[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 14 (Wednesday, January 23, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H1166-H1169]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            BORDER SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2019, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Griffith) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor tonight to discuss a 
trip that was recently made to our southern border in Arizona with the 
sovereign state of Mexico. Mr. Biggs headed that party up, and at this 
time, Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs).
  Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here and to speak and 
report to the American people about what we saw and learned on the 
Arizona-Mexico border over the weekend.
  We spent Sunday and Monday putting a lot of miles on cars, traveling 
within 30 miles of the border all the way from the New Mexico line 
through about two-thirds of the State of Arizona. It becomes kind of 
interesting because, quite frankly, there are so many people who do not 
appreciate the breadth and the wide open space of that country.
  Let me just take a few minutes and tell you that we had nine Members 
of Congress there. We met with Border Patrol agents, Customs agents, 
Border Patrol management. We met with ranchers, residents along the 
border. We met with numerous people, all who have an interest in the 
immediate impacts of illegal border crossings.
  One ranch that we happened to visit in Arizona, right on the border, 
you could look out and you could see the vastness of what our Border 
Patrol agents are dealing with. You could literally see many miles into 
Mexico. The Sierra Madres are coming down from their height, leveling 
down, and then you have two other additional mountain ranges that come 
on the Arizona side, right through it, kind of tapering into the 
Chiracahua Mountains, beautiful mountains.
  You can see the vastness of this open space, and it is many hundreds 
of miles, and even thousands of miles square. We have two or three 
Border Patrol agents there and no fence, really, to speak of.
  So we talked with some of the ranchers who live along there and their 
experience. We walked through some of the hills and on the paths that 
illegal aliens and drug traffickers pass through and walk. We talked 
with some of them.
  One gentleman explained to us that he has had four home invasions--
four home invasions--more than 15 burglaries, and, every day, 
trespassers on his property.
  Imagine that as your lifestyle, knowing that you will have home 
invasions, knowing that you are going to have people trespassing on 
your property consistently.
  We moved over to the wall in Douglas, Arizona. It sits on the border 
with Agua Prieta. We took pictures. We talked with Border Patrol 
agents. And then we could see where that border wall, how long that 
goes.
  It is bollard fencing, which is slatted steel fencing that goes 
anywhere from 10 to 15, 18 feet high. But it was so ineffective in some 
places that they have started putting concertina razor wire to keep 
people down.
  In a minute, I will tell you how that doesn't really work.
  And then they put up a third or second barrier there in some parts of 
Douglas, but not enough money. It just kind of runs out. And you can 
see how far that border wall goes in Douglas, and it is the bollard 
fencing.
  We then kept moving in Cochise County in Arizona, and we ended up, we 
were able to talk to some local law enforcement and some of the Angel 
Parents.
  But I want to talk about something that I thought was most intriguing 
and interesting. As we were sitting there in that restaurant with some 
of our staff, our Members of Congress, some local law enforcement, some 
of the Angel Families, we had a resident just come up out of the blue, 
and she thanked the local law enforcement for the efforts being made to 
protect the citizens of that county.

                              {time}  1700

  She said: You know, I have had a home invasion. I have had repeated 
burglaries. I have had trespassing on my property, on my ranch. We get 
people come in, they turn on water, they want a drink of water, and 
they just let the water run. They never turn it off. They trash my 
property.
  She was telling me this. I asked her to address our group. She did. 
Impromptu, she told of her experience, out of the blue. She didn't know 
who we were. I thought that was remarkable. It was completely unstaged.
  We had the Angel Parents, Mary Ann Mendoza talk about her son, 
Brandon, who was a Mesa police officer. Brandon was killed by a driver 
who had previously been arrested and deported. He was driving along the 
wrong way on the freeway and runs into Brandon and kills him.
  Steve Ronnebeck spoke. Steve had a son, Grant, early twenties, very 
outgoing, gregarious young man, working at the QT, which is a 
convenience store. One night, Mr. Altamirano, who had been convicted 
and deported previously--in fact, he was convicted for burglary. That 
was a plea deal down from the two counts of kidnapping and rape of a 
woman who was victimized by Mr. Altamirano.
  He had been deported. He comes back, goes in to buy a pack of 
cigarettes. Grant is counting out the change. Mr. Altamirano does not 
like how slow it seems to be taking, pulls a gun out, and pointblank 
shoots him in the face, killing Grant Ronnebeck. What a tragedy that 
is.
  So they are not alone. I have talked with Angel Families from 
throughout the country. You say: Well, okay. You are in a border State. 
That might happen in a border State. This goes throughout the country. 
These types of tragedies have happened throughout the country.
  It is unfortunate and it is sad, but it is preventable in large 
measure.
  We got a briefing at a Border Patrol station in southern Arizona. 
They are not too far below their full complement. They are about 80, 
maybe 75 percent of their full complement of agents. This is a big 
area, though, and they run three shifts. By the time you

[[Page H1167]]

take care of time off, vacation days, sick days, by the time you take 
everything into account, you have seven people watching and monitoring 
the cameras that do not cover even all of the area for which this 
station is responsible.
  You have seven Border Patrol agents trying to interdict, literally, 
over hundreds of miles, hundreds of miles largely fenced with a four-
strand barbed wire fence. It isn't like you have even have T poles as 
your fencing poles or even a more rigid pole. It is basically branches 
of trees. That is what you have along that particular section of the 
border. It doesn't take much to get across.
  So we went to Sasabe, which is a very small port of entry, and they 
have 1\1/2\ miles of bollard fencing either side of that. Then this is 
something that is really hard to explain, but they have, again, the 
four-strand barbed wire fence that rolls on out until, I know, where it 
goes into single-strand barbed wire fencing. I have been there, I have 
seen it. But on this trip, we just watched the four-strand barbed wire 
fence.
  When you get there, how does it tie in to the bollard fencing: with a 
piece of rope that is tied to a slipknot.
  And you think fences don't work? Of course they work. The bollard 
fence works. You can stand there right at the end of the bollard fence 
and look out into Mexico, and the several paths that you see moving 
north toward their border all come up to where that rope and that 
slipknot that is holding the four-strand barbed wire fence comes into 
the bollard fence, and they all come right to there.
  Why? Because you lift up the rope, pull it down. You can actually put 
it back on and then continue on up the hill.
  But there is a convenience store in that little town near that Border 
Patrol stocked with MREs. And guess who needs MREs: cartel scouts who 
are in the hills and mountains of southern Arizona and near that little 
town.
  They sell bullets, not in the box. When I have ever bought bullets, 
ammunition for my guns, they are in little boxes--not here. You can get 
them in little baggies, you know, little plastic bags you buy to put 
your sandwich in. This is what you have.
  So is it any wonder that in the Tucson sector, 40 percent of the 
drugs that have been seized in the last couple years are in that 
sector?
  You have a drug problem. We have tens of thousands of people killed 
each year because of opioid abuse. The vast majority of that is coming 
across the southern border. And of that that is interdicted, you have a 
significant plurality that is coming right through that Tucson sector.
  So we then had a chance to meet with some Border Patrol agents, talk 
to them about what is going on. It was marvelous. They gave us some 
ideas.
  I want to talk a little bit about something that we really don't 
focus on.
  Mr. Speaker, I am going to save that, though, because I see the 
gentleman from Arizona.
  Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Gosar).
  Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman said, we had a tour this weekend in 
which eight other Members plus Andy and I had actually gone on this 2-
day border tour.
  We spoke with the Border Patrol agents, ranchers, and law enforcement 
officials; and during our tour, we heard, firsthand, the destruction 
and the dangers that came with open borders and loopholes in our 
immigration laws.
  Ranchers told their stories about the day-to-day reality of illegal 
aliens using their land as drug and human trafficking routes. They 
walked us through how these criminal organizations used their open 
borders and their land to make billions.
  Now, let's look at the statistics.
  In 2017, more than 49,000 Americans died from heroin and opioid-
related overdoses. And we are just startin to see the intrusion of the 
synthetic fentanyl for which you don't get second chances. It is so 
toxic, that even a dose as small as a grain of salt given to somebody 
can kill them.

  Ninety percent of the heroin in our country comes from the southern 
border. This weekend, I stood on the soil that thousands of illegal 
aliens walk to smuggle these deadly drugs into our country.
  We also spoke with Border Patrol, who shared their stories detailing 
changes that have occurred, particularly in the last 10 years. They 
noted that one of the biggest changes they are seeing is the shift in 
the illegal aliens' attitude. Instead of fleeing, they are fighting. 
Illegal aliens have become emboldened by the advocation of open borders 
the Democrats have promoted.
  Now, over the last 5 years, we have seen a 2,000 percent increase in 
the asylum claims. We have seen a 50 percent rise in family units 
coming to our southern border. Ninety-eight percent of those family 
units will stay in our country.
  Think about this. They will be turned in to our country; they will 
never come back to a court order, staying in our country. So it is very 
important to hear that 98 percent of these family units will stay in 
our country.
  This isn't just lawmakers in Washington saying they have a crisis at 
our southern border; this is people who live the reality of this every 
day. These are the ranchers and individuals whose livelihood has been 
taken from them because open border advocates have chosen to protect 
illegal aliens instead of the citizens they represent.
  Republicans have taken action and provided a solution; Democrats have 
not.
  Ignoring this crisis diminishes the Americans and migrants who have 
fallen victims to the crimes committed by illegal aliens or are harmed 
because of illegal drugs flowing across the border.
  Our job is to protect our own citizens, our country. The President's 
proposal echos the very need Border Patrol agents tell us firsthand 
they need: We need a wall, and we need it now.
  Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs) for a 
question.
  Mr. Speaker, in listening to the gentleman's remarks, of course I was 
there and saw this rope as well, but I think the folks back home need 
to be aware of this rope. We are not talking about some massive rope. 
We are talking about--what?--an inch, half-inch, quarter-inch rope?
  Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker and the gentleman, I would tell you, it looked 
to me like it was about a quarter-inch rope. It was not much more than 
what you would call about a clothesline width, but it was about a 
quarter to a half inch.
  Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, in fact, was it not accurate that you 
could actually roll back part of the barbed wire fence once you took 
the rope off and you could have multiple people coming through at any 
given moment?
  Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, that is correct.
  Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, the reason that illegal immigrants or drug 
cartels would like it that way is that they can roll that back and, 
wearing their carpeted shoes which prevent tracking, they can then come 
in there, put it back, and that way the border agents who are working 
that area won't have any idea that somebody has actually come through 
there because they can't really tell. There is a well-worn track, but 
you won't know when somebody has come through.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask the gentleman if that is his impression as well.
  Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, yes, that was my impression. You also can't 
tell how many people are coming through. It may be one or two. It may 
be 20 or 40.
  Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, in fact, there, they had a road as well, 
which our border agents told us was very helpful. When you have a wall, 
you have a road next to it to help catch those folks who are trying to 
come through. But they had a device up, also, made of heavy metal and 
concrete to prevent the drug traffickers from using vehicles at that 
point and bringing their stuff in and just loading it onto a vehicle.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask the gentleman if that isn't correct.
  Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, that is exactly right. In fact, that road 
kind of ended where the bollard fence ended. And then you had the 
Normandy fence that was sitting there, but then right next to it, you 
had that track for people to come walking through that barbed wire 
fence.

[[Page H1168]]

  

  Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, continuing in this colloquy with my friend 
from Arizona, I ask if he would agree that when we heard from the 
border agents that the wall--this bollard fencing, wall, however you 
want to describe it--is important, but things like having roads where 
you can get in are also important, because we heard numerous stories.

  I would like for the gentleman to maybe tell one, about how the 
agents may be able to see through electronic devices that somebody has 
crossed the border, but then it may take them hours to get there. I 
remember several specific stories, but I just wondered if Mr. Biggs 
remembered any stories like that.
  Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, yes. I would tell the gentleman that when I 
talked about, literally, nearly 1,000 or more square miles that seven 
agents are covering, if the camera is there, they have seen these 
people. By the time they get there--it takes 2, 2\1/2\ hours because it 
is rugged terrain--nobody is there anymore; because the sensors, the 
cameras are there, and nobody is there anymore, and they are moving on. 
That is because they are trying to get to their destination, which may 
be Tucson, it may be Phoenix, and from there, all points throughout the 
country for these drugs to be distributed.
  But, yes, indeed, this happens over and over and over on a daily 
basis.
  Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I would say that we heard this repeatedly, 
and what we heard is that we need the wall to help channel this flow of 
illegal immigrants. We need the wall to make sure that we have some 
idea of what is going on. We need the electronic surveillance.
  So this is not a one-size-fits-all kind of situation, but we need the 
electronic surveillance to help when we are monitoring the wall. We 
need additional folks on horseback. We need additional canine units.
  We heard from one agent that we need, at the Customs department, 
density equipment so they can test to see if a tire is supposed to be a 
certain density. If it is twice as dense as it is supposed to be, they 
know that something is being hidden in that tire, some contraband, most 
likely drugs, and so this is important.

                              {time}  1715

  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs) for 
additional questions. I would like to continue our colloquy. I don't 
know if his colleague, also from Arizona, Mr. Gosar, would like to join 
in that colloquy as well.
  I would say to the gentleman, Mr. Biggs of Arizona, did he also find 
it interesting that almost everybody who we talked to, and certainly 
all of the border guards and all of the ranchers right on the border, 
specifically said a wall would be helpful; but there were other things 
that needed to be done as well?
  Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, yes. It was one of the Angel Moms, Mary Ann 
Mendoza, who said it well. She said: A wall won't stop everyone, but no 
wall will stop no one. They wanted a wall.
  There was not one person that I met, and that we met, that didn't 
advocate for a wall. But they also understood that you need to have the 
infrastructure, that is to say, roads. You need to have cameras and 
sensors. You need to actually have more boots on the ground: better 
vehicles that can get there, and, where necessary, horses.
  Don't forget that they were using dogs, for instance, to sniff out 
currency. We have a shortage of dogs at the ports of entry and in the 
interior between the ports of entry.
  They need lighter weight. We talked to one agent who said that when 
he is out there wearing his full bulletproof vest and the whole 
harness, if it is 110 degrees ambient temperature--which, by the way, 
most of our summer is going to be well above 100--he said that quickly 
rises and you are at 145 to 160 degrees as a Border Patrol agent.
  So, yes, we need a lot. But the one thing that is foundational to all 
of this, to try to get the border under control, is fencing.
  Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Gosar). Would the gentleman tell me some of the stories related to 
fencing or additional equipment and how those fences will channel 
people; where it makes it easier to keep track of who is crossing that 
border? Did he have any stories that he might like to speak of?
  Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Speaker, oh, absolutely.
  The ranchers told us over and over again. One of the ranchers was 
working on one of his backhoes on his property. He turned to look and a 
well-armed illegal is sitting there with an automatic weapon. Over and 
over again we see this, time and time again.
  We have the Border Patrol telling us, over and over again, that what 
they see is they will see a mass of undocumenteds that are family units 
or undocumented children. They have to take their resources and attach 
them to those people, allowing the drug cartels to swiftly move in 
another point of reference.
  It is big country, as the gentleman from Virginia got to see. There 
is lots of space, that goes north and south that have the advantages of 
cover. In fact, if I am not mistaken, the gentleman can actually tell 
the story of our last stop in Nogales and what happened right in front 
of us over the border.
  Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I will tell that 
story, because what happened is very interesting.
  The Border Patrol was there and an individual did cross the fence. 
Sometimes people say: Well, the people can climb over the fence. They 
can, but it slows them down and allows the border agents, using cameras 
and being there live on the scene, to intercept those people.
  And, sure enough, there we are, standing--I think we kind of acted as 
blockers. This fellow comes over the fence and drops down. The border 
agents are moving fast, and there we are standing where the natural 
escape route would be. While we didn't do anything heroic, and we had 
to watch the border security agents do their job very professionally, 
they got the gentleman into custody fairly quickly, it was because 
there was a wall, agents, and a whole team of equipment working 
together: the cameras, the wall, and the agents working together.
  If you don't have a wall there, they are never seeing that guy; they 
are never catching that guy, because he had to rise up and be seen in 
order to cross the border wall/fence.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Budd).
  Mr. BUDD. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding, and I also 
thank my friend from Arizona for inviting us to his home State to meet 
with several Members from Arizona. What an eye-opener. This is 
something that I have supported--the building of the wall, increasing 
our border security--standing strong with the President for that. But 
to see it in person was quite an eye-opener, and I really want to thank 
my friend for doing that.
  After spending several days in Arizona, with Customs and Border 
Patrol, touring areas of this southern border, I can say with more 
assurance than ever that we are in desperate need of a wall. In certain 
areas, all that separates us from another sovereign nation is a barbed 
wire fence. Living on a cattle farm in North Carolina, if a fence on 
our farm was in the same condition as that, we would be spending all 
night to replace it because we would be losing cows left and right. Our 
ranchers down there in Arizona are losing their cows into Mexico. The 
cows from the ranches in Mexico are coming down.
  You don't realize--we don't think about it much--but there are 
ranchers on the Mexican side that actually want a wall. They say: 
Please, build the wall. We don't think about hearing it that much, but 
we do because they don't want the cartels coming into their ranch and 
cutting their fences. There are a lot of problems.
  While I was there, over and over, I heard, again and again, about the 
need to have a wall to shrink the amount of mileage that our Border 
Patrol agents need to cover.
  When technology detects an illegal, it takes them about 2 hours by 
car to get there, give or take, and then about 2 hours on foot, and 
then from there it is a completely different game. A wall will act as a 
complement to our brave border agents, and it limits the amount of 
terrain, which is vast--it will limit the amount that they have to 
cover.

  The situation facing the ranchers is bleak, as I mentioned before. I 
spoke to one woman, whose brother was killed by an illegal alien during 
a home invasion. We hear all the time about home

[[Page H1169]]

invasions. Many of these Angel Families have been left with lost loved 
ones. Other families have had property damage or stolen vehicles. A 
simple F-150 pickup truck, that we would normally just park and take 
our keys with us, they have got chains wrapped around the whole vehicle 
to keep it from being stolen by the illegals.
  We spoke with two other Angel Families, and their stories are 
heartbreaking and, unfortunately, not anomalies. Throughout the trip, 
we heard over and over again how the drug cartels will use illegal 
immigrants as decoys in order to overwhelm Customs and Border Patrol 
agents at the checkpoint, leaving the border unmanned so that they can 
move their drugs across.
  Each immigrant, who is caught trying to illegally enter our country, 
takes about 2 to 4 hours to process. The cartels have done the math. 
They have sent waves and waves of people to tie up our Border Patrol so 
that they can, in essence, send their cartel and drug mules across in 
another area.
  This weekend, President Trump put forth a plan that would reopen the 
government, but the plan was rejected by Democrats before it was even 
released. I call on my Democratic colleagues to come to the table and 
negotiate in good faith. In the past, Democrats have been more than 
open to securing our borders: in some cases, voting for $50 billion and 
$40 billion, respectively. The $5 billion that Trump is asking for 
pales in comparison.
  Before us is a national security crisis, a drug crisis, and a 
humanitarian crisis. A wall will help in a much broader effort to get 
operational control of our border and keep our country safe.
  Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Babin).
  Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Arizona for this 
Special Order and for the opportunity to speak.
  Mr. Speaker, last weekend, a handful of colleagues and I toured the 
southern border between Arizona and Mexico, meeting with Border Patrol 
agents, ranchers, law enforcement, and Angel Families, who have lost 
loved ones to illegals. Mr. Speaker, I can say, more confidently than 
ever, that we need stronger border security. This is not--I repeat, 
not--a manufactured crisis on the border, as we are hearing the 
opposite side of the aisle say.
  This crisis at the border is getting worse, but the solution is the 
same: we must secure our borders in order to regain control of our 
broken immigration system. The brave men and women who put their lives 
on the line every day to protect our country are doing so without the 
full support of the Federal Government, and that is unacceptable and 
tragic. It certainly is not a manufactured crisis.
  We need to build a border wall, construct roads and infrastructure, 
improve our technological resources, and restore pay to Border Patrol 
agents that was stripped out under the Obama administration. I hear our 
Democratic opponents say across the aisle that walls are immoral and 
ineffective. A wall is not immoral. It is absolutely necessary. 
Certainly, a wall will not prevent all illegals from coming over, but 
no wall keeps no one out.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to 
put their money where their mouth is and actually go and visit our 
southern border.
  This is what our opponents say across the aisle is border security. 
We saw it. We were there. I want the American people to see this, and 
my constituents to see this. Our Democrat colleagues need to go down to 
the border and see this.
  Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs) for 
the conclusion on this great trip.
  Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate everyone who went to the border 
with us. We will be doing it again. I will invite my Democratic 
colleagues to come with us as well. It is eye-opening.
  Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________