[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 21 (Thursday, February 4, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H374-H375]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     PROTECTING OUR SOUTHERN BORDER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2021, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. 
Grothman) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. GROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, before we deal with the purpose of this 
speech, I would like to make some observations about changes that have 
been made in the last few weeks and other rapidly changing aspects of 
American life.
  One of the few positive observations I have made since I was a 
Congressman is the freedom people have normally had to see their 
Congressmen. Eccentric people can stand at the base of the Capitol 
steps a few yards away and hand out their pamphlets, nice and free. 
Easy to meet their Congressmen, for those of us who like to walk 
outside and not use the tunnel.
  Now, a chain-link fence stands around the Capitol with razor wire on 
top. Let's be honest. After about midnight on January 7, I think most 
of us felt pretty safe.
  Now, we are almost a month later, and we still have National Guard 
folks in full combat, ready to protect us. We have the wire on top of 
the walls, as well as Constitution and Independence Avenues shut down.
  I feel like I am in East Germany in the 1970s. I am not sure exactly 
what East Germany was like, but that is how I kind of visualize it, 
around maybe their parliament or whatever, fencing, police, always 
afraid of the people.
  It is a fitting background for our brave new world order in which our 
high-tech oligarchs are censoring ideas. Perhaps that is this 
background to the new censor regime. It seems almost appropriate.
  Our high-tech oligarchs are censoring ideas which are unpopular with 
the wealthy and powerful in our country. Eventually, we will need some 
antitrust enforcement or legislation to open up Twitter and allow 
American citizens to hear all points of view, including points of view 
that the great and powerful of our country do not want to have heard.
  I would like to thank the German, Mexican, and French Governments for 
their support as Americans try to regain their roots as a country with 
a free flow of ideas.
  In the meantime, my plea to the Speaker and majority leader is please 
tear down the walls around this Capitol and begin to undo the damage 
done to our freedoms.
  Now, back to the purpose of the speech.
  One more time last week, I returned to our southern border, and 
already, we are seeing the results of, I think, reckless comments made 
by our Chief Executive.
  We are getting to the point where we have had 300 unaccompanied 
minors a day crossing our southwest border. That is because we have had 
a President who has made comments that indicate that the United States 
is not sincere in protecting our southern border.

                              {time}  2130

  It does result in more money and more presence for drug cartels at 
the Southern border. So people understand, people do not just walk 
across the border. Mexicans are charged $3,000 a person; Central 
Americans, $5,000 a person; Brazilians, $9,000 a person; and Asians, 
$20,000 a person to cross the border.
  And when statements are made indicating that we will no longer be 
enforcing the border, those statements are conveyed by the cartels to 
people who they believe will pay to get across. We are, therefore, 
seeing the increase of people at the border, including unaccompanied 
minors who are supposedly people we want to protect.
  Last week, on the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, just in the Sasabe 
section alone, after I left that area, there were 120 unaccompanied 
juveniles. Some already part of a criminal element, but given that they 
have to deal with the cartels to get across the border, it certainly is 
not a good influence on them.
  Also while I was down there, I heard in the last year, on the Tucson 
sector alone--and there are seven or eight sectors along our Southern 
border--well over 100 people were found dehydrated to death. This is 
the result of the current system in which we do not secure our border.
  Unfortunately, despite the verbiage which indicates we are going to 
be less stringent in enforcing our border, we are also going to stop 
building the wall. First of all, you are throwing away about 5,000 jobs 
right away, and supposedly we are supposed to be looking for new jobs.
  But more than that, when you end these contracts, you wind up having 
to pay companies for parts of the wall that have been built but haven't 
been put up yet, pay them to undo or fill in holes which have been 
placed there in anticipation of a full wall, pay them to undo the 
damage to roads. And roads are part of the wall system that is going to 
be built down there. As a result, we are spending a lot of money which 
could be used to put in more wall and is not.
  I should point out that when you put up a wall, it saves money as far 
as the number of Border Patrol agents you need. If you don't have a 
wall, it should take about two or three border agents a mile to patrol 
the border. With a wall, it is about one agent for every two miles. 
Another benefit for having a wall.

[[Page H375]]

  But above all, the idea of paying money to wrap up the project rather 
than paying money to complete the wall is a waste of money and a real 
problem.
  Another thing I found out, with the wall, you are going to have less 
injuries to Border Patrol agents, which is probably one of many reasons 
why when I have gone down at the wall, I have yet to find a Border 
Patrol agent or a sheriff's deputy for the counties along the Southern 
border who is not in favor of the wall.
  We are going to wind up losing money as we pay money to care for 
people crossing the wall, losing money to our society as we have more 
drugs coming across the Southern border. And not surprising, as 
marijuana becomes more legal in the United States, more of the drugs 
that cross the Southern border are fentanyl, are meth, are heroin, 
resulting in more deaths all around the country. Another reason why we 
should be taking our Southern border seriously.
  I, therefore, strongly encourage my colleagues, as we look at future 
appropriation bills, to pay attention to the border. We cannot go back 
to the days of completely anybody can come across there, because, like 
I said, you are going to wind up with more people dehydrated to death 
in the desert. You are going to wind up with more unaccompanied minors 
who are going to be dealt with by the tender arms of the drug cartels, 
which control all the immigration and illegal immigration across the 
Southern border.
  So, please, I ask my colleagues, do what I did. Go down to Arizona. 
Go down to Texas. See the situation we have. See whether anybody could 
possibly think going back to the old system is humane in any way. It is 
not humane to minors. It is not humane to the people who are guided by 
the cartels. It is not humane to the people who cross the border and 
wind up dehydrating across our Southern edge.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________