[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 17, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H5985-H5991]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SOUTHERN BORDER CRISIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2019, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I am excited tonight to talk to this audience 
here and at home about a serious situation that has plagued America and 
American politics since the mid-1980s.
  But that is not what I am excited about. I am excited to offer a 
bipartisan legislation solution to fix our broken immigration system.
  Before I get into the nuts and bolts of what we are going to talk 
about, we need to look back on past efforts of what worked and efforts 
that did not work.
  This body, along with President Reagan, did immigration reform that 
gave approximately 3.5 million individuals amnesty. Reforms were put in 
place to prevent a repeat of the illegal immigration challenge this 
Nation has had.
  America, time and time again, has been said to be the most generous 
country when it comes to immigration policies, and I think we can all 
agree with that. Over 1 million people migrate to America, legally, per 
year.
  Unfortunately, this body became divided and has continued to be 
divided over the enforcement of current laws and border security and 
making the needed reforms and revisions and adaptation to the times and 
needs of today to ensure our Nation's borders are secure.
  There are many programs where individuals can migrate to America 
legally, whether it is for work, to get an education, to become a 
citizen, to seek refuge from a national disasters, fear for one's 
safety because of bad government, corrupt government, or fear of life.
  However, this body has become so divided and the situation since 1986 
has grown to the point that we now have a conservative estimate of over 
12 million individuals in America illegally, and the number continues 
to grow.
  The number will continue to grow until this body stops playing 
politics with policies and people's lives and puts forth a policy that 
is best for America--not best for a political party, not best for the 
next election.
  If a policy is best for America, the question is asked: Is it not 
best for all--our citizens, the immigrant, and national security?
  What must happen is for this body to stop playing the political 
divisive game that has divided this Nation over the immigration 
policies.
  The Democratic side, Mr. Speaker, claims the Republicans are running 
concentration camps, tearing children away from their parents, and 
throwing children in cages with no food, no water, no toothbrushes, et 
cetera.
  The Republicans claim, Mr. Speaker, the other side wants to have open 
borders, and I have to admit, the Democratic Presidential candidates 
have talked about that. The Democrats, Mr. Speaker, want to give 
everyone amnesty.
  Therefore, nothing gets resolved because the narrative becomes 
political, the canyon that has grown between us grows larger, and 
nothing gets done.
  I am a veterinarian by trade, and what I have learned is you have got 
to look at the facts in front of you; you have got to diagnose the 
condition; you have got to look at the underlying cause; and then you 
have to treat accordingly.
  In order for a problem to be solved, there must be the recognition 
that there is a problem.
  Let me reference some of the rhetoric spoken by the very people 
tasked with solving this challenge to our great Nation, and this was at 
the beginning of the year.
  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the situation: ``A fake crisis at 
the border.''
  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it: ``A crisis that does 
not exist.''
  House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said: ``There is no crisis at the 
border.''
  And I can read on and on with the individuals' names, but there is no 
need to because they are talking points that don't change.
  Another Member: ``There is no crisis at the border.''
  Another Member: ``A fake crisis at the border.''
  ``There is no crisis at the border.''
  ``We don't have a border crisis.''
  ``A phony border crisis.''
  ``A fake crisis at the border.''
  ``A crisis that does not exist.''
  ``Nonexistent border crisis.''
  ``There is no border crisis.''
  This comes from a piece in the Washington Examiner that Byron York 
wrote: ``This moment might be a time for introspection for those who 
have consistently downplayed the urgency of the situation on the 
border. Earlier this year, with the number of illegal crossings rising; 
with the nature of the crossers changing, more families and more 
children than in earlier years; with the testimony of border officials 
that they were unable to handle the situation; with all that happening, 
many Democrats and their supporters in the media forcefully denied that 
there was a crisis on the southern border.''

[[Page H5986]]

  Here are a few more examples, Mr. Speaker.
  ``In the media, `Never Trump' Republicans, former Republicans, and 
other commentators have joined in.''
  ``Former Rep. Joe Scarborough, now with MSNBC, called the situation 
`an imaginary border crisis.'
  ``Former Bush White House official Nicolle Wallace, also with MSNBC, 
said, `There's not a crisis.'''
  ``Former Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol called the situation `a 
fake crisis.'''
  Another one says: ``A fake crisis.''
  Another one: ``There is no crisis on the border.''
  Another one: ``There is no crisis at the border.''
  They are the same talking points that get passed from one person to 
another.
  Another one: ``A faux crisis.''
  ``A make-believe crisis.''
  Even the comedians on late-night television weighed in and said: ``A 
fake border crisis.''
  In this one article, there are over 26 examples, and there are plenty 
more where this came from.

                              {time}  1945

  ``The situation at the border is so terrible in part because those in 
power, and those cheering them on in the media, have steadfastly 
resisted commonsense measures to reduce the flow of illegal migrants, 
the large majority of whom do not have a valid claim of asylum, across 
the border. The resulting paralysis in border policy encourages more 
migrants to come, making the situation worse by the day.
  ``Perhaps some of those quoted above only want to deny the President 
a victory,'' which is shameful. No matter how sensible the results are, 
they can't give in so that the situation is resolved.
  The bottom line is, the American people are less safe; the immigrants 
are less safe; and America's national security is threatened.
  ``Perhaps others are simply looking for a partisan advantage'' for 
the next election. ``Perhaps some sincerely believe in open or 
virtually open borders.''
  As I said, the Democratic Presidential candidates have all expressed 
their views on that.
  ``It does not matter what their motives are. The crisis--yes, 
crisis--at the border worsens every day that we do not act.''
  I am happy to say that I think people have come to their senses, that 
there is recognition today that there is a crisis at our border. The 
important thing to note is that if we recognize there is a crisis at 
the border, then you can start to heal the problem, and then you can 
start fixing that problem. It starts with border security and the 
enforcement of the laws already on the books.
  People want to put in new laws and do all these things. The laws are 
already on the books. There are some flawed laws, like the Flores 
agreement, that need to be changed.
  I just spoke to a Member of Congress who returned from the border, 
and he has spoken to the border security people. He was down there, and 
he saw firsthand. He had a shocking report. The coyotes bringing people 
in have control of what we call parishes or little neighborhoods. They 
have control of an area, and they bring people in. They are working 
with the narcotraffickers. They are bringing individuals into this 
country.
  Understand what is happening here. An individual who comes in will 
pay a coyote up to $8,000 for entry to come into America. It is more 
difficult to bring one individual in than it is with a child. A person 
who comes in with a child only has to pay $5,000 to a coyote. The 
reason is that they have to smuggle an individual in, get them on a 
bus, and they give them a boxed lunch.
  This was just reported to us, and that was from last week.
  The person with a child who comes in only has to pay $5,000 because 
we have to process that, so it is easier to get them in. They can just 
come across the border, and our system rolls them in, so it is only 
$5,000 to come in.
  The coyotes--understand this--and human traffickers, which are the 
same, are advertising in other countries, Africa, the Middle East, the 
Asia-Pacific region, and South and Central America on TV ads. Ads in 
print say: Come to America. We can get you in.
  They have the prices printed. The coyotes, the human traffickers, and 
the narcos are getting rich at the expense of the immigrant and the 
refugee who truly need to come into America, and the children.
  We always hear on the other side that it is for the children. Well, 
by God, if you believe that, then fix the dang problem.
  It is also at the expense of our American citizens and our children. 
I was elected by American citizens, and my first job is to uphold the 
Constitution. My first job is to the people of my district who sent me 
here. My first job is to protect our constitutional principles for the 
people of this Nation.
  The other thing that gets threatened is our national security. The 
reports we have right now indicate there are over 60 countries 
represented from around the world, from China and Africa, that are 
coming into this country at the hands of the coyotes.
  I want to drop back to 2014. I think it is interesting that Members 
on the other side of this very body who were saying there is no crisis 
at the border, if you look at my first poster here, it is from June 
2014. Let me read you the headline here, ``Sickening Photos of the 
Humanitarian Crisis at U.S. Border Detention Centers.'' This was June 
16, 2014, and it was written by Brett Logiurato.
  There were Members who are serving in this Congress today who took 
these photos, and they said what a shame it is that we have these 
situations at the border.
  You can see this picture. People are laying on concrete floors.
  But then they turn around and accuse President Trump of laying these 
people on concrete floors with no pillows and no blankets. That is 
2014, when President Obama was in charge.
  Here is another picture. ``A staggering humanitarian crisis on the 
U.S.-Mexico border has left Federal officials scrambling to provide the 
basic human necessities to thousands of undocumented immigrants, most 
of them unaccompanied children.''
  The other side will say, well, it is for the children. I agree. No 
child should have to go through that. No parent should have to go 
through that in 2014. Yet, this is 2019. Not a dang thing has been done 
in this body to fix this problem because politicians--and I am almost 
embarrassed to say that I am a politician--are afraid to fix this 
problem.
  Do you know why? They will get political arrows thrown at them. 
Somebody will say: Oh, you want amnesty. You want to deport everybody.
  They stay away from this, another election comes, and nothing happens 
other than the situation gets worse.
  Let me go to another picture of sickening photos of the humanitarian 
crisis at the border detention center. Business Insider all the way in 
Australia is highlighting how dysfunctional the American immigration 
system is. You see kids running around. They are barefoot. People are 
laying on aluminum blankets, heat shields.

  People are in this situation. This is not a new crisis. This is 
something that has been going on since 1986. It is coming to a head, 
and it is going to get worse if this body does not get the backbone to 
do what is right and do what is right for America. As I said, if it is 
right for America, then it is going to be right for the immigrant, 
right for the American citizen, and right for this country. If we don't 
do those things, then it is going to get worse.
  Let's go to that other picture. There is a graph here that I want to 
highlight before I turn it over to my good friend. On this graph, I 
think it is interesting because numbers and pictures speak lots of 
words. This is the southwest border apprehension for fiscal year 2019.
  Before I get into this, President Trump has taken a lot of heat for 
trying to resolve a situation that gets worse every day. He has to do 
that only because this body is inept at what it is tasked to do. This 
body is the one that is supposed to write immigration laws. This body 
is the one that is supposed to do the enforcement laws. The President 
is tasked with executing the laws. According to Article II, Section 3, 
he shall faithfully execute the laws of the land. But if Congress does 
not solve the problem, then he has no other choice.
  He has called this an emergency. He has taken flack for that. He has 
taken

[[Page H5987]]

all kinds of criticism for trying to do what is right for this country, 
trying to protect our national security, and trying to have some kind 
of commonsense way to slow this down.
  Yet my colleagues on the other side who acknowledged in 2014 that 
this was a crisis, at the beginning of this year, they said there was 
no crisis. They criticized him for trying to act.
  I want to show this graph. I know it is probably hard to see from TV, 
but look at this graph. We have different years represented here. We go 
from 2014 all the way up to 2019. The bottom line is, 2016, we were 
actively deporting people. There was a bad economy. We weren't getting 
as many people into this country.
  What I want to show is in October 2018. Look at 2019. If we start at 
January, we are at 54,000 people apprehended at the border. This was 
when there was no crisis at the border, 58,000 while there was no 
crisis at the border. By the time June came around, that number had 
grown to 104,000 apprehensions at the border.
  There was no crisis, according to my colleagues on the other side who 
won't come together to solve this problem.
  President Trump acted, and he acted strongly. He appealed to Mexico 
to help us with this situation. I commend the President of Mexico for 
coming to terms with President Trump. They put in enforcement at their 
southern border.
  You can see exactly the effect of that when it happened. It happened 
right here in the end of June. Since then, the illegal apprehensions 
have dropped precipitously down to under 110,000 in just a month and a 
half.
  We haven't changed the laws in this country. We haven't increased 
border security in this country. But the Mexicans came to rescue and 
help us. In fact, the Mexican Government is doing more to solve this 
problem for America, American citizens, and immigrants than my 
colleagues on the left side.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King), who is a 
great friend of mine and a great proponent of legal immigration.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida for 
taking the initiative to claim this time on the floor of the House of 
Representatives and bring up this topic.
  I point out, Mr. Speaker, to the people who are paying attention here 
at least, whether or not that is you, that this is the most complex 
issue that the United States of America faces and has ever faced.
  We might face a tax issue or a national defense issue, and we might 
face a healthcare issue. They are very complex and very detailed. But 
almost everything else, you can make your mistakes, fix them, and move 
on, but it doesn't multiply itself throughout the multiple generations 
that we have.
  Immigration is very complex. At the heart of it is something that I 
heard the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho) reference, and that is the 
word ``1986.''
  I revere Ronald Reagan, and I always have, except for the two times 
in all of history that he let me down. 1986 was the time he did that, 
when he granted amnesty to what turned out to be more than 3 million 
illegal aliens in this country.
  It wasn't the number of illegal aliens who were granted a reward for 
breaking our laws. Instead, it was the destruction of the rule of law. 
Once you reward people for breaking the law, you get more lawbreakers. 
More lawbreakers destroy the law.
  In the center of everything that I have done on immigration here in 
this Congress in 16\1/2\ years has been about the restoration of the 
respect for the rule of law, in particular with regard to immigration. 
Yet I see on the other side of the aisle a constant push to erode and 
degrade the respect for the rule of law and the rule of law itself.
  We are dealing with sanctuary cities, sanctuary counties, sanctuary 
States, and sanctuary jurisdictions. In the last Congress, we passed 
sanctuary legislation that went over to Senator McConnell's desk that 
would have shut it all off and given a victim standing to go to court 
to sue the political subdivision for compensation for the damage caused 
by turning people loose on the streets who should have been 
interdicted, put back in the condition they were in before they broke 
the law.
  I am a little bit extra emotional about this tonight, Mr. Speaker, 
because I get the news from Des Moines, Iowa. I am going to be delicate 
about how I say this because I don't want to prejudice an impending 
prosecution.
  We have a triple murder that took place in Des Moines, Iowa, that 
peaceful city, a triple murder. The individual who was arrested for 
that triple homicide went into the custody of the Des Moines police for 
maybe a few hours. Shortly, his name came off the roster for being in 
their custody.
  When you check, he is in ICE's custody. It has now been announced 
that the individual who is a suspect for a triple homicide in the 
peaceful city of Des Moines, Iowa, is an illegal alien, a criminal 
alien.
  He also had been interdicted for a hit-and-run just a couple of 
months ago, turned loose on the streets of Iowa, now potentially 
becoming guilty of killing three individuals, a mother, an 11-year-old 
daughter, and a 5-year-old son.

                              {time}  2000

  ``Illegal alien,'' well, we are not supposed to say that because it 
hurts their feelings.
  And one of our Members of this Congress has introduced legislation--
now, by the way, it is Joaquin Castro, whose brother is running for 
President of the United States. He has introduced legislation to 
eliminate the use of the term ``illegal alien'' in Federal statute 
because it hurts people's feelings.
  Hurts people's feelings, when we have people going to their graves at 
their hands. I think their feelings are hurt a lot worse. And our 
compassion needs to be for those who have been killed and those who 
have been injured and those who have been abused in many ways. But to 
just change the terminology of the reality is just a political 
statement.
  And I would add, on top of that, the policies that have been 
advocated on the other side of the aisle are the policies that 
culminate in open borders.
  Open borders mean, picking a particular number that came out of DHS, 
in April, 4,117 illegal aliens interdicted in a single day.
  So I got out my little calculator, and I divided 4,117 into 710,000, 
which is the average size of a congressional seat. That meant that 
every 24 weeks another congressional district, an entire congressional 
district in Iowa, is supplanted by illegal aliens coming into America. 
And that number could well be as many as 50, 60, or 70 seats over the 
period of a Census time.
  So I point this down, in conclusion here, and compress it so that 
even those folks who are the least likely to understand this will 
understand what I am about to describe.
  If you were to clear out a county in the desert of Nevada so that 
there wasn't a single person living there, and then as we interdict 
these folks on the border at the rate of 4,117 in a single day, and 
over 24 weeks you accumulate the equivalent of an entire congressional 
district, you put them into that county, the Census shows up and counts 
them--710,000. 710,000 of them then become an entire congressional 
district. That entire congressional district couldn't elect a single 
person because there wouldn't be a single citizen there in 24 weeks.
  So that means anybody can move there and vote for themselves, come to 
Congress, and represent 710,000 illegals--that is how bad it is--in 
only 24 weeks.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida.
  Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. King, his passion for this. And I 
want to run through a few numbers before I go to Mr. Chip Roy from 
Texas.
  Southwest border apprehensions by U.S. Customs, total apprehensions 
from October 2018 to May of 2019, 593,507.
  May of 2019, apprehensions alone, 138,887--highest month in over a 
decade.
  Total inadmissibles in October of 2018 to 2019, 82,808.
  Inadmissibles, these are people who can't come into the country 
because of their record.
  Mr. Speaker, 2019, 6 months total already has exceeded the total for 
the year of 2015.
  At this time, I yield to Mr. Chip Roy from Texas, a passionate 
individual about this. And I, again, thank Mr. King.
  Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his leadership 
tonight in

[[Page H5988]]

bringing an opportunity for us to speak on the floor of the House of 
Representatives on an issue that is front and center for most of the 
American people. It is, by far, the number one issue that the American 
people care about. I can particularly speak to the people of Texas, who 
are bearing the brunt of the failed border security, the failed 
immigration policies of the Federal Government.
  I had the opportunity to visit an ICE detention facility in Aurora, 
Colorado, this past Saturday. I was out in Denver for a Western 
Conservative Summit. I was visiting family members, and I saw this 
terrible story of individuals rushing the ICE facility in Aurora, 
Colorado, and taking down the American flag, defacing the American 
flag, then raising the Mexican flag.
  Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I was going to bring this up, and I am glad 
the gentleman from Texas did.
  What happened to the day when migrants came to this country to 
cherish liberty and freedom and become enrolled in the beliefs that we 
have to assimilate?
  I appreciate the gentleman bringing that up because those aren't 
friendly signs, to take down the American flag and put up the Mexican 
flag in our country.
  Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's question. I think 
it is an important question.
  To take down the American flag, deface the American flag with the 
words ``abolish ICE,'' to turn it upside down and re-raise it; to 
raise, then, the Mexican flag alongside of it over this ICE detention 
facility, I went there the day after this occurred. I met with the 
individuals running this facility, both ICE as well as the private 
individuals, GEO, that were running it.
  What did I find in the facility? It is a detention facility that 
houses 1,200 individuals. It was clean.
  There were doctors' offices. There was medicine.
  There were ping-pong tables.
  There were iPads to watch news in home countries.
  There were televisions.
  There were video game stations.
  There were three square meals.
  There were clean bunk beds.
  There were people from 57 countries. Only 29 percent of the people in 
there are from Mexico.
  Traditionally, this ICE facility has 80 percent of its occupants 
coming from individuals who are brought in there from interior 
enforcement, usually violent criminals or people who have violated our 
laws other than immigration laws, and 80 percent are usually of that 
population.
  Now, 80 percent of that is from people who are flooding across our 
border, overwhelming Border Patrol. ICE has no beds, no place to put 
these individuals who have violated our laws. As a result, you see 
the overcrowding in the Border Patrol facilities.

  My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have, for months on end, 
been refusing to acknowledge that there is a border crisis, only 
awakening in the last several weeks to finally acknowledge that there 
is a crisis, to finally agree to pass only humanitarian aid, that is, 
dollars to go to HHS, ORR to take in individuals, unaccompanied 
children, to place them, but then restricting dollars for ICE.
  Why? Because I think that the Democratic Caucus is run by four 
members of the Caucus. I don't think there is a single Speaker. I think 
there are four Speakers, and I think those four Speakers are deciding 
the policy for the Democrat Party. I think, as a result, we saw 
precisely what is happening. We have no resources for ICE--none.
  We are vilifying ICE. We are vilifying Border Patrol. Speak to the 
Border Patrol agents on the border who are holding the line defending 
the United States of America while cartels have operational control of 
our border, while the Gulf Cartel, the Reynoso faction, Los Zetas, the 
Cartel de Noreste, the Sinaloas, they are using human beings for 
profit. They are using children as tickets to sell access to the United 
States.
  Why are they doing that, and how are they doing that? My Democrat 
colleagues know full well the answer to that, and they don't care. They 
don't care that cartels are abusing our laws for profit, that they are 
doing so in a way that violates children, violates women on the 
journey, a third of whom are abused along the journey. And they do so 
knowing that Border Patrol is overwhelmed and refuse to do anything 
about it.
  Now, what I want to know, and I don't know what my colleagues think 
about this, but why is it that we have got about 1 week left before we 
are going to adjourn for a 6-week recess, and yet my Democrat 
colleagues are going to do nothing, nothing on the floor of this body, 
the people's House, to address this calamitous situation, nothing to 
provide the resources necessary for ICE, nothing to address the fact 
that they only provided $200 million for ICE with restrictions on how 
the money may be used?
  When Barack Obama, former President, asked for $762 million for ICE 
in the wake of the unaccompanied alien children who were coming in 
2014--and this crisis is multiple times worse--what are my Democrat 
colleagues going to do next week to solve this problem before they 
leave for 6 weeks?
  What are my Democrat colleagues going to do to save the little girls 
and the women who are going to get abused in the next 6 weeks when 
everybody adjourns for this body to go off to fundraisers and trips and 
go back to their districts while our border is on fire?
  What are my Democrat colleagues going to do? I will tell you what 
they are going to do. Absolutely nothing, and it is an embarrassment.
  It is an embarrassment to this body, the people's House, that we are 
looking at a southern border that is being violated. We are looking at 
a sovereignty of the United States being violated. We are looking at 
little girls and women being violated by dangerous cartels. And my 
Democrat colleagues would rather waste time on the floor of this body 
with meaningless resolutions.
  We spent time yesterday doing what? Taking down the words and having 
a vote on words that were a result of a resolution against a tweet. 
That is what this august body did yesterday. That is what they spent 
their time doing.
  Did they address the border crisis? No.
  Are they going to address the border crisis next week? No. They are 
going to send us into the August recess, barreling towards deficits 
well over a trillion dollars, with people streaming across our border 
in violation of our sovereignty to the detriment of our security, to 
the detriment of the well-being of the migrants who seek to come here, 
and they are going to do that, to go home and do absolutely nothing 
about the problem.
  So I would ask my colleagues: Are we going to allow this body to 
adjourn next week? Are we going to leave the floor and go home for 6 
weeks and allow that to continue to be the state of affairs at our 
southern border?
  I think this country deserves better. I think the migrants who seek 
to come here deserve better.
  I think we should sit down and roll up our sleeves and do the job the 
American people sent us here to do: secure the border, balance the 
budget, provide healthcare freedom, make sure our men and women have a 
clear mission and the tools to do it, and get the hell out of the way 
of the American people.
  Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's passion, and 
appreciate him bringing these things out.
  And this is something we have sent President Trump, and I am going to 
say tonight, I implore President Trump--in fact, I am going to 
challenge President Trump to reconvene this Congress at the beginning 
of the August recess. And I would do it every recess from here on out 
until this body comes to grips and solves this problem in a bipartisan, 
bicameral way; because, if you don't do that, Congress will run out.
  Like the gentleman said, they are going to go fundraise. They are 
going to get ready for the next election and tell everybody how great 
they did, yet this problem is getting worse.
  President Trump, you can do this. It hasn't been done since 1948. 
That was President Truman, and he did what was best for this body.
  I can tell you one thing. When you invade the personal time of 
Members of Congress, you get their attention. I think it is time we do 
that. I, for one, will stay here. I think this needs to be done. This 
is such a critical issue.
  At this time, I would like to go over a couple more facts, these 
numbers, the

[[Page H5989]]

sources, total CBP enforcement, Custom Border Patrol.
  Apprehensions in 2017, total for the year was 526,901. 2018, that 
number--because the word had gotten out. The drug cartels are very good 
business people, unfortunately. They are not ethical people. They are 
not people I would want to have next to us. I don't want them in my 
country. But they are very good at what they do. The apprehensions in 
2018 was 683,178.

  Now, get this. If people will not come together in a bipartisan way, 
they don't need to be in Congress.
  When you hear these numbers, apprehensions year-to-date 2019--keep in 
mind, 2017 is 527,000; 2018, 683,000 for the years. 2019, to date, the 
end of June, 787,161.
  Folks, when are we going to do this? If not now, when? Are we going 
to wait until there are 20 million people here? 40 million people? 50 
million people?
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert), a 
great friend of mine, another great Texan.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida, and I 
appreciate him yielding.
  This is something we ought to be talking about every day because it 
is a crisis. It makes a difference. It is helping destroy our country.
  And it is really tragic, though, and I would not superimpose any type 
of attack on personalities, however, I think what we really have is not 
evil intentions. I think it is just massive ignorance. Because we have 
heard over and over: Oh, if you want to secure the border, you want 
just U.S. citizens, then you are a racist.
  So that just reflects an ignorance.
  Mr. YOHO. Does the gentleman feel like it is politics being played 
over policy for the next election?
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, there is no question about that.
  Mr. YOHO. Absolutely. It is sickening, sickening for this body, 
sickening for America.
  Mr. GOHMERT. No, it is.
  But American citizens are comprised of every race, of every 
nationality, all walks of life. It is one of our strengths, people 
coming from so many different walks of life, countries, races. Yet when 
we have applied the standard ``from out of many, one,'' then we have 
been our strongest, all different races, nationalities.

                              {time}  2015

  But now, in order to tear down this country and the greatness in the 
way of opportunities and help around the world for other countries, not 
seeking some hegemony, not seeking imperialist motives, we want 
everyone to be better off. We want peace. We want good for everyone.
  But if you destroy our borders and people flood in who are not 
educated on what it takes to keep a self-governing country, you won't 
keep it.
  Eric Metaxas has a book out on this, but it goes back to what 
Benjamin Franklin said when he was asked at the end of the convention, 
``What did you give us?'' And they wondered if it was another monarchy.
  ``A Republic, Madam, if you can keep it.''
  The one thing we know: No country has lasted, either as a complete 
democracy like the Athenian city-state or whether it is a 
parliamentarian country--they don't last 200 years.
  We are 230 now. We are moving on. So, we are in a very desperate 
situation to try to keep this shining light on a hill that shines light 
for the world.
  So, it is important that we have borders. If we don't have borders, 
if we don't secure our borders, then we will come--as many have wanted. 
They wanted to see America fall from within.
  As Lincoln said, if death be our light, then we will die by suicide 
is basically what he was saying.
  We have got to secure our borders so that we can welcome people 
continuing at the rate faster--more people coming in than any other 
country in the history of the world.
  But I have had people in my district say, ``We went to the border. We 
went through these facilities. We have all this information. People are 
being kept in cages. It is horrible.''
  Well, I go down a lot, have been down many times. And I started going 
down during the Obama administration. That is when the cages were 
built. They were built by the Obama administration. That is when 
overcrowding was started, during the Obama administration.
  But it is like there is an intent, as my friend from Florida was 
pointing out, for political purposes, that we want to try to make the 
Trump administration look bad, so we will take all the wrongdoing that 
occurred during the Obama years, the mistreatment of people that have 
come in illegally, and project that onto the Trump administration, and 
we will push to have even less enforcement on our borders.
  We will make these promises of, gee, we are working on all these 
kinds of things. Here is an article from The Hill: ``Democrats calling 
for decriminalization of illegal entry abandoning national 
sovereignty.''
  They want to decriminalize--it is against the law, it is a crime to 
come into the country illegally. They are sending every message they 
possibly can. It is not a dog whistle. It is a big neon sign saying 
``Come.'' Whether you are coming from Asia, Africa, South America, 
Central America, we don't care. Just come illegally, as many as you 
can. We will overwhelm these folks. We are going to be able to probably 
get a lot of people that are here illegally voting, and then will be 
the end of the Republican Party.
  And what they don't say--maybe they don't realize--is that it will 
also be the end of a self-governing nation as we knew it. Because the 
way this normally works out--and we are well beyond the maximum, 
basically, 200 years. When we lose our freedom, it won't come back. We 
are done. And there will be no place for people being mistreated around 
the world to come after that.
  It is interesting, though, when I have been down to the border, 
especially during the Obama years, the Obama administration personnel 
kept me out of some of those facilities. We had to really raise Cain 
and get in there.
  So, we have got people who are not part of the government, and they 
go waltzing into these facilities. That is ridiculous.
  Then we know that there were two pictures that were initially--they 
had to be withdrawn, but they were from 2014, about people in cages. I 
had seen that my friend, Mr. Yoho, had the pictures. Those are from the 
Obama administration.
  Mr. Speaker, let me just finish by pointing out, this truly is a 
threat to the existence of a self-governing country as we have known 
it. This is serious stuff.
  For those who have big hearts, those of us that want to help as many 
people as we can, destroying the fabric of a self-governing country 
will not allow better fabric to take its place.
  You will have another Venezuela. It always works out. People try to 
self-govern for so long, and then, eventually, untoward efforts bring 
about chaos.
  And, normally, the way chaos is dealt with is push for a monarchy, a 
totalitarian government, a Putin, a Chavez, a Hitler. There is some 
effort to get somebody in that can get all of this under control, and 
it is the end of a democratic republic.
  So, I am really pleased that my friend, Dr. Yoho--I tell friends, he 
is a guy, having been a veterinarian, that was best equipped to work in 
Congress because he has had so much experience dealing with the south 
end of a northbound horse. So I thank him for bringing about this 
Special Order, and I am looking forward to many more. We need to talk 
about this, this is a threat.
  Mr. YOHO. This is a threat. This is not about being racist. It is 
about doing rule of law.
  Our good friend   Steve King brought up a great point. This is rule 
of law. That is all we are asking: Follow the rule of law.
  This body has been derelict in their duty, and that is why this 
problem is growing, because they put politics above policy. They are 
afraid to stand up.
  It is like I said. We have asked President Trump, reconvene Congress, 
bring us back in at the August recess. And I would bring us back every 
time until we fix this problem, period.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert).
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, our Border Patrol agents are exhausted. 
They have worked so many hours.

[[Page H5990]]

  We had a hearing today in Judiciary on a bill adding requirement 
after requirement, millions and millions of dollars. They didn't give 
them any money in the 4.6 to do the job of enforcing the border. Our 
Border Patrol agents need help. They are in big trouble.
  Mr. YOHO. They do. I appreciate the gentleman bringing that up. I 
will talk about that at the end.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry), 
my good friend and colleague, the brigadier general.
  Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida for 
hosting this Special Order and continuing to elevate this issue and 
keep talking about it.
  The last time that we were speaking on this floor about the crisis on 
our southern border with Mexico, our colleagues on the other side of 
the aisle were still denying there was a crisis, if you remember.
  In report after report--if you watched CNN, MSNBC, et cetera--they 
said it was a manufactured crisis, manufactured by Donald Trump.
  To their credit, they finally agreed that there is a crisis. I just 
thought, well, such is the state of the Democrats on the other side of 
the aisle. But mere acceptance of reality counts for progress around 
here. But we have got to be thankful that we are at least having a 
conversation sometime.
  But you would think, with this crisis on our border--5,000 people a 
day coming illegally. That doesn't count the ones coming at points of 
entry. Those are in between the points of entry. And that also doesn't 
count the ones that weren't caught, right? Those are the ones we 
caught.
  Usually, Border Patrol says you can times two whatever we caught 
because others are getting through. You would think that we would be 
working around the clock here to fix this crisis at the border since we 
all now agree that there is a crisis.
  But, instead, my good friends on the other side of the aisle are 
focused on smearing the President. I get the partisanship, but what 
really troubles me is they are also focused on smearing Border Patrol 
and ICE agents that are duty bound. They raise their right hand and 
take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution and the laws that we 
created, that this body created. They are just doing their job that we 
asked them to do, and for that, they are being criticized, demonized, 
and smeared.
  To add further insult to injury, some of our colleagues are now 
saying that they want to abolish these folks, the agencies--ICE and 
Homeland Security. You didn't hear that wrong. That is a solution.
  So, a solution to the problem of people coming illegally, pouring 
across the border, offered by the other side of the aisle, in some 
cases, is to abolish the agencies and the people who are working to 
stop it.
  This completely sounds wrongheaded to me. I don't know who that makes 
sense to, but it doesn't make any sense to me.
  Now, what other ideas have we heard? Of course, amnesty for illegal 
foreign nationals. That is going to fix the problem, because if you 
know that you can break the law and nothing is going to happen to you, 
I am sure that is not an encouragement to keep on breaking the law. I 
am sure that is not somehow.
  Decriminalizing illegal entry. So, if you have somebody trespassing 
on your land and you go to the police and you say, ``Hey, these folks 
keep trespassing on my land,'' the police say, ``Well, here is our 
solution. We are just going to make trespass legal now. Are you good 
with that?''
  Well, that doesn't seem like much of a solution.
  Eliminating detention facilities. So, recently, a study maintains 
that 30 percent of the young people--usually young girls, but not 
exclusively, but young people that are being brought in--because these 
folks know that if they bring a child with them, it is tantamount to 
just immediate entry--30 percent of them had no connection, had no 
familial--family connection to the person that they are with.
  So, the reason to have detention facilities, among other things, is 
to try and figure out: Is this child with a parent or a relative, or is 
this child being trafficked?
  A solution to this overwhelming problem offered by my friends on the 
other side of the aisle is to just get rid of the detention facilities.
  So, the last place that this small child is looking for salvation, 
for safety, to stop the trafficking that is happening at that time, 
looking to America, probably praying and hoping that, finally, when I 
get to America, they are going to find out that I am being exploited in 
horrific ways.
  Our good friends on the other side of the aisle say, No, we are not 
going to do any of that. Just keep on exploiting the kids, but don't do 
it here. Don't do it in Mexico either. Now, just keep exploiting them 
in your town.
  Well, that is not much of a solution. To me, that is horrific, 
thinking about that.
  Of course, then, another solution is providing taxpayer-funded 
healthcare for people that came here illegally.
  Mr. Speaker, I don't know where everybody lives, but I know that 
people in the community that I am privileged to represent are having a 
hard time paying for their own healthcare now, let alone paying for 
people that came here illegally.
  And, again, that is a solution to stop people from coming across the 
border offered from our friends on the other side of the aisle.
  Let's face it, these are incentives. These aren't solutions to fix 
this problem; these are incentives to exacerbate the problem.
  I don't know what reality my good friends on the other side of the 
aisle are residing in, but, so far, it seems to me their platform has 
been amnesty, apathy, or apoplexy.
  And we are frustrated because we know that the solutions are out 
there. We have worked on them here, and we are happy and willing to 
work with our friends and colleagues on the other side of the aisle, 
but they seem paralyzed by theatrics in politics.

  We know that loopholes in our immigration laws are being exploited by 
human traffickers and drug cartels. They are taking laws designed to 
help the most helpless, and they are using them for profit at a tragic 
cost to children and families.
  Yet, the policies and the solutions proposed by our good friends on 
the other side of the aisle expand those loopholes or create even 
brand-new ones.
  And we know, with hundreds of thousands of people streaming across 
the border, we need funds for beds and detention space.
  Some of our friends on the other side of the aisle say, ``Well, we 
don't want you to detain these people, and we are not going to provide 
any funding for beds.''
  So the answer is, when they come across the border, don't even talk 
to them. Just let them keep on going. Let the children stay with their 
trafficker, end detention altogether, leaving the trafficked child at 
the mercy of their trafficker.
  Then there is the dangerous transnational criminal organization, not 
only trafficking in children, but the drugs that are ravaging your very 
community.

                              {time}  2030

  They are coming across our southern border. Barriers, fencing, and 
wall, they are a force multiplier, because if our Border Patrol agents 
don't have to stare at this place right here on the border because 
there is a barrier there, they can look over here where traffickers are 
coming across. Without any barrier, they have to look everywhere, and 
there is just simply not enough of them.
  The other side shut the government down, trying to stop us from 
securing the border.
  These cartels make massive profits. You heard about El Chapo's 
sentence today. It is estimated he was making $3 billion a year 
trafficking children and drugs into your community, $3 billion a year.
  El Chapo is in jail. Do you think somebody else didn't take over? Do 
you think he was the only cartel in Mexico?
  The other side is wasting time on this floor passing partisan bills 
that have no hope of becoming law. Meanwhile, ICE made more than 1,500 
human trafficking arrests, and 97 percent of those were for sex 
trafficking. 20,000 children were illegally smuggled into the United 
States in December of

[[Page H5991]]

last year alone, 20,000 children. These are little kids.
  I know the statistics start to run together, but these numbers must 
be recited. As of March this year, CBP has seen over a 50 percent spike 
in gang members apprehended at the southern border.
  Did you look to see what happened in Los Angeles just this week, the 
arrests and the horrific crimes? Is this what we want in our 
communities, people hatcheting and macheteing each other to death, 
cutting each other apart?
  We have a great country. There is no reason to do this.
  In the last 2 years, ICE has arrested 266,000 aliens with criminal 
records. Those aliens had convictions, including 100,000 assaults, 
30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 homicides.
  If you believe the cartels are going to stop making millions a year 
if we decriminalize the border and abolish ICE, you are not living in 
reality.
  Every day, children are being recycled across the border, serving as 
human shields. They send them across with somebody; they send them 
back; and then, they come back with somebody else. That is trafficking. 
There is no consequence to it.
  It is time to stop just talking about protecting the children being 
exploited. It is long past time to start protecting them and our 
communities by closing the loopholes that are used to hurt them.
  A famous quote we have all heard goes like this: ``The only thing 
necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men and women do 
nothing.'' That is happening, Mr. Speaker, in this House.
  The country is still waiting on the leadership of this House of 
Representatives to do something.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho) for 
inviting me and keeping this issue front and center.
  Mr. YOHO. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Pennsylvania's 
passion and leadership on the things he has done.
  He talked about it. Mr. Roy talked about it. Mr. Gohmert talked 
about. It is edifying.
  The ICE agents and the Customs and Border Patrol agents are doing a 
job that this body created with laws and policies, and then hired them. 
We have people on the other side of the aisle who are criminalizing the 
very people we hired to do this job that they have to do. And it is a 
thankless job.
  I know our side, the Republican Party, and, I am sure, some Democrats 
are truly thankful that our ICE agents and Customs and Border Patrol 
are there. They are taking time away from their families, and they are 
taking the time that they could be doing other things, but they are 
keeping our Nation safe.
  As Members of Congress, we here are thankful for them, and I know our 
Nation is thankful for them.
  I implore, again, President Trump to reconvene Congress, if it leaves 
without solving this problem, in the August recess and every time. He 
can be the first President since President Truman in 1948 to do this.
  I implore anybody who is watching to call your Members and tell them 
you want this problem solved. There is no reason that this does not get 
solved. This is something we can do.
  Throw politics out of it. Let's get good policies. Good policies for 
America are good policies for the migrant, good policy for our 
citizens, and good policy for our country.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________