[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 17, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H1483]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           COOPERATE WITH CENTRAL AMERICA'S NORTHERN TRIANGLE

  (Mr. FORTENBERRY asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks).
  Mr. FORTENBERRY. Mr. Speaker, a hallmark of America is that we have 
opened our arms and have been a just and generous nation to people who 
are fleeing political violence elsewhere, who have been persecuted in 
their native lands, and who are coming here to seek a better way of 
life. But here is the problem, Mr. Speaker: chaos and disorder at our 
border undermine the ability of our country to extend that generosity.
  A little-known fact about all of this is that for many years we have 
been working to get this question off of the one-yard line. But here we 
are again, seeing the trauma of unaccompanied children at our border 
and people receiving the wrong message that they can simply come here.
  We spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the Northern Triangle 
countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras to try to rebuild the 
conditions for the rule of law, to stop crime, and to give people 
economic opportunity. That is the right policy, and we had cooperative 
agreements with those countries to begin to halt the messaging that it 
is proper or appropriate to come here illegally. Of course, this feeds 
human trafficking and children being left alone.
  It is unjust. We need to return to the previous policy in which we 
are cooperating with those countries.

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