[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 181 (Thursday, November 15, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7034-S7035]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IMMIGRATION
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, a few weeks ago, there was a lot of media
attention on the caravan from Central America coming up through Mexico
and making its way to the United States intending to declare asylum or
to cross the border illegally. This is kind of interesting because
people don't realize that we have within our laws that if a person
declares asylum, it has to be acted upon as a matter of routine. We
have heard all about people declaring asylum. They get a court date,
and then they are not showing up for court. We know that happens--it is
really a no-brainer--but nonetheless it has been going on and on and
on.
In fact, the law prescribes that anyone coming to this country to
seek asylum will be coming into the country through other countries,
and they must first go to whatever country they go through before
coming to the United States. In other words, someone coming from
Central America, if they are coming through Mexico, should not go to
the United States but to Mexico to seek asylum.
Now, asylum is not very well-defined. Anyone can come in and say: My
life is in danger, and therefore I need the opportunity to come across
the border into the United States. We all know what happens. Back in my
real life, I spent some 20 years on the border. I was a builder-
developer, and I know how the border works. I know the border agents. I
have spent time down there. They wonder why we don't have a solution.
Anyway, we are told that migrants are escaping violence and
persecution, but once they get to this country and someone asks, they
say, no, in reality, they are seeking the economic opportunities that
we taxpayers are paying for in the United States or they maybe want to
reunite with their families. I think anyone within earshot right now
would want to do the same thing for their families. So this has been
going on for a long time, and while this caravan has rightfully
garnered a lot of attention, it is really part of a much larger
problem.
In fiscal year 2018 alone, more than 396,000 people were caught
illegally crossing our southern border by Customs and Border Protection
agents--an average of more than 7,500 a week. They come because they
know our border is porous and, if caught, they can always game our
legal system and stay. They have been doing it now for years. While the
problems are not new, the caravan brings a renewed spotlight to our
vulnerabilities. We have to secure our borders, and we have to tackle
the policies that encourage abuse of our immigration system.
After decades of seeing our border breached over and over again,
voters responded very actively to President Trump when he was pledging
to address our immigration crisis by building a wall. Here is the
thing: Walls work. We know they work. We are about the only one who
doesn't have walls. We are talking about walls that have been in
discussion, proposed by this President and proposed by many of us in
this body. DHS estimates a wall will deter 90 percent of illegal
crossers. So walls do work. We know they work. Nearly 2,000 miles--the
figure they have been using and I believe is pretty accurate--will take
an estimated $25 billion to fully secure our southern border.
I have heard my colleagues describe how we couldn't pay for a wall
and, after all, we don't need to grow our deficit or use tax dollars to
pay for it. That is why I am introducing the Wall Act of 2018, to build
the wall and secure our border. We have talked this over and determined
this will work. It is very simple. It provides $25 billion--actually,
more than that--for a wall by eliminating Federal benefits going to
illegal immigrants.
We have a lot of liberals in both bodies of Congress who are going to
say we can't do that. Liberals are always great about giving things
away, and I think of Margaret Thatcher when I think about this:
Socialism is a wonderful thing, until we run out of other people's
money to give away. That is exactly what is happening right now.
Under current law, noncitizens who are not allowed to work are able
to receive the earned-income tax credit--a refundable tax credit. They
are eligible because applicants do not need to provide work-authorized
Social Security numbers. Very simply, prior to 2003, the Social
Security Administration routinely issued Social Security numbers to
anyone needing a driver's license or a bank account. We have stopped
that now, but those numbers still exist and allow for illegal
immigrants to obtain Social Security numbers and receive this
refundable tax credit and possibly other Federal benefits.
More significantly, the bill we are introducing would require the tax
filers themselves to provide a work-authorized Social Security number
to receive the refundable child tax credit. Now, under the law, filers
only have to provide a Social Security number for a dependent they are
claiming to receive a tax credit and a refundable portion. That is
under the current law. An illegal parent with legal dependents at the
end of a tax year could get a child tax credit check for as much as
$1,400 per child, and that check comes from Uncle Sam. By closing these
loopholes, we can save billions of dollars a year. We can also save
even more taxpayer dollars by ensuring the integrity of other Federal
welfare programs like SNAP and TANF. By mandating that all States use
the E-Verify system, we can add an additional layer of integrity to
ensure the legal work-eligible status of benefit recipients.
These are commonsense reforms. You have to ask the question, Why
would we not do this? Only those legally in this country and eligible
for work should be receiving Federal benefits that are intended to get
people out of poverty and get them back to work. This is something that
actually would work, and they are all common sense. It is one of the
things that falls into the category of ``why don't we do it.'' We have
an opportunity to go ahead and do it now. Only those who are legally in
this country and eligible for work should be receiving Federal benefits
intended to get people out of poverty and into jobs.
Finally, in this bill is actually an additional amount that is out
there that we should be taking advantage of. This bill will increase
the minimum penalty for every illegal border crossing. Over the past 5
years, there has been an average of 500,000 illegal border crossings
each year. By raising the minimum penalty on illegal border crossings,
the Federal Government would raise revenue by as much as $15 billion
over a 10-year period. All of this more than pays for a wall.
Our President rightfully demanded a wall not be paid for with hard-
working Americans' tax dollars, and my bill fulfills that commitment by
not altering a single earned benefit for any American citizen or lawful
immigrant.
I was having a news conference last week on this bill. Someone said:
Well, the President has said Mexico should pay for it. In a way, this
fulfills that commitment, too, because it is being paid for by benefits
that would otherwise go to illegals who would not be getting the
benefits. So it is the best of both worlds, and it is a solution to the
problem. It is what American families deserve, but even more, it is
what the hard-working, lawful men and women who are abiding by our
immigration process deserve.
So that is the bill we are going to be introducing and we will be
hearing a lot about. One thing people say has not been resolved is, how
do you come up with $25 billion for a wall? It is easy. It can be done.
The figures match. It is the right thing to do for our lawful
Americans.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
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The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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