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




            COMPASSIONATE, COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Kansas (Mr. Marshall) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Speaker, this week we plan on voting on a very 
strong bill known as the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act.
  To better assess our immigration system and the security of our 
border, I went to the United States-Mexico border near El Paso, Texas, 
this weekend. I rise today to share some of the stories I heard from 
our Customs and Border Patrol officers and the compassion they had for 
these families and children they interact with.
  These agents and officers had the highest on-the-job injury rate 
among all law enforcement groups across the country. Additionally, 
these officers see some of the worst conditions and are exposed to 
wide-ranging health risks like scabies, lice, tuberculosis, chicken 
pox, and many others.
  Day to day, these officers are on the front lines protecting our 
Nation's borders. They are often stopping drug trafficking, human 
trafficking, and much more. They see the worst of the worst, and put 
their lives on the line to secure our Nation every day. In exchange for 
this, they are often portrayed on the national media as cruel and are 
compared to unthinkable, unimaginable groups from our world's history.

  This is not the experience I had with them this weekend. These 
officers have huge hearts, and they are often given a tough task at the 
border. They told me story after story of how they bring personal items 
like teddy bears and toys from their homes to provide to children, and 
oftentimes run to McDonald's and other restaurants to get food for 
hungry kids who had a very long, dangerous journey.
  No one is denying that the situation on our Nation's border is 
terrible, and our agents at the border see this tragedy daily. Seeing 
this for myself firsthand, I quickly realized, there is no perfect fix. 
But it is imperative that we recognize and honor our Border Patrol 
agents' hard work, and do our part in Congress to pass compassionate, 
comprehensive immigration reform that still secures our borders and 
helps alleviate the situation of crisis which now exists.

                          ____________________