[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 48 (Monday, March 18, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H2750]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





RELATING TO A NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED BY THE PRESIDENT ON FEBRUARY 
15, 2019--VETO MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (H. DOC. 
                              NO. 116-22)

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following veto 
message from the President of the United States:

To the House of Representatives:
  I am returning herewith without my approval H.J. Res. 46, a joint 
resolution that would terminate the national emergency I declared 
regarding the crisis on our southern border in Proclamation 9844 on 
February 15, 2019, pursuant to the National Emergencies Act.
  As demonstrated by recent statistics published by U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection (CBP) and explained in testimony given by the 
Secretary of Homeland Security on March 6, 2019, before the House 
Committee on Homeland Security, our porous southern border continues to 
be a magnet for lawless migration and criminals and has created a 
border security and humanitarian crisis that endangers every American. 
Last month alone, CBP apprehended more than 76,000 aliens improperly 
attempting to enter the United States along the southern border--the 
largest monthly total in the last 5 years. In fiscal year 2018, CBP 
seized more than 820,000 pounds of drugs at our southern border, 
including 24,000 pounds of cocaine, 64,000 pounds of methamphetamine, 
5,000 pounds of heroin, and 1,800 pounds of fentanyl. In fiscal years 
2017 and 2018, immigration officers nationwide made 266,000 arrests of 
aliens previously charged with or convicted of crimes. These crimes 
included approximately 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 
killings. In other words, aliens coming across our border have injured 
or killed thousands of people, while drugs flowing through the border 
have killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.
  The current situation requires our frontline border enforcement 
personnel to vastly increase their humanitarian efforts. Along their 
dangerous trek to the United States, 1 in 3 migrant women experiences 
sexual abuse, and 7 in 10 migrants are victims of violence. Fifty 
migrants per day are referred for emergency medical care, and CBP 
rescues 4,300 people per year who are in danger and distress. The 
efforts to address this humanitarian catastrophe draw resources away 
from enforcing our Nation's immigration laws and protecting the border, 
and place border security personnel at increased risk.
  As troubling as these statistics are, they reveal only part of the 
reality. The situation at the southern border is rapidly deteriorating 
because of who is arriving and how they are arriving. For many years, 
the majority of individuals who arrived illegally were single adults 
from Mexico. Under our existing laws, we could detain and quickly 
remove most of these aliens. More recently, however, illegal migrants 
have organized into caravans that include large numbers of families and 
unaccompanied children from Central American countries. Last year, for 
example, a record number of families crossed the border illegally. If 
the current trend holds, the number of families crossing in fiscal year 
2019 will greatly surpass last year's record total. Criminal 
organizations are taking advantage of these large flows of families and 
unaccompanied minors to conduct dangerous illegal activity, including 
human trafficking, drug smuggling, and brutal killings.
  Under current laws, court decisions, and resource constraints, the 
Government cannot detain families or undocumented alien children from 
Central American countries in significant numbers or quickly deport 
them. Instead, the Government is forced to release many of them into 
the interior of the United States, pending lengthy judicial 
proceedings. Although many fail ever to establish any legal right to 
remain in this country, they stay nonetheless.
  This situation on our border cannot be described as anything other 
than a national emergency, and our Armed Forces are needed to help 
confront it.
  My highest obligation as President is to protect the Nation and its 
people. Every day, the crisis on our border is deepening, and with new 
surges of migrants expected in the coming months, we are straining our 
border enforcement personnel and resources to the breaking point.
  H.J. Res. 46 ignores these realities. It is a dangerous resolution 
that would undermine United States sovereignty and threaten the lives 
and safety of countless Americans. It is, therefore, my duty to return 
it to the House of Representatives without my approval.
                                                     Donald J. Trump.  
                                       The White House, March 15, 2019.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The objections of the President will be 
spread at large upon the Journal, and the veto message and the joint 
resolution will be printed as a House document.
  Without objection, further consideration of the veto message and the 
joint resolution, H.J. Res. 46, is postponed until the legislative day 
of March 26, 2019.
  There was no objection.

                          ____________________