[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 24 (Thursday, February 7, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H1432-H1438]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            BORDER SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Johnson of Georgia). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of January 3, 2019, the gentleman from North Carolina 
(Mr. Walker) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the 
minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and 
introduce extraneous material into the Record on the topic of this 
Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from North Carolina?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, there has been a great deal of talk in the 
last few months on border security, what it takes to secure our border 
and what it takes to protect the safety and the security of the 
American people.
  Today, we are taking a few minutes with different Members to share 
very powerful but very impactful stories from their districts. This is 
not hyperbole or set up for histrionics, but sometimes the message of 
actually what is going on in our country doesn't always cut through 
with our media outlets.
  So today, the different Members, many of them have special 
relationships with these folks they will be referencing and talking 
about today in this Special Order.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence), our 
first speaker, who represents Indiana's Sixth District and serves on 
the Transportation and Infrastructure and Foreign Affairs Committees. 
But even more impressive to me is that Mr.   Greg Pence is a veteran of 
our Marine Corps, and he is a successful businessman.
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge this body to act on the 
national crisis that currently exists along our southern border.
  This crisis plays itself out not only in the border towns of 
California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, but in communities across 
the Nation, including my very own, Indiana's Sixth District. The 
statistics speak for themselves:
  In my home of Bartholomew County, the sheriff's office booked 34 
individuals with an immigration detainer 2

[[Page H1433]]

years ago. Last year, that number jumped to 132.
  Hoosiers also feel the effects of the border crisis in the form of an 
opioid crisis that now kills more Americans than car accidents, gun 
violence, or breast cancer. This crisis is tearing families apart. The 
Department of Corrections says one in three Hoosiers residing in State 
prisons are battling addiction to opioids.
  In the last year, Customs and Border officials have reported dramatic 
increases in meth, heroin, and fentanyl along our southern border. 
These are some of the very drugs that claimed the lives of more than 
1,800 Hoosiers in 2017.
  President Trump is right. We must create an immigration system that 
is safe, lawful, modern, and secure. It is not just the border States 
feeling the effects of illegal immigration; it is communities like ours 
in the Sixth District of Indiana that are being ravaged by the massive 
scourge of drugs coming across the southern border.
  We must end this crisis. Mr. Speaker, it is time to secure the 
southern border and build the wall.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Mr. Pence's words today and the 
powerful expression of how it is impacting the State of Indiana.
  One of our new Members, a very accomplished gentleman himself, an 
aerospace engineer representing the First District of Oklahoma, has 
also worked within the McDonald's system and owns multiple restaurants 
throughout the different portions of Oklahoma and is actually on the 
national leadership team.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Kevin Hern), 
to share a little bit about his State of Oklahoma.
  Mr. KEVIN HERN of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, my constituents have been 
calling the office in overwhelming numbers. They tell me to stand with 
our President to get the funding our Customs and Border agents have 
asked for.
  I got a call from a police recruit in Tulsa just this week who has 
seen firsthand the impact that illegal immigration has on the safety of 
our citizens. It places a huge burden on our law enforcement agents who 
are already putting themselves in harm's way for our safety every day.
  With unregulated borders, we open our country up to the tragedy of 
human trafficking. Undocumented women and children are especially 
vulnerable to traffickers. Ninety percent of the heroin in our country 
comes illegally from Mexico.
  With dangerous drugs like cocaine, methamphetamines, and heroine come 
gun activity, violent crime, and the serious problem of addiction.
  In December, Tulsa law enforcement officers found 2 pounds of heroin 
and 16 pounds of methamphetamines in connection in the Sinaloa drug 
cartel smuggled into the States from Mexico. These dangerous and 
illegal drugs are finding their way into communities across the 
country.
  There is a fix for all of this: Build the wall.
  A physical barrier--which I might add, most of my friends from the 
other side of the aisle have historically supported--will stop illegal 
entry in its tracks. There is no replacement for a physical barrier.
  Last month, the President told the American people that we need a 
wall, not because we hate the people on the outside, but because we 
love the people on the inside.

                              {time}  1715

  Mr. Speaker, I agree. How can we keep our people safe when we don't 
know who is coming into this country? Let's start prioritizing the 
American people and their safety.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to rise above partisanship for the 
sake of our citizens. We can stop the human trafficking crisis. We can 
catch the drug smugglers. We can keep our people safe. At the end of 
the day, the only thing that will truly help us is to pass bipartisan 
legislation to secure our borders and build a wall.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Hern for coming, and I 
appreciate his time.
  Our next speaker today is Representative Brad Wenstrup. In some 
circles, he is called Colonel Wenstrup. He is a great man and my 
classmate. He has been awarded the Bronze Star, as well as the Combat 
Action Badge, for his service.
  In fact, it was on a baseball field a year and a half ago that that 
Combat Action Badge showed itself off again when he was the only one 
equipped to be able to put a tourniquet on    Steve Scalise and save 
his life.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Wenstrup), my 
fellow classmate from Ohio's Second District.
  Mr. WENSTRUP. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Walker for yielding me the 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the security and the safety of all our 
fellow Americans. The fact of the matter is that border security isn't 
or shouldn't be a partisan issue. That is why many of my colleagues 
from across the aisle have actually supported border security and 
fencing in the past.
  The fact is, this is an American issue that affects every part of our 
Nation, sometimes in very visible ways, sometimes in ways less visible.
  I represent southern and southwestern Ohio, not a border State, but 
it is deeply and tragically impacted by the lack of border security.
  In the last couple years, there was a woman from my district area who 
was being deported. The archbishop called the Senator on her behalf, 
and he has every right to do that. This is someone who was being 
deported under the Obama administration. They set a date. When the date 
came, she didn't adhere, and she was deported.
  The archbishop had every right to engage in that act, if he felt like 
he should reach out to the Representative. But I met with the 
archbishop and I asked him: Where were you in the case--such as I am 
about to tell you about--where were you when someone was in need 
because of the actions of someone who was here illegally?
  Last year, I met a mother of a 15-year-old girl. The mother told me 
about their neighbor, the neighbor that they trusted, that they had 
picnics with. They told him: You have nothing to worry about. You are 
here legally.
  It turns out, he was a 41-year-old illegal immigrant who had 
previously been deported from this country but reentered the U.S. 
illegally and gained employment by using the Social Security number of 
a 69-year-old woman from Arkansas.
  One day, he knocked on their door, and since their daughter knew him, 
she opened the door, and he went in and beat and raped her.
  Her innocence was taken forever. Her life changed forever. He got 8 
years. She got a life sentence, and it didn't need to happen.
  Tragically, one of my local prosecutors tells me there have been 
multiple cases like this in our area over the last few years. These are 
the families I think about when someone calls a border wall immoral.
  As President Trump said in his address, we don't build walls because 
we hate the people on the outside. It is because we love the people on 
the inside. But, really, we also love the people on the outside who 
want to come here legally to be part of our American family.
  This isn't about keeping people out of our country. This is about 
controlling access, so we know who and what is coming into our country.
  Sitting idly by and making no effort to resolve these problems is 
wrong. It is a disservice to those who have suffered violence at the 
hands of criminals who have entered our Nation illegally. These victims 
are real, and so is their pain. We owe it to them to enforce our laws.
  To my colleagues, I say: Come to the table. Let's negotiate a 
solution, smartly enhance our security, and drive on for the betterment 
of all Americans, so that, rather than being a borderless and lawless 
country, America will be the beacon of hope for those who desire to 
come to this great country of ours legally.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments. It 
is my belief that that kind of common sense will prevail with the 
majority of the American people, knowing our job and continuing to work 
to keep the safety and security of the American people as a high 
priority.
  Our next speaker tonight is a Member in his sophomore term but who 
already has many accomplishments in the political arena.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Jodey 
Arrington, who

[[Page H1434]]

served under President George W. Bush and as chief of staff to the FDIC 
Chairman, representing Texas' 19th Congressional District.
  Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North 
Carolina, Representative Walker, for his service and his leadership, 
not just to this body, but myself personally.
  He is a spiritual leader and mentor for so many. We have a lot of 
ways to measure success in life and in this job, but I can tell you, 
one of them is to maintain a healthy relationship with our Lord and 
savior, and I want to thank him publicly.
  This is a serious issue, and it is one that we in Texas have a lot of 
knowledge about and experience with, unfortunately, and that is border 
security. It is also a humanitarian crisis.
  Mr. Speaker, we are on the front lines, and we see the drugs, gangs, 
and criminal activity pouring into the great State of Texas, not just 
along the impact zone immediately across from the southern border, but 
in communities in west Texas, in the 19th Congressional District, and 
not just my population center, but in rural communities as well.

  Here is a statistic that is pretty startling. Since 2011, 180,000 
illegal immigrants were charged in the great State of Texas with 
290,000 crimes.
  I talked to local law enforcement officers, sheriffs, police chiefs, 
and others in my communities over the last few weeks. They are telling 
me that the volume of drugs coming into our communities is off the 
charts and that the crime has increased exponentially--not just 
property crime, but violent crime.
  They are telling me that gangs, not just the shoestring gangs, as 
they call them, but the very violent gangs and cartels, the Sinaloa 
cartel and the Los Zetas cartel, are in my district in west Texas. They 
are showing up in our backyards and our neighborhoods, and it is scary.
  Here is the sad fact: This country has the resources and tools to do 
something about it. Our President has asked for those resources and 
tools. He has a comprehensive border security plan, and we have to have 
political will. We have to be able to put our country first, especially 
when it comes to the safety and security of our people.
  Mr. Speaker, I have heard people say that drugs are coming through 
only ports of entry. You can tell from this map, they are coming across 
the border at various places.
  Just a month ago, there was 700 pounds of cocaine caught at the 
border, and we had our largest drug bust up in my district in a little 
town called Denver City, about 22 kilos of cocaine. So we have to do 
something about it.
  Mr. Speaker, I beg of my colleagues to do the right thing and put 
their country before politics. I thank the gentleman for yielding to 
me.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Arrington for coming, 
and I appreciate his kind remarks, and sobering ones, at the same time. 
We do have a problem at the border with drugs. We do have a problem 
with violence of illegal aliens. That is why we continue to message 
through this.
  Just 2 nights ago, sitting right about there was my sister-in-law 
whose brother was a United States Army veteran and a good friend of 
mine who one day messed up his knee. He had surgery, and the next thing 
you know, he was addicted to pain killers, opioids. Opioids led to 
heroin, and then, unable to come off heroin, it led to him committing 
suicide 3 years ago.
  This is a real problem. If we were able to cut down only a small 
percentage of the drugs, and if we were able to reduce only a small 
percentage of the murders, the sexual assaults, and the human 
trafficking, my question is: Would a border structure still not be 
worth it?
  To me, that is a very commonsense question. How much does it need to 
be reduced before it is relevant to all of us?
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Guest), 
our next speaker this afternoon who is a solid new Member, a former 
district attorney from the State of Mississippi who is already serving 
on the Foreign Affairs Committee and Homeland Security Committee.
  MR. GUEST. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  As a former district attorney, I have seen firsthand how damaging 
narcotics and synthetic drugs can be to individuals, families, and our 
communities.
  In 2017, drug overdoses killed 72,000 Americans, more than car 
crashes and gun violence combined. The most dangerous of these drugs, 
fentanyl, is 50 times more potent than heroin and accounted for almost 
twice the number of fatal overdoses in 2017.
  Last year, law enforcement officers in Mississippi seized more than 
800,000 dosage units of fentanyl. The fentanyl seized was enough to 
kill nearly 14 percent of the population of Mississippi.
  This lethal narcotic is smuggled into our country by transnational 
criminal organizations or drug cartels. Just last month, Federal law 
enforcement officials seized more than 250 pounds of fentanyl at the 
Nogales port of entry on the United States-Mexico border.
  As we continue to aggressively police our points of entry, drug 
cartels will attempt to gain access through the areas of the border 
that are not secured, forcing us to devote manpower to police these 
unsecured sections of our border.
  It is apparent that drug cartels want to profit from the addiction 
and the destruction that these drugs have on American lives. This 
Congress has not only the opportunity but also the duty to act, to help 
limit the flow of drugs into the country and to protect our citizens by 
securing our southwest border.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Guest for his 
comments. I appreciate his passion in sharing some of the firsthand 
experiences that he is seeing in the great State of Mississippi.
  Our next two speakers are from border States that certainly have a 
perspective on what is going on as we see even right now.
  One is an accomplished medical doctor who served and practiced there 
in the State of Texas for nearly three decades. He is not one of the 
louder Members, but he is often considered one of our more effective 
Members.
  It is my privilege to yield to the gentleman from Texas, 
Representative    Michael Burgess.
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina 
for yielding.
  Let me just say, I spent the last several hours in a hearing in the 
Energy and Commerce Committee, a hearing called by the Democrats on the 
Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. The hearing was evaluating 
the failures of the Trump administration on the child separation 
policy.
  Let me just share with you some of the statements of the witnesses. 
These were pediatricians. These were ACLU lawyers. Statements like the 
Trump administration policy was intentionally hurtful, that it was an 
incredibly difficult position that people were in, that parents have a 
right to keep their children safe, and that this was nothing more than 
government-sanctioned child endangerment.

  Mr. Speaker, I want to share a story with you. Just like Mr. Walker, 
I had a guest here at the State of the Union the other night when the 
President was here. My guest was Chris from Keller, Texas, and he sat 
up in the gallery right behind us here.
  I met Chris probably a year and a half to 2 years ago. He came to see 
me one day, brought in, actually, by his mother. His mother was 
concerned because he had suffered an injustice in his life, and he was 
upset, and he couldn't get over it. He just needed to talk to someone, 
and a Member of Congress is the last person I can think of to talk to, 
but maybe it can help.
  So Chris told me his story. I practiced medicine for 25 years, and I 
heard some sad stories. I have been in Congress for 15 years, and I 
have heard some sad stories. But I will tell you, this was the saddest 
story that I can recall ever having heard.
  Chris was serving his country in Iraq. In fact, he was in Iraq in 
2005 when they had the big election where everyone was going down the 
road with an ink-stained thumb, and he helped make that happen. He 
helped pull that off.
  Chris continued his service in various forms and was in Iraq when he 
got word that his wife was ill. His wife was, as it turns out, very, 
very ill, and he had to come home. He cared for her for the last few 
months of her life before she succumbed to breast cancer.

                              {time}  1730

  He said he made her a promise right at the end of that illness that 
he would

[[Page H1435]]

always, always, always take care of their daughter. Now Chris is a 
single dad. He has got an only child. The child was 12, 13 years old, 
the light of his life. Everything in Chris's life was wrapped up in his 
daughter.
  His daughter came home one day and said she wanted to go spend the 
night at a friend's house, and Chris said no.
  She said: Please, Daddy, you never let me do anything. Please let me 
go.
  After multiple entreaties, Chris agreed. She could go over to this 
friend's house and spend the night.
  At some point during the evening, the girls went out to a convenience 
store that was across the street. She drops her cellphone, goes back to 
retrieve it, and she was hit by a car. There were a number of cars 
coming down the street at that point. One was going faster than the 
others. All of the other cars stopped, but the car that hit Chrishia 
inflicted substantial injury upon her.
  The driver of that vehicle did stop, and the police were called. The 
driver of that vehicle was in the country without the benefit of 
citizenship. So the driver of that car was taken down to the police 
station. Drug and alcohol tests were administered. A search of the 
records revealed a previous infraction with Customs and Border Patrol 
or Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He had come into the country 
illegally before, so there was that. He had speeding tickets, and he 
had been arrested for driving without a license. In fact, this time the 
only citation that he received was driving without a license, and he 
was released after 35 minutes.
  Chris came in to see me several months later, literally at the end of 
his rope. I will never forget as he told me this story and he looked at 
me with tears in his eyes.
  He said: Congressman, I put on the uniform of my country. I served my 
country. I did my job. Mr. Congressman, if you had been doing your job, 
my daughter would be here today.
  I have to tell you, as I was walking Chris back to where he could get 
a cab to his hotel after the State of the Union Address--we have 
actually corresponded on a fairly regular basis, and he is a very 
likeable individual--as we walked off the Hill to get to where he could 
catch a cab beyond the Capitol Police barrier, he said: I really have 
enjoyed meeting you, Congressman. You have been great to me.
  I said: Chris, I would give anything if we had never met.
  This is not a manufactured crisis. This is a real crisis affecting 
our citizens and our constituents. The people on the panel today were 
very concerned about the Trump administration's policy from last June. 
But this is not a new deal. There has been a problem on our Texas 
border, particularly in the lower Rio Grande sector for years. The 
previous administration had problems. The Clinton administration had 
problems. The Carter administration had problems. It is a difficult 
problem, and it does need to be solved.
  President Trump has outlined a reasonable approach that, yes, 
includes sensors; yes, includes increased personnel; yes, includes all-
weather roads in areas; and, yes, it does include a barrier. Without 
that, there cannot be success in securing our southern border, and as a 
consequence, our citizens cannot be safe and secure in their homes.
  I thank the gentleman for providing the time tonight and leading this 
hour.
  I hope Chris does get some measure of peace eventually, but, clearly, 
this is a problem that has affected a great many lives of people in our 
districts. I think we each can find someone in our district who has 
suffered from a similar loss.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I will not soon forget those lines: I did my 
job putting on my uniform every day. Congressman, if you had been doing 
your job, my daughter would be here today.
  I hope that message resonates in all 434 Members who are currently in 
the House.
  Mr. Speaker, if Congressmen and Congresswomen would do their job, 
these children, these daughters, these sons, these mothers, and these 
wives and husbands would still be here today.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs).    
Andy Biggs is one of the truth tellers in this House. He is from 
Arizona's Fifth District. He is a retired attorney who also served in 
the Arizona legislature for 14 years, and he is a bold voice in the 
United States House.
  Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Walker for holding this 
Special Order.
  Mr. Speaker, I want you to know I continue to be astonished that our 
Democratic Members--our colleagues--turned a blind eye to what is 
happening in this country because of what is going on on the border.
  Unlike many in Congress, I have been down to the border multiple 
times. I grew up just a number of miles--60, 70 miles--from the border 
myself. I have been down there many times. A couple of weeks ago I took 
eight Congressmen with me. We toured the border. We met with multiple 
ranchers, and their story is very similar. We got to talk to one guy--
four home invasions, more than 15 burglaries, endless vandalism, and 
trespassing daily. He was not unique.
  Another family has set up their own cameras and sensors so they can 
see. We watched them. We watched the people coming across. This is hour 
after hour of footage. Do you know what? These were young men coming 
across with carpet slippers so you couldn't see their footprints. I 
didn't see the moms and children coming across. I saw the young men 
carrying bundles of drugs across.
  On Monday the ``Washington Examiner'' published an article detailing 
the fear of border residents living in New Mexico. They, like those in 
Arizona, Texas, and California have been burglarized. They find groups 
of illegal aliens squatting in their barns with bundles of drugs on 
their land. But they won't call the authorities because they fear 
retaliation from drug cartels.

  Many of the people we met with said: we will meet with you on 
condition that you don't reveal us meeting to the press because every 
time the press reveals something, we are retaliated against by drug 
cartels.
  Yesterday at the end of a Judiciary Committee hearing about gun 
violence, after going on a screed--a demagogic tirade--about the 
importance of protecting every life, this Member said that every life 
is valuable. I agree with that. But she is valuing some over others.
  Why wouldn't she focus on policies that would help the lives of all 
Americans through border security?
  In 2015, a young man from my Congressional District, Grant Ronnebeck, 
was shot and killed by an illegal alien. Not only should that murderer 
not have been in possession of a firearm, he shouldn't have even been 
in the country. He had been deported before, yet he comes back because 
the border is porous.
  For some reason, no Democrat is willing to ensure that criminally 
violent aliens like Grant's killer aren't released back into our 
community. I introduced a bill called Grant's Law to ensure no criminal 
alien can be released from custody. I can't get a single cosponsor from 
the other side of the aisle.
  Two weeks ago 250 pounds of fentanyl and 400 pounds of additional 
drugs were interdicted in Nogales. That is the number one sector for 
drug seizures in this country. Forty percent of all drugs that are 
interdicted are in the Tucson sector. Just today, in the Ajo region, 
300 people crossed--today--2 hours ago.
  I am told by experts that we only interdict 15 percent of dangerous 
drugs and fewer than 50 percent of the people who are crossing.
  Mr. Speaker, I call out for my colleagues across the aisle: Help us. 
Help this country. I am telling you: Walls work. We have to stand with 
the President.
  I stand with the President. I stand with the people of America. I 
stand with people in my district. I stand with the people who believe 
and understand that we have to get border security and the most 
foundational and fundamental thing we can do is build a wall.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, we acknowledge there are problems with ports 
of entry. We have no problem in increasing training or border agents. 
We are not opposed to that at all. What we don't understand is why 
there is not an all-of-the-above approach, a commonsense approach that 
would allow us to continue to reduce and sometimes eliminate some of 
the issues that we are seeing.
  My next speaker is a classmate of mine serving faithfully on the 
Agriculture and the Education and Labor

[[Page H1436]]

Committees. He is a business owner who is responsible for creating 
thousands of jobs from the land that he comes from, Augusta, Georgia, 
representing Georgia's 12th District.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen).
  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Walker for his work here 
today and telling the story.
  We have heard so many stories about people who have been affected by 
this problem at our southern border.
  My friends and colleagues continue to fight to resolve the crisis at 
our southern border, end illegal immigration, and save innocent 
American lives.
  I would like to share the story of Eliud Montoya, a naturalized 
American citizen, a hard worker, and a Georgia resident. He was 
violently shot and killed in 2017 at the hands of three illegal 
immigrants living just south of Georgia's 12th District.
  Mr. Montoya, who worked for a tree service company, reported some 
suspicious activity to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 
alleging that illegal workers were being employed as a part of a scheme 
to defraud that company. By doing his duty and reporting this illegal 
activity to the proper authorities, Mr. Montoya was senselessly 
murdered by illegal immigrants who reportedly collected more than $3.5 
million of illegal profits.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a very real crisis we are facing at our southern 
border, and we simply cannot allow lawlessness to consume this nation.
  In his State of the Union on Tuesday, President Trump said it best: 
``The lawless state of our southern border is a threat to the safety, 
security, and financial well-being of all Americans. We have a moral 
duty to create an immigration system that protects the lives and jobs 
of our citizens.''
  Think about this, if you put in the most advanced security system in 
your home, would you take down the front door?
  I am 100 percent with the President.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's sincere words.
  Mr. Speaker, one of my friends is another Member from Georgia who 
serves on the Committee on Energy and Commerce, actually owns Carter's 
Pharmacy, a pharmacist by nature, and actually became a mayor and was a 
general assembly member. He is one of the hardest working guys in this 
House. It is my privilege to acknowledge Representative Buddy Carter 
from Georgia's First.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter).
  Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss an important topic to our 
Nation's homeland security, the crisis at our southern border. And it 
is, indeed, a crisis.
  In its most simple form, it is paramount that we know who is coming 
in and out of our country in order to keep our families and our fellow 
citizens safe. However, it is impossible to do so when individuals are 
traversing across our border avoiding checkpoints and bypassing our 
immigration laws.
  Mr. Speaker, I have been to our border. I served on the Homeland 
Security Committee my first session here. We took a trip to the border. 
We went to California. It was the first time I had ever been to 
California. We went to San Diego. In San Diego you need a barrier, you 
need a wall, and you need a fence. You have got 3 million people in San 
Diego County, 3 million people in Tijuana separated by a highway. It 
makes perfect sense to have a barrier there, a fence.
  Then we went to Arizona, rugged terrain, mountainous terrain. There 
you need technology, you need boots on the ground, you need blimps, and 
you need drones, all of those things. When we were in Arizona, we 
visited a farmer, a rancher there, who showed us an area where they had 
a fence. In that area where they had that fence, they had cut it off. 
It was a 10-foot fence, and they cut it off at 5 foot, put ramps on it, 
and they had driven a truck over it.
  You have to have a fence, and you have to have technology.
  We went to McAllen, Texas. It was the first time I had ever been to 
that part of Texas. We went to the Rio Grande River. Now, I grew up in 
south Georgia; to me the Rio Grande River was this giant river that you 
saw in a John Wayne movie. It is anything but. It is a narrow, winding 
river that in some areas is knee deep. People walk across it. You are 
going to have to have barriers in some of those areas. You are going to 
have to have boots on the ground. You are going to have to have 
technology, blimps and drones, all of those things.
  What we are talking about is securing our borders. Everybody wants to 
say: oh, he wants to build a wall.
  Yes, you need a wall in certain areas, and you need a barrier. But 
you need technology. But most importantly you need security.
  My colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to deny the 
President the ability to deliver on a campaign promise. That is not 
what this is about. This is about securing our borders. We need to 
focus. We need to focus about what we are talking about here. This is 
real. This is serious.
  Let me tell you how serious it is. I have seen examples of it. I have 
seen examples that it creates in my own district, my own congressional 
district in coastal Georgia.

                              {time}  1745

  Just over a month ago, three illegal immigrants were charged with 
conspiracy to murder a legal, naturalized citizen who threatened to 
turn them in.
  Now, folks, if you want to know how people feel about illegal 
immigration, ask someone who has become a citizen, who has gone through 
the process. Don't ask me; ask them. Ask them what they think.
  I guarantee you, they are going to be opposed to it. They did it the 
right way. And we invite them here. We need them here. We want them 
here. But they did it the right way. They are as much opposed to it, 
they are as much offended by it as anyone.
  It is stories like these that inspired me to introduce H.R. 6333, the 
Tax Identity Protection Act, in the 115th Congress. The Treasury 
Department's inspector general noted that up to 1.4 million illegal 
immigrants could be fraudulently using legal citizens' Social Security 
numbers, but the IRS refuses to do anything about this, stating that 
they can't accurately determine which numbers are mistakes and which 
are fraud.
  So I introduced the Tax Identity Protection Act. It would require the 
IRS to find ways to better determine illegal immigrants using stolen 
Social Security numbers. I will be reintroducing that bill shortly in 
the 116th Congress, and I hope that my colleagues will support this 
legislation that strengthens our national security and protects our 
personal identities.
  Immigration is important. It is important to the history, the 
culture, and the progress of our country, but it is past time for us to 
fix our broken immigration system and ensure that people seeking a 
better life in America are coming through the lawful channels.
  I want to thank my colleagues for holding this important and timely 
Special Order today.
  Folks, this is serious. This is important. We need to focus, keep our 
eye on the ball here.
  Mr. WALKER. I appreciate Representative Carter's passion on this 
issue and laying out, really, a heartfelt case why border security is 
so important.
  So many times we hear the argument that there are as many and, in 
some places, even a higher percentage of assaults or crimes, murders, 
et cetera, in communities with American citizens as there are with some 
of the illegal immigrants.
  My question is: Does that make it okay? See, that is the thing that 
we have to take a look at from a commonsense perspective is that, when 
we do begin to reduce this, it allows us to have the resources to be 
able to concentrate on some of the areas as well.
  A class member from Arkansas has quite a distinguished history. Prior 
to his congressional service, Mr. Hill was a commercial banker and an 
investment manager for two decades. But, not only that, President 
George H.W. Bush appointed Mr. Hill to be Executive Secretary to the 
President's Economic Policy Council, where he coordinated all White 
House economic policy. He does a great job and works hard on our 
Financial Services Committee as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill), my 
friend from Arkansas' Second District.

[[Page H1437]]

  

  Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from North 
Carolina and appreciate his distinguished service on behalf of the 
citizens of North Carolina, his leadership of our Republican Study 
Committee in the last Congress, and his leadership as our Conference 
leader for this Congress. And I greatly appreciate his personal 
engagement to help continue this conversation with the American people 
about the need for enhanced security along our southwest border.
  Like my colleagues you have heard from, I have been to the southwest 
border four times as a Member of Congress. I worked in Texas for nearly 
a decade, so I am very familiar with the southwest border in Texas. 
But, as a Congressman, I have gone four times to get at the root of 
what is the balance that we want between border fencing, barrier, the 
use of technology, screening technology, enhancements at our ports of 
entry, and the manpower issue.
  Mr. Speaker, we need all of that, and that is, in fact, what we have 
produced time and time again on the floor. Just in the last year, Mr. 
Speaker, we have proposed these kinds of commonsense border security 
issues, and we have not gotten sufficient votes to pass them.
  So this is why we find ourselves hearing from the Border Patrol and 
our officials at Homeland Security that we need additional barrier 
construction, additional boots on the ground, new judges, additional 
screening technology--all of the things I hear about from county 
judges, county sheriffs, Federal law enforcement--to make our border, 
in fact, safe.
  But tonight I want to reflect on the impact in my home State of 
Arkansas. I see it every day. I have two young adults now, Mr. Speaker, 
a 19-year-old and a 22-year-old.
  When I was in high school, I didn't know anybody who had died of a 
drug overdose. I didn't know anyone who had committed suicide among my 
peers in my high school. And I am brokenhearted tonight, Mr. Speaker, 
to report that my kids and their age group have seen deaths from deadly 
addiction to these drugs that are coming over our border, our southwest 
border. It breaks my heart to see them at funerals when they should be 
at soccer games.
  The opioid crisis has killed more than 100 Americans a day and caused 
45,000 deaths last year, alone, almost as many as we lost in all of the 
Vietnam conflict. A third of these deaths were attributable to 
fentanyl, much of which is manufactured in China.
  This Congress, bipartisan, last year, decided to get screening 
equipment to our postal service to interdict and try to stop fentanyl. 
Senator Cotton and I want to increase criminal penalties for fentanyl 
possession and dealing because, Mr. Speaker, in this small Sweet'N Low 
packet that we are all familiar with, 1 gram has enough--if it were 
fentanyl--to kill 500 Americans. That is what confronts our kids as it 
is laced into heroin, pressed into pills, soaked into marijuana on the 
streets of our country, coming across the southwest border.
  So my kids have suffered from it. I have watched their faces. I have 
hugged a lot of moms. And whenever I think of this issue, I think about 
Nate Gordon, who lost his life, whose mom I visit with and who has 
helped me in my roundtables on helping me cope with how to talk to our 
parents about this deadly addiction that has overtaken our country.
  Nate was a kid who got addicted, and he tried to beat it. And he beat 
it. And then, one night, it took his life.
  His mom doesn't have her son anymore, but she has dedicated her life 
to helping parents to educate kids, to get people in treatment. And 
that is what we need. We need an entire community to bond with this 
Congress to fight drug addiction.
  I spoke to our attorney general, my friend from North Carolina, and 
she told me that over 1,000 illegals had been arrested in Arkansas 
recently, tens of thousands of pills, and over 1,000 pounds of drugs.
  So this is something that challenges our whole country, and we have 
to work together. I commend our President for keeping it at the 
forefront of the American people, and I commend Mr. Walker for inviting 
us here to visit about it tonight.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's work and his 
friendship in this House as well.
  A new Member from Texas, someone who represents the southwest Texas 
area, I believe, represents portions of Austin, Texas, as well, someone 
who is new but no less experienced, a former first assistant attorney 
general and a former Federal prosecutor, Mr. Speaker, I yield to the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy).
  Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for 
yielding time, and I thank him for his leadership on this important 
issue.
  We are here because we are discussing the importance of border 
security for the United States of America, a question of our 
sovereignty, the basic duty of a sovereign nation to secure its 
borders.
  I had the great privilege of spending some time with the men and 
women of the Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley sector in Texas 
this past week--2 days--with my fellow Texas freshman Congressman   Dan 
Crenshaw. What I saw was alarming.
  What we learned from Border Patrol is that there will be upwards of 
400,000 people crossing the border through the Rio Grande Valley sector 
this year alone. And of that 400,000 people, 200,000 of them, give or 
take, won't even be apprehended because the men and women of the Border 
Patrol don't have the tools they need, don't have the fencing and the 
barriers they need, don't have the ability to drive a vehicle 
parallel--lateral--to the Rio Grande River, don't have the radio signal 
to be able to communicate on the border.
  We found that, of the 200,000 people who will be apprehended, 90 
percent of them will be captured and released because we have 
judicially mandated capture and release today. We have judges who have 
told us that we have got to capture people and then release them back 
out into our communities without going through the proper processes to 
truly vet asylum and truly vet what we are dealing with. The result of 
that brings tragic consequences.
  The Gulf Cartel in Mexico will make $130 million this year--$130 
million--trafficking human beings across the Rio Grande Valley sector. 
They are integrated with FARC. They are integrated with terrorist 
networks. They have operational control of our border along Texas, and 
we are just acting like there is nothing to see.
  The Speaker of the House had us in session for less than 48 hours 
last week with a handful of show votes. What do we have this week? More 
votes just that are kind of plodding along, suspension votes.
  We are not having a robust debate. This Chamber is virtually empty. 
We are not having a robust debate about our border and our national 
security and about the lives of American citizens and the lives of the 
migrants who seek to come here.
  There are migrants today who are endangered and enslaved to the 
cartels. There were 54 people found in a stash house last Friday when I 
was with Border Patrol, in a house in Houston, who are now being held 
hostage by cartels to pay their money back because the cartels brought 
them into the United States.
  How is that compassion? How is that somehow beneficial to migrants?
  That is the truth. Those are the facts when we talk to our men and 
women in the Border Patrol.
  Let's talk about the women, the young girls, who are abused on the 
path. I was on the Rio Grande River, and I spoke to a 10-year-old and 
an 11-year-old girl. My son Charlie is going to turn 10 this year. 
These girls were traveling with no parents. They want to have a better 
life.
  I want to welcome folks to the United States of America, but you have 
got to have legal channels to make it work, both for our safety and the 
safety of the migrants who come here.

  It is extraordinary that we are even having this debate. I cannot 
believe that this body, the people's House, is ignoring this great 
tragedy that is going on on our southwest border, with real human 
lives.
  And it is not just the migrants. It is American citizens like Jared 
Vargas in San Antonio, Texas, which I represent and I am proud to 
represent. Jared lost his life last July at the hands of somebody here 
illegally. His beautiful mom, Lori, is still brokenhearted, having lost 
her wonderful son. His twin brother, who goes to college in Kerrville, 
in my district, lost his twin brother; and his sister lost her brother 
because an illegal immigrant who was here, who was

[[Page H1438]]

caught, released, caught, released, stopped by law enforcement, let go, 
2 days later murdered Jared Vargas.
  How can we allow this to happen in the greatest country and the most 
powerful nation the world has ever known? How can we allow American 
citizens to die at the hands of illegal immigrants who are here who 
shouldn't be here, who have broken our laws previously? How can we 
allow American citizens to die at the hands of the terrorists who are 
moving drugs into and out of our country through cartels, die because 
of dangerous fentanyl and dangerous heroin that are coming across our 
borders at the ports of entry and, yes, between the ports of entry, 
which the data fully backs up?
  It is not just coming through the ports of entry. It is, in fact, 
coming across on loads across the Rio Grande River, which is not 
policed.
  We have a duty to defend our border.
  One last point: Fencing, walls work. In the Rio Grande Valley sector, 
in the eastern section next to the Gulf of Mexico, there is 35 miles of 
fencing. In the western section, in McAllen, there is far less fencing 
and far fewer roads. Ninety-four percent of the traffic comes through 
the McAllen portion of the Rio Grande Valley sector.
  We have a duty to defend our borders. American citizens like Jared 
Vargas, who lost his life, and the Vargas family, who is now without 
their family member, and the United States of America deserve better. 
The migrants who seek to come here deserve better.

                              {time}  1800

  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, this evening, we have heard from Members 
across the country about the devastating toll illegal immigration has 
had on American families and American workers. The Democrats' divisive 
and disconnected immigration agenda has real consequences and leads to 
real victims.
  What makes this such a calamity is not only the cost to Americans 
that we have talked about tonight, but the fact that these tragedies 
are completely avoidable if Congress, as we heard earlier, would do its 
job and secure the border.
  I want to tell you about Miss Sharon Gross from my district in North 
Carolina. Just over a year ago, Sharon had finished a 5-mile bike ride 
with her 18-year-old daughter in Creekside Park, where I have been, in 
Archdale, North Carolina. They began their trip home in ``Roxie,'' the 
vehicle her daughter received for her 16th birthday.
  As her daughter was driving home, she saw a white SUV heading the 
opposite direction and beginning to swerve from the outer lane. The 
vehicle hit them head-on. Sharon described the next moment: ``The next 
thing I remember was the sound of the metal crashing and twisting in 
front of us. I vaguely remember everyone running to us and telling us 
to get out because the car was about to explode. I couldn't get out and 
could barely breathe.''
  Sharon thanks God that her daughter was largely unharmed, but Sharon 
suffered five broken bones in her back and a severely broken sternum, 
leaving a large hole in her chest. She now has chronic pain that 
impacts her daily life.
  The driver of the white SUV was a man by the name of Mr. Rodriguez. 
He had a blood alcohol concentration of .20, 2\1/2\ times the legal 
limit in North Carolina.
  Mr. Rodriguez is in our country illegally. He did not own the vehicle 
he was driving, nor did he even have a driver's license, and this was 
his third drunk driving charge. He then served only 11 months in prison 
and has now been released.
  Mr. Rodriguez's time in prison may have come to an end, but the 
physical, mental, and emotional scars that Sharon has, well, they will 
never fade. Making matters worse, Mr. Rodriguez was uninsured, leaving 
thousands of dollars in medical bills, adding to the emotional and 
physical and now financial pain for Sharon and her family.
  Sharon stated: ``It is very difficult for me to have all this 
constant pain and then deal with all the emotions I am feeling about 
someone who comes into our country illegally and gets a little pat on 
the hand when he breaks all our laws.'' She said: ``To say my life was 
shattered is an understatement.''
  You see, we can do better. We must do better for Sharon and for all 
Americans who have been impacted by illegal immigration. That means an 
all-of-the-above approach to border security, including construction of 
additional physical structures and barriers. Border security not only 
helps keep our families safe, but it also continues the American 
tradition of being a welcoming Nation.
  Many of us are proud of our legal immigrant heritage. Though it goes 
underreported, America has the most generous legal system in the world. 
Think about it. We proudly welcome 1 million legal immigrants into our 
country every single year.
  In fact, just last year, the first full year of the Trump 
administration in 2017, the number was 1,127,167 new citizens whom we 
welcomed. These are people from all over the world who have raised 
their right hand, promising to obey the laws of our land and contribute 
to our blessed Nation.
  As President Trump said on this very floor just 2 days ago: ``Legal 
immigrants enrich our Nation and strengthen our society in countless 
ways. I want people to come into our country . . . but they have to 
come in legally.''
  You see, in America, we can do both. We can continue to be the beacon 
of hope throughout the world, and we can do much better in protecting 
the American people. After all, it is the first oath we take.
  But the clock is ticking. We face another impasse this week. Will our 
Democratic colleagues support commonsense policies to end this crisis, 
or will they continue to disengage on solutions, suggesting ideas like 
abolishing ICE and stopping additional funding for the Department of 
Homeland Security?
  It is time to put productivity over personality and people over 
politics. Anything less would be immoral.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________