We must, first and foremost, control our borders. ... we need to make sure that we secure our borders before we look at any other options. Through a combination of physical barriers, such as fencing, updated technology, and more boots on the ground, we can close our borders to illegal entrants.
Secure the border before pursuing other immigration reforms, including using physical barriers, updated technology, and more boots on the ground to stop illegal entry.
Occurrences
Evidence
The official homepage's "Latest News" module shows the newest dated items as "Congressman Aderholt Applauds Funds Secured for Red Bay Lighting Project" (May 12, 2026) and "Congressman Aderholt Applauds New Rural Hospital Provider Assistance Program" (May 6, 2026). No immigration- or border-security-related item appears in the visible latest-news list for the 30-day lookback window.
AP reported during the lookback window that the Trump administration is swiftly building a smart wall combining 30-foot steel fencing with sensors, cameras and towers; CBP said it was building 6 miles per week, had erected 74 miles by mid-June 2026, and was adding technology, lights and roads to existing wall sections.
Public Law 119-21 appropriates $46.55 billion for border infrastructure and wall-system elements including new or replacement primary, waterborne, and secondary barriers, access roads, cameras, lights, sensors, and other detection technology; it also appropriates $4.1 billion to hire and train additional Border Patrol agents and other CBP personnel.
The House Clerk records Roll Call 190 on H.R. 1, One Big Beautiful Bill Act, as passed 218-214 on July 3, 2025; Robert Aderholt, Republican of Alabama, is listed as voting Aye.
USACE states that it is leading construction of permanent border barrier in the Barry M. Goldwater Range, replacing about 15 miles of legacy mesh fencing with permanent border barrier; the contract was awarded August 15, 2025, and construction began October 15, 2025.
Assessments
Aderholt took same-term federal legislative action by voting for H.R. 1, enacted as Public Law 119-21, which funded major border-wall infrastructure, surveillance technology, roads, lights, sensors, and additional CBP/Border Patrol personnel. Official and press evidence also shows implementation began during the term. However, the promise was framed as securing the border before broader immigration reform, and the available evidence shows funding and buildout in progress rather than a completed, secured border. This supports partial fulfillment, not full delivery.
Aderholt did take concrete border-enforcement votes, but the full promise was not delivered. Before the 2024 campaign, he voted for H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, which included border-wall construction, related technology, and other enforcement measures, but that bill passed the House in May 2023 and did not become law. In his current post-2024 term, he voted for the Laken Riley Act, which became law on January 29, 2025, but that statute is narrower: it expands detention and state-suit authority rather than delivering the broader promised package of physical barriers, technology, and more personnel, and it does not establish that the border was actually "secured" before other reforms. Because there was some same-term legislative progress on enforcement, but not fulfillment of the broader promised outcome, partial credit is the best fit.