[House Document 116-22]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



116th Congress, 1st Session--------------------HOUSE DOUCUMENT 116-22

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                      VETO MESSAGE ON H.J. RES. 46

                               __________

                                MESSAGE

                                  from

                     THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

  NOTIFICATION OF THE VETO OF H.J. RES. 46, ``RELATING TO A NATIONAL 
       EMERGENCY DECLARED BY THE PRESIDENT ON FEBRUARY 15, 2019''

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                 March 18, 2019.--Ordered to be printed
To The House of Representatives:
    I am returning herewith without my approval H.J. Res. 46, a 
joint resolution that would terminate the national emergency I 
declared regarding the crisis on our southern border in 
Proclamation 9844 on February 15, 2019, pursuant to the 
National Emergencies Act.
    As demonstrated by recent statistics published by U.S. 
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and explained in testimony 
given by the Secretary of Homeland Security on March 6, 2019, 
before the House Committee on Homeland Security, our porous 
southern border continues to be a magnet for lawless migration 
and criminals and has created a border security and 
humanitarian crisis that endangers every American. Last month 
alone, CBP apprehended more than 76,000 aliens improperly 
attempting to enter the United States along the southern 
border--the largest monthly total in the last 5 years. In 
fiscal year 2018, CBP seized more than 820,000 pounds of drugs 
at our southern border, including 24,000 pounds of cocaine, 
64,000 pounds of methamphetamine, 5,000 pounds of heroin, and 
1,800 pounds of fentanyl. In fiscal years 2017 and 2018, 
immigration officers nationwide made 266,000 arrests of aliens 
previously charged with or convicted of crimes. These crimes 
included approximately 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 
4,000 killings. In other words, aliens coming across our border 
have injured or killed thousands of people, while drugs flowing 
through the border have killed hundreds of thousands of 
Americans.
    The current situation requires our frontline border 
enforcement personnel to vastly increase their humanitarian 
efforts. Along their dangerous trek to the United States, 1 in 
3 migrant women experiences sexual abuse, and 7 in 10 migrants 
are victims of violence. Fifty migrants per day are referred 
for emergency medical care, and CBP rescues 4,300 people per 
year who are in danger and distress. The efforts to address 
this humanitarian catastrophe draw resources away from 
enforcing our Nation's immigration laws and protecting the 
border, and place border security personnel at increased risk.
    As troubling as these statistics are, they reveal only part 
of the reality. The situation at the southern border is rapidly 
deteriorating because of who is arriving and how they are 
arriving. For many years, the majority of individuals who 
arrived illegally were single adults from Mexico. Under our 
existing laws, we could detain and quickly remove most of these 
aliens. More recently, however, illegal migrants have organized 
into caravans that include large numbers of families and 
unaccompanied children from Central American countries. Last 
year, for example, a record number of families crossed the 
border illegally. If the current trend holds, the number of 
families crossing in fiscal year 2019 will greatly surpass last 
year's record total. Criminal organizations are taking 
advantage of these large flows of families and unaccompanied 
minors to conduct dangerous illegal activity, including human 
trafficking, drug smuggling, and brutal killings.
    Under current laws, court decisions, and resource 
constraints, the Government cannot detain families or 
undocumented alien children from Central American countries in 
significant numbers or quickly deport them. Instead, the 
Government is forced to release many of them into the interior 
of the United States, pending lengthy judicial proceedings. 
Although many fail ever to establish any legal right to remain 
in this country, they stay nonetheless.
    This situation on our border cannot be described as 
anything other than a national emergency, and our Armed Forces 
are needed to help confront it.
    My highest obligation as President is to protect the Nation 
and its people. Every day, the crisis on our border is 
deepening, and with new surges of migrants expected in the 
coming months, we are straining our border enforcement 
personnel and resources to the breaking point.
    H.J. Res. 46 ignores these realities. It is a dangerous 
resolution that would undermine United States sovereignty and 
threaten the lives and safety of countless Americans. It is, 
therefore, my duty to return it to the House of Representatives 
without my approval.

                                                   Donald J. Trump.
    The White House, March 15, 2019.

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