The overwhelming majority of American voters sent Congress a message regarding border security: deport all illegal aliens. It is not time to temporize and vacillate. It is time for decisive action.

President-elect Trump did his part by naming Tom Homan as the incoming border czar. Homan has been preparing to follow the voters’ mandate and the new Commander-in-Chief’s direction to remove illegal aliens from the country.

Some Republicans didn’t get the message. “What about our landscapers, our maids, our vegetable pickers?” they ask. Can’t we make exceptions for them? 

The answer of course is really quite simple: No. No exceptions. Why? Because a nation that professes to be free must also be a nation of laws. Failure to enforce the laws means that some people are exempt from the law and, can it be a stretch to say that the implication is that some are better than others? That cannot be in America.

We can’t have George Orwell’s "Animal Farm" where some are “more equal than others.”

“But some of these people have lived here for years without breaking the law,” the hand-wringers say.

That isn’t true, though. Everyone who is illegally in the country either entered without authority, which is illegal, or they overstayed a visa, which is also illegal. Fairness dictates that those who are in the country illegally should not get preference over U.S. citizens or those who enter our country legally.

It takes many years to come into the United States the right way. The expenses are very high, and the time can take more than a decade. Those who want to be Americans, however, are willing to make the commitment to follow the laws, because that’s what they believe an American does. 

Part of American exceptionalism is following the laws enacted by elected officials and enforced by an honest judicial system. Have we gotten so far from our foundation that we are okay with cutting the line in front of immigrants doing it the right way?

The American majority is fed up with those who come into the country illegally and receive taxpayer-funded transportation, housing, food, medical care, education, and more. Last November American voters said, “No mas!” Why? Because the illegal aliens flooding into the country from every nation on the planet were getting particularized and specialized benefits BECAUSE they broke our laws. 

That fundamental unfairness is anathema to Americans but is exactly what some of my Republican colleagues are demanding. They are not hearing the message. They are confusing the mandate. 

Congress must immediately make resources available to Homan so that he can carry out his mission. Once the world sees that illegal aliens are actually being removed from the U.S., the surge of illegal border crossers will dry up. Many who are illegally in the United States will start returning to their own countries. Our Border Patrol agents will be safer and more effectively carry out their mission of securing our border.

Our nation will be sounder as 1.5 million people who have already received due process in America and have been ordered to leave by a judge are removed. We will see crime go down as hundreds of thousands of criminals will be removed. Let's have no more talk of amnesty for those who chose to violate our laws. Let's have no more talk of unfairly penalizing those who have chosen to obey our laws.

And the rule of law will be restored. And that will make America free again. And that will make America great again.

Congressman Andy Biggs is an American attorney and politician who represents Arizona's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.