 people per day in a seven-day period. The bill would also have created an expedited asylum process and extended residency pathways for Afghan nationals.

During the town hall, Sheridanites also raised concern about election integrity, which Hageman said she has discussed several times with representatives from the Republican National Convention. Hageman added 160,000 volunteers are helping ensure election security and integrity across the nation.

When asked whether she would trust the results of the primary or general elections, Hageman said she can’t answer the question without knowing the outcome.

“Yes — well, it depends on if there’s cheating,” Hageman said.

She offered several examples from 2020 — including Hunter Biden’s laptop being covered up and information about the origin of COVID-19 — that influenced participation in and the results of the election.

“I think in the 2020 election, we can say it was rigged,” Hageman said. “And there’s a lot of things that I hope have been fixed since then.”

The Associated Press has reported no widespread corruption from the 2020 election has been discovered.

Hageman touted successes and several ongoing efforts in Congress.

Among her recent successes was getting her first bill signed into law. The Victims’ VOICES Act was signed into law July 30 and allows crime victims’ families to receive restitution from the perpetrator.

“If you have to help a family member who has been a victim of a crime, you can actually receive some compensation for that,” Hageman said.

This story was published on August 16, 2024.