[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 106 (Monday, June 25, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H5584-H5585]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      AMERICA IS A NATION OF LAWS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Mitchell). The Chair recognizes the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Arrington) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, some of the political rhetoric and 
political opportunism is at an all-time high of ridiculous on this 
issue of immigration. Let's take a step back and let's think through 
this, and let us reason together as Americans.
  No American who I have talked to in my district in west Texas or 
beyond, has any problem with folks immigrating to this great Nation. We 
are a Nation of immigrants. But we are a Nation of laws.
  And just like if I took folks out of the unemployment line and took 
them to your office and sat them in your office and said, you have got 
to hire them, or you are heartless. You don't care about them.
  You would look at me like I had three heads, and you would say, they 
have got to go through an application process. We have got to vet them. 
We need to know that they have the merit to fill the job, that they are 
competent, that they have the moral character, that they are qualified.

                              {time}  1215

  There is not a single Democrat, if I brought them people from that 
unemployment line, who would just hire them on account of my threats of 
their being heartless and any other fear tactic. Why would we be any 
different with the standards of citizenship in this great Nation? Why?
  Most of these kids coming over here are unaccompanied, about 83 
percent, and then some with their parents. There has been this recent 
uproar about kids coming and being separated from their parents. I 
don't like that. I wish it weren't the case. I am prepared to fix it. 
That is what we should do in Congress, fix the laws when we find 
something that is not working.
  This President is just enforcing the laws. We haven't had a President 
enforce the laws. We haven't had the respect for the Constitution and 
the rule of law in so long that we are outraged that a President would 
actually just

[[Page H5585]]

hold people accountable for breaking the law and violating our 
sovereignty.
  Then there is that little hang-up with the 1997 Flores case, which is 
the law of the land that says you can't hold a minor for more than 20 
days. That is the law. If you want it changed, then write your 
Congressman, call your Congressman, and get him to fix it. Instead of 
holding press conferences on the border, why don't you get back to 
work, roll up your sleeves, and work across the aisle to solve the 
problem.
  Remember, most of these kids are coming from a place where they 
presumably fear for their lives. Their lives are at risk every day, and 
now they are in a country where they get three hot meals, and they get 
shelter. They don't have to worry about whether somebody is going to 
kill them. I would say that is a great start, for a benevolent country 
to do that.
  Meanwhile, we have to process folks who don't come to a port of 
entry--as is the law of the land--to present yourself as an asylum 
seeker. We have the law for that. We have an answer: Present yourself 
at a port of entry.
  But if you cross the border any other place, then you are going to be 
caught now, under this President, arrested, and processed for your 
hearing. And if found unlawfully to be here, you will be deported. That 
is the way it works. That is the way it ought to work.
  Now, international law says that if you are fleeing for your life, 
you should stop in the first safe country you come to. That would be 
Mexico. That is where they should all be, if they are truly asylum 
seekers. If you are truly afraid for your life, you ought to be 
grateful that you are safe, that you don't have to worry, that you 
trust that the process will work, and that you will be vetted and found 
legitimate.
  I don't want to separate the parents from their kids. This President 
doesn't want to either.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress needs to get off our duff, do our job, and fix 
the problem. Everybody who is running around, taking this opportunity 
to fly whatever flag he or she wants to fly on this, let's solve the 
problem.
  In Texas, illegal immigration costs us $6,000 per illegal immigrant, 
$12 billion, over 10 percent of our budget, and $100 billion 
nationwide. It is a huge cost: education, healthcare, the list goes on. 
We are already insolvent, $21 trillion in debt. We can't afford to make 
good on the promises for our kids and grandkids.
  What is wrong with this picture?
  Mr. Speaker, we have to work together to solve this problem, secure 
the border, stop illegal immigration, move to a merit-based immigration 
system, and move this country forward as leaders.

                          ____________________