[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 5 (Thursday, January 10, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H441-H442]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      IT IS UP TO CONGRESS TO ACT

  (Mr. MEUSER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. MEUSER. Mr. Speaker, the information is clear:
  17,000 criminals were apprehended by Customs and Border Patrol agents 
at our southern border last year.
  90 percent of the heroin ravaging American families comes across our 
southern border.
  400,000 immigrants were apprehended attempting to come here illegally 
last year.

[[Page H442]]

  2,400 pounds of fentanyl were seized by our Border Patrol last year 
alone, enough to kill every living American.
  The Customs and Border Patrol agency states, in no uncertain terms, a 
barrier or a wall is essential to do their job.
  Even if these facts are trivialized, no one in Congress can seriously 
claim that we do not have a crisis at our southern border. It is up to 
Congress to act. The first duty of government is to afford protection 
to our citizens, and our citizens are demanding it.
  I have received hundreds of calls to my office, urging us to follow 
the plan offered by Homeland Security experts to secure our border, 
build a barrier, enforce our immigration laws, and do our jobs.

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