[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 17, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H1489-H1494]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MANAGING THE CRISIS ON THE SOUTHERN BORDER
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 4, 2021, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Arrington) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, I stand here on behalf of the freedom-
loving members of the Republican Study Committee, the conservative
conscience of the GOP Conference, and the largest caucus with over 150
members and our friend and fearless leader Jim Banks from the Hoosier
State.
Mr. Speaker, we come to this Chamber with grave concerns, with
profound grief over what is happening to this great Nation at the
southern border, along the border of States like my home State of
Texas. My citizens are on the front lines, and the citizens of the Lone
Star State and border States are at ground zero of this self-inflicted
crisis.
Just because the President won't acknowledge that there is a crisis
doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. Mr. Speaker, it is raging out of
control. It is an unmitigated disaster, and as I said, it is self-
inflicted.
Reinstating catch and release while we are recovering from a
pandemic? Are you kidding me? We have put mandates and restrictions on
the American people who have sacrificed by staying at home. Some have
lost their jobs. They don't know how they are going to make ends meet
for their family.
Everybody stepped up, Mr. Speaker. They did what they were told to do
in some cases, but they all acted responsibly for the sake of our
country and their fellow man and the country that they love. And now,
we are just letting people cross our border illegally, violate our
sovereignty, break our laws, and then just be released into the
interior of our country with no testing and no screening.
In Texas, Mr. Speaker, we are coming back. We have folks back to
work. Kids are in school. My kids are in school. We feel normal again,
and we are blessed to be in a State that puts a premium on individual
liberty and personal responsibility. We have worked hard to get to
where we are now.
We didn't like everything that was done to us by our government. We
didn't like all the protocols and mandates, but we did the best job we
could for the sake of our fellow Americans. Now, we have the potential
for a flare-up in the pandemic because our hospitals are going to be
overwhelmed again.
Our schools are already overwhelmed as they try to do right by their
students, let them come into the classroom, have that support
structure, knowing that to close your doors on these kids is to close a
bright future for them. It is to lock them out of their greatest
potential and to give them grief and all kinds of heartache and mental
health concerns.
We have our police, who have been disparaged with cries to defund the
police. They would be dismantled if the bill that passed the House
supported by the Democrats ever became law and ripped away the tools
that they have to not only keep our community safe but to protect them
in the process. We have stripped them--or would if the bill passed--of
their legal liability protections. All the while, we are putting more
pressure on our local law enforcement to do the job that the Federal
Government under this Commander in Chief has failed to do.
The Commander in Chief is supposed to provide for the common defense.
He is supposed to be the exemplar for rule of law. He is the chief
enforcer of the law. What kind of example is our President setting to
just throw caution to the wind and let folks come into this country who
are not our citizens, prioritizing them over the safety and health of
our citizens?
I got to hear some of my colleagues express concerns over women's
rights and protecting women from abuse. We all support that, and our
hearts go out to any victims of abuse in this country or any country.
But meanwhile, because of the policies that have been passed by this
President, reinstating catch and release, empowering sanctuary cities,
repealing the stay in Mexico policies, halting funding for the border
wall, all of these things have sent a message that we are open for
illegal business.
If you ask the cartels, business has never been better. We are lining
their pockets while they exploit vulnerable people who are hopeless.
They are being exploited.
Mr. Speaker, one out of every three women are sexually assaulted on
their trek to this country. That statistic is from Doctors Without
Borders. Children are used as a passport, trafficked by these cartels.
We have empowered these cartels. This is a disaster on so many levels,
and I am glad my colleagues are here to express these same sentiments
in their own words.
Mr. Speaker, I will end with this. It is clear there is a cause and
effect here. It is clear that policies have consequences. They incent
behavior, and the behavior is causing chaos at the border.
I believe this President is obsessed. This is just a fundamental
question, why our President would allow this to happen. I believe he is
obsessed with undoing anything that has the name ``President Trump'' on
it, regardless of its merits. I believe he is equally obsessed with
placating the left and their radical agenda. I have come to that
conclusion.
Mr. Speaker, we are going to speak to this. We are going to tell the
truth. We are going to lay out the facts. We are going to call on our
President to do the right thing and prioritize the American people and
their safety and security.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).
Mr. GOOD of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank my distinguished colleague
and fellow Member from Texas for yielding.
Our country's future will forever be changed based on how we manage
or refuse to manage Biden's border crisis. And, yes, it is a crisis.
Steady merit-based legal immigration is stabilizing. It provides a
talented pool of workers, effectively permits patriotic assimilation,
and enriches our culture. We can debate how best to achieve those
objectives and what immigration levels or numbers are in the best
interests of our Nation and our citizens, but what is not open for
honest debate, or at least debate that honestly places the interests,
safety, and security of American citizens first, is the need to secure
our border and eliminate illegal immigration.
President Biden's open border policies threaten our security, overtax
our resources, jeopardize public health, and turn every town into a
border community.
As others have said, without a border, we don't have a country; we
have a landmass, one that is currently under invasion. That is an
invasion that is with complicit approval from the President's policies
and the support of the Democratic Party, and this is especially
egregious and inexcusable.
{time} 2045
The fact is that, in the 56 days since President Biden was sworn in
on January 20, illegal immigration has surged and our southern border
has been overrun.
We are not stopping illegal immigrants based on their inability to
provide for themselves and not be a burden on our economy, our social
services,
[[Page H1490]]
our education system, our healthcare system.
We are not stopping illegal immigrants based on whether or not they
test positive for COVID.
We are not stopping illegal immigrants based on whether or not they
have a criminal record.
We are not stopping illegal immigrants based on whether or not they
intend to do us harm.
The bottom line is that we don't even know who is coming, and we
don't even know why they are coming.
Meanwhile, the President sends FEMA to the border, not to help
prevent the emergency crisis of illegal crossing, but actually to help
illegal aliens get into our country.
And how does a Democrat majority respond?
With two new amnesty bills that will incentivize and reward lawless,
illegal behavior with amnesty and citizenship.
Memo to the President and Democrat majority: You get more of what you
incentivize.
We can only conclude this is what they want.
Mr. Speaker, these two bills combined will provide amnesty to some 5
million illegal aliens, including some with criminal backgrounds. These
two bills make it more difficult for law enforcement to detain or
deport illegal aliens. These bills will facilitate chain migration,
leading to more non-merit-based immigration. And these two bills
inexcusably provide no provisions to address the Biden border crisis.
Just today, in apparent recognition that the crisis is not playing
well with the American people--you know, the forgotten citizens of the
country--NBC news--not exactly a conservative news outlet--is reporting
that the Biden administration is telling Border Patrol that they can no
longer talk to the media or do ride-alongs that enable the media to see
firsthand what is happening at the border. Instead, Border Patrol is
supposed to let all communication come from Washington.
The American people are not stupid. They know what is going on, and
they don't want America to be turned into a sanctuary nation.
Mr. Speaker, we, on the Republican side, are going to fight for them.
We are going to fight to protect the country we have today, and we are
going to fight to protect the country we want to have tomorrow.
Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia for
his remarks. He talked about the incentives. We talked about cause and
effect, and we talked about the consequences of bad policies.
Mr. Speaker, we have had double the apprehensions this year in
January over last year in 2020, well over twice as many illegal
crossings in the month of February. We are now 5,000-plus a day of
people pouring into this country, 500 a day of illegal minors
trafficked here by the cartels. And the CBP tells us that there will be
over 120,000 by the end of the year. It will be a record year. Those
are the results. And the facts don't lie, whether this President or our
colleagues believe it or not.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of Texas
(Mr. Babin), who represents Texas 36th Congressional District.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, as co-chair of the House Border Security
Caucus, I very much appreciate the opportunity to come to the floor
with the Republican Study Committee to talk about the most pressing
issue our Nation is facing today, right now; and, sadly, it was
entirely avoidable.
There are no ifs, ands, or buts. The crisis on our southern border is
a direct result of President Biden's failed immigration and border
security policies--miserably failed.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have predictably done
what they do best: Blamed President Trump and his administration.
But anyone with a pulse can see that this border crisis started the
very day that President Biden was sworn in. On his first day in office,
Biden stopped construction of the border wall, ended the national
emergency declaration on the southern border. He stopped the migrant
protection protocol so asylum-seekers would have to wait in Mexico.
And rather than utilizing the title 42 health restrictions to protect
Americans during this pandemic, Biden and his administration are
releasing COVID-positive illegal aliens into Texas to worsen the
pandemic and fan out across this country.
He would go on to stop deportation, stop enforcing immigration laws,
bring back ``catch and release,'' and end the hard-won changes that
President Trump had initiated to control our southern border.
He has specifically said that Americans will not be prioritized--
repeat: Will not be prioritized--over illegal immigrants for access to
COVID-19 vaccines, and promised citizenship to millions upon millions
of migrants here illegally, which does nothing but incentivize more
illegal crossings. All of this in less than 2 months.
Who on earth is surprised that there is a massive border crisis?
Yes, President Biden owns this border crisis. The truly sad reality
is this isn't Biden's first rodeo. When he was vice president, he saw
surges on the border, and he knows full well what exactly that means.
He saw children being used and recycled by smugglers. He saw women
and children physically abused, raped, and even murdered by the
cartels, who fully control our southern border now, empowered by
President Biden. He even saw American families torn apart after a loved
one was killed by a dangerous criminal illegal alien.
He should know better. And you know what? He does know better.
Unfortunately, he is controlled by politics and his radical leftwing
base, and he won't turn back now.
The American people deserve to know that President Biden is taking
advantage of them through this crisis. And while the American people
were locked down for a year because of the pandemic, illegal aliens
roamed free. While they worked hard, paid their taxes, and saved just
to get by, illegal immigrants cost them billions every year with free
education and healthcare.
My great State of Texas and the other border States cannot take
another minute of Biden's border crisis. The President of the United
States needs to step up and he needs to lead. Lives are at stake.
Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for his
remarks. He mentioned as one of the policies that this current
President has put in place through a unilateral action--by the way, he
has done more executive orders than the last three or four Presidents
combined--was to repeal or rescind the national emergency declaration.
But it is so rich, so rich that at the same time he is doing this, the
Democrat leadership of the House under Speaker Pelosi has lined the
streets around the perimeter of the Capitol with the National Guard.
The height of hypocrisy.
Mr. Speaker, the American people aren't buying this. They are not.
The Speaker called the walls at the southern border protecting our
fellow Americans and communities immoral, until she erected razor-wire
fencing around the people's House. It is offensive. It is shameful, and
it is an outrage. And it is a double standard, if I have ever seen one.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Hern), a
good friend of mine, and a colleague representing Oklahoma's First
District.
Mr. HERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my distinguished colleague from Texas
for yielding. I appreciate him leading this Special Order on such an
important issue in our great country.
Mr. Speaker, we are here today to shed light on a situation that is
getting worse by the minute. The longer Joe Biden and his White House
ignore the crisis on our border, the more challenging it becomes to get
it under control.
But one would have to wonder: Is that what he wants by allowing this
to continue on?
Under President Trump, border security was a top priority. He was
ridiculed for that top priority of securing our Nation, the sovereignty
of our Nation. Illegal entries plummeted under President Trump, and
over 450 miles of border wall were built at the fighting and scratching
every single way against our Democrat colleagues' desires.
Mr. Speaker, Biden's trend has been to reverse and dismantle anything
and everything that President Trump touched over the last 4 years, no
matter who it may hurt. On day one of his Presidency, he
unconstitutionally halted congressionally appropriated funds
[[Page H1491]]
meant to secure and strengthen our southern border. He indicated a
complete reversal on border policies, refusing to condemn Democrats who
call for open borders. This led to thousands of immigrants to believe
our borders were open and they could enter with no consequences. They
even had shirts promoting the idea that Biden should let them in.
Mr. Speaker, it has been less than 2 months since Biden took office
and already the situation at our southern border has reached
unprecedented levels, levels like we haven't seen in 20 years. Border
agents are reporting the number of illegal entries, especially
children, is higher than we have seen in decades.
Detainment facilities--what the Democrats have now called reception
centers and concentration camps; that is what they called them under
President Trump--are over capacity. Children are being sent to Dallas,
hundreds of miles away from the border, to be held at the convention
center.
Americans returning from abroad are required to take COVID tests
before reentering our own country, but Biden is allowing thousands of
migrants into the country without even testing them for COVID, packing
facilities way over capacity.
Hypocrisy is nothing new to this administration. In spite of
everything I have already said, Biden refuses to call it a crisis. CNN
is even calling it a crisis, but Biden doesn't want to label it. He
doesn't want to own it, calling it an inherited mess from the Trump
administration. Every single person in America knows that is not true.
To make it worse, House Democrats rejected any amendments on their
partisan immigration bills this week.
My amendments asked that known gang members not be eligible for
amnesty.
How could you not allow that to be added to this bill?
That we create a tax credit for employers who want to do the right
thing and implement E-Verify in their companies to make sure they are
hiring legal American workers, and that illegal immigrants who have
committed crimes in our country not be eligible for amnesty. Now,
everywhere--except for in Congress--any good American would want those
in the bill. But not here, not my Democrat colleagues.
These are all commonsense ideas that a vast majority of Americans
support, but Democrats would rather have open borders with no
consequences for those who break the laws in our country.
Just this week, four people on the terrorist watch list were caught
attempting to illegally entered our country. If we lower the standards
and restrictions on our border, we know we never would have caught
them. We wouldn't have even known that they were here. That should
scare us all to death.
Mr. Speaker, I and many of my Republican colleagues have been to the
border to see this terrible situation firsthand. I would encourage
every Member of Congress to go see it. And for that, I thank my
colleagues for standing up here tonight at this hour, for speaking up
on this crisis. It is so important to the American people and the
sovereignty of our Nation.
Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma, our
neighbor to the north, for his remarks. He mentioned that some
political opportunists were characterizing these detention facilities
under the leadership of President Trump as concentration camps. They
called the men and women in uniform, our sons and daughters, who were
called to duty to come alongside the Border Patrol agents to secure our
southern border and defend our people, ``storm troopers.'' They
referred to our attempt to humanely and safely detain the unaccompanied
minors as ``kids in cages.''
Mr. Speaker, where are they now? Where are they now?
Where is the outrage?
Where is the indignation?
Where is the name calling?
How soon we forget.
Mr. Speaker, 13,000 children are being detained right now in far
worse conditions and far more crowded than before.
Where are those colleagues of ours that were clanging gongs and
sounding the alarm?
{time} 2100
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of
Wisconsin (Mr. Tiffany), my colleague, who represents the Seventh
Congressional District.
Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Texas
for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, America's border is under siege, and it is a siege that
this administration continues to encourage with each passing day.
They say it is not a crisis or an emergency, even as they have
dispatched FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to help
manage the disaster that they have created.
In February alone, the shortest month of the year, overwhelmed border
patrol agents encountered more than 100,000 illegal aliens crossing our
southern border, including 30,000 unaccompanied children and minors.
And that does not include the countless illegal aliens that slipped
through undetected.
Mr. Speaker, as many as 25 percent of the illegal aliens that the
border patrol apprehends are testing positive for COVID--and not all
are being tested.
Thanks to the administration's catch-and-release policies, many of
these aliens immediately board buses and fan out across the country,
making every State a border State. That includes my State in the far
north, Wisconsin, because I hear it from sheriffs and law enforcement
all over northern Wisconsin, especially the drugs that flow in, the
fentanyl, the methamphetamines, that flow into our communities killing
our citizens.
Drug seizures were up more than 50 percent last month driven by huge
spikes in meth and heroin, deadly poisons that ravage our families. In
what is fast becoming a Washington tradition, the other side has tried
to pass the buck and blame the border disorder on the last
administration.
This is a tired talking point; one we will hear repeated over and
over to explain away the policy failures of the one-party government
they control. But facts are stubborn things.
This tidal wave of drug and human trafficking is a direct result of
White House promises of amnesty, and the rollback of the commonsense
border security safeguards put in place by President Trump. That is why
it began at the end of January.
So what is their answer to this crisis? It is to pour gasoline on the
fire by passing two amnesty bills that will give legal status to at
least half of the estimated 11 million illegal aliens already in this
country, including criminal aliens who have been convicted of multiple
DUIs, drug and weapons violations, and even voter fraud.
One of the bills even includes an unbelievable provision allowing for
the reimportation of foreigners who were deported as long as 4 years
ago, bringing them back and giving them green cards. This is a slap in
the face to the legal immigrants who have followed our laws. This is a
slap in the face to American taxpayers, millions of unemployed
Americans, and countless American families who have lost loved ones to
the scourge of drugs like meth and fentanyl.
Even worse, it is a financial bonanza for the human traffickers and
foreign drug cartels who prey on the vulnerable and profit from their
misery.
So let's get this straight. The first act of this President was to
open the borders and close our schools, or make sure that they stay
closed. The first act of this President was to open the borders, the
pipeline that brings the drugs and the human trafficking into America,
but they closed the pipeline that gives us energy independence in
America.
Mr. Speaker, it is time for the administration to stop pretending
that this crisis isn't happening, and to start defending the American
people.
Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, listening to the gentleman, it is just
hard to believe that in the greatest country on planet Earth, that this
is what we are allowing to happen. Reimporting people who violated our
laws, had due process, and we did what the law says, detain and deport.
Today, under Present Biden's deluge of executive orders, they are
released and rewarded: free healthcare, compliments of the taxpayers of
the United States; free education, compliments of the taxpayers of the
United States. We spend $12 billion in Texas alone on illegal
immigration, and the price has just
[[Page H1492]]
climbed higher and higher under this President.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Bishop), my dear friend, representing the Ninth Congressional District.
Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from
Texas, my friend, Mr. Arrington, for hosting this Special Order, it is
an extraordinarily important topic.
Here is another angle on it. Tomorrow, on the floor of this House,
Democrats will pass two mass amnesty bills, H.R. 6 and H.R. 1603.
Consider that at the very time Democrats are bringing these amnesty
bills to the floor, what promises to be the largest surge of illegal
immigration on the southern border in at least 20 years, is building
toward an unknown climax. The Biden administration has precipitated a
humanitarian crisis so big that even they can no longer deny it.
Less than 2 months after terminating President Trump's declaration of
an emergency on the border, Secretary Mayorkas of the Department of
Homeland Security, has been constrained to send FEMA, the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, to facilitate the Nation's response to
this crisis.
Today, in the Committee on Homeland Security, I asked Secretary
Mayorkas about the deliberate and absurd rhetoric used by the
administration: Come, but don't come now.
I was unable to secure from Secretary Mayorkas a straightforward
acknowledgment that it is always wrong to incite migrants to enter the
United States illegally.
And, amazingly, when I asked the Secretary whether he and the Biden
administration had been expected or were surprised by the crisis that
is now blooming on the southern border, he was caught off guard. He
said he had no expectation whatsoever. I couldn't believe it, and I
don't think the American people can believe it.
Just like the Biden administration's rhetoric, these bills signal
economic migrants that if they make the dangerous trek through Central
America and Mexico, they will be met with amnesty, taxpayer-funded
healthcare, housing, and anything else you can think of.
Whether it is gutting the migrant protection protocols, otherwise
known as ``remain in Mexico,'' and stopping border wall construction,
the administration's message to migrants is clear: Come. Take your
lives in your hands, brave the gangs, the coyotes, the smugglers, take
the risk of sexual abuse. Come.
Today, the Democrats are augmenting that clear-as-day message with
more promises of amnesty, and that will be the bills tomorrow, which
everyone here know will fuel more illegal migration.
Let's face it, Democrats are committed to a regime of open borders,
where any person from anywhere in the world has a right to enter the
U.S. for any reason, even if that means migrants are assaulted or
killed on their way to the border. And Democrats feel better about
themselves. They assume a superior moral position by pursuing such a
policy.
It is no wonder, but apparently no cause for reflection by the Biden
administration, that the CBP very recently apprehended four individuals
on the terrorist watch list crossing the southwest border. Secretary
Mayorkas admitted that today, and then went on to say: Well, it is
nothing unusual, more or less. Amazing.
I have heard some of my friends on the other side of the aisle
complain that Republicans are not offering solutions.
Let me offer three: End all talk of amnesty. Reinstate the migrant
protection protocols that provide more for their safety than the policy
does now articulate. And finish building the wall. Let's resume a
responsible border policy. Let's consider, for once, the interests of
the American people.
Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North
Carolina.
Mr. Speaker, again, I would say that America is the most generous
Nation, not only the most powerful, but the most generous. We represent
5 percent of the world population, and we represent 20 percent of the
immigrant population. We welcome freedom-loving, law-abiding people who
want to make America their home and make a better life for their
family, but only if they respect our laws and our sovereignty and the
safety of the American people.
Millions of people wait for years to have legal status in this
country, and this President has just created lawlessness and chaos,
just like that, with a pen and a cell phone. The unilateral actions
have been reckless and endangered not only our citizens, but the poor
people that are making this trek on account of his message: Don't come
now, is what he says, but come now. Come one, come all. It is a free-
for-all at the border, is what his policies say loudly and clearly.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to my dear friend from the great State of
Arkansas (Mr. Westerman), he represents Arkansas' Fourth Congressional
District.
Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, the Republican party has historically
been, and I believe is still today, the voice for those who have no
voice. We value life and believe all people should be treated with
dignity.
I appreciate the gentleman from Texas for leading this discussion
tonight, for his compassion for people, and for his passion to serve
Texas and America.
Mr. Speaker, tonight, I not only rise to address the growing crisis
on our southern border, but to be a voice for the persecuted. In an
interview aired this morning, President Biden told migrants not to come
to the United States, but still refused to recognize the situation as a
crisis. Actions speak louder than words. It doesn't matter what you say
when it doesn't match what you do.
Such a directive is pointless, considering there are no policy
changes to de-motivate the migrant surge, the likes of which the United
States hasn't seen in 20 years. Our facilities and agencies are being
overwhelmed by the surge.
President Biden offered an open invitation for parents to send their
children across the border without fear of being turned away. The
result is catastrophic. While there have been migrant surges in the
past, there has never been such a prolific number of unaccompanied
minors.
These policies are a driving incentive for parents to give their
children to coyotes and traffickers who will abuse and use them,
causing lifelong trauma. Over 500 children are crossing the border
daily, including unaccompanied kids as young as 6 years old. These
children are threatened and coerced by cartels to carry drugs over the
border and exploited by sex traffickers.
One in three women--one in three women, Mr. Speaker, will be
assaulted as they attempt to make the journey.
I just witnessed my colleagues from across the aisle spending an hour
honoring women's history. What kind of history are the left's policies
writing for these women? Young women, young women as young as 13 years
old are being lured to Texas with the promise of a job in the service
industry, and instead, are being sexually abused and trafficked.
{time} 2115
What we are seeing now is but a fraction of what we could see in the
coming months. This is the Biden administration's responsibility, and
President Biden owes the American people answers.
But President Biden is not alone. The majority party is neglecting
their oversight responsibilities and aiding and abetting these
dangerous actions.
I am calling on President Biden and congressional Democrats--who I
remind you are the majority in both Chambers--to take responsibility
for the border crisis and work to fix it and to take responsibility for
the trauma these children will endure on the journey across the border.
Customs and Border Protection has informed Congress that four people
on the FBI's terrorist watch list were apprehended at the border. If
four were caught, how many got through? What is their intent?
One day, Democrats are the arsonists, and the next week, the
firefighters. They have pulled this trick on every issue, including
energy, Medicare, and now our border. To bring partisan immigration
bills to the floor without even an opportunity to amend the bills is
bad governance anytime, but it is downright insensitive during this
crisis.
We are a nation of immigrants, and I support all legal immigration.
But
[[Page H1493]]
open border policies are a direct threat to our national security and
have created a humanitarian crisis. We should secure our borders and
work on bipartisan legislation to address immigration issues, but
Democrats refuse to even enforce existing laws.
Mr. Speaker, what good is a new immigration law when there is no
evidence that it will be enforced?
Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for
his heartfelt comments.
Mr. Speaker, may I ask how much time remains.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Texas has 21 minutes
remaining.
Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, as you have heard from my colleagues,
there are many levels and dimensions to this crisis. It is a national
security crisis, Mr. Speaker. It is a public health and safety crisis.
It is a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, and it is only going
to get worse until this President embraces the reality, resists the
left's influence, and steps up and becomes the leader that our country
needs at a time like this.
I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for joining us in this Special
Order.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman),
who represents Wisconsin's Sixth Congressional District.
Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, we have already talked tonight about the
numbers which come from the crisis at the southern border.
During the Obama administration, Mr. Speaker, if you had 1,000
contacts a day with people trying to sneak in this country, that was a
lot. We are now at around 3,000 a day. February of this year compared
to February of last year is up 173 percent. That is shocking. It didn't
have to be.
What incompetence did it take to get such a massive swing of people
coming across our border?
President Trump had something called the migrant protection protocol.
When people tried to sneak in here and claim asylum, they were sent
back and held by the Mexican Government pending a hearing. This was a
great victory for President Trump.
Maybe just because he is President Trump, it means you don't like
him, Mr. Speaker, and you had to get rid of him like the protection
protocol. So, we are back to the old days.
Rather than being held south of the border, waiting to see if you can
come here, you are escorted into the United States, turned over to some
nonprofit organization, and told to disappear somewhere in the United
States to show up for a hearing which you don't show up for. And that
is, more than any other reason, why we have this problem.
Another thing they have changed is that President Trump had worked on
a deal with Central American countries so that people trying to come up
here from South America and other Central American countries were held
south of the Mexican border. One more good policy, but let's throw it
overboard and see what happens.
By doing this, not only do we let more people in the country, but we
enrich and empower the drug cartels. The drug cartels are charging
about $3,000 for every Mexican they let in here, about $5,000 for every
Central American, $8,000 to $9,000 for every Brazilian, and up to
$20,000 for every Asian.
When you are making that kind of money, Mr. Speaker, you know very
well the drug cartels will recruit as many people as they can to come
into this country.
Of course, nowadays, it is unlike years ago when they used to find
marijuana. Now when people come across the border, it is fentanyl,
meth, and heroin. So, in addition to the huge amount of humanity moving
across the border, we have that many more drugs to kill the people of
our country. I am sure the American people already remember we are
losing about 80,000 people every year to illegal drug use, so much of
which comes across the southern border.
As has been mentioned by other speakers, there is an increase in
sexual assaults as people try to come across the border and are
escorted by the drug cartels.
I want to point out that the drug cartels control that southern
border. If you try to come here without their approval, Mr. Speaker,
you are in big trouble. I will give you an anecdote from the last time
I was down there. Three people tried to escort other people over the
border. Two of them were skinned alive and died. The other was partly
skinned alive and told to go back south to Mexico and tell everyone
what happens if you try to come across the border without going through
the drug cartels.
Just as another indication of the huge problem we have at the border,
last year, which was an unusually hot year, they found, in the Tucson
sector alone, 100 bodies of people who dehydrated trying to come here.
Under President Trump, Mr. Speaker, you know how good it can be. They
went from a point where they were letting 100,000 people across the
border, which was about 2 years ago, back down to, around December,
about 10,000 people crossing the border. They did that with the migrant
protection protocol, with dealing with Central America, and by being
concerned about COVID.
So, what to do now? I am sometimes asked how the United States got in
this mess, and I am talking about a wide variety of issues. Where would
the Founding Fathers say they screwed up?
Until this, I always felt that if I look at the three branches of
government and say between the legislative, executive, and judiciary,
our Founding Fathers would have never believed the judiciary could have
such complete lack of respect for the Constitution. But now, I have to
answer something else.
The press sometimes considers themselves the fourth estate. There are
rumors right now that the Department of Homeland Security has put a gag
order on the Border Patrol agents who always have so many interesting
stories down there. If I think of our Founding Fathers now who wanted a
free press, as disappointed as they would be in our President, as
disappointed as they would be in our Congress, and as super
disappointed as our Founding Fathers would be in our judicial branch, I
think the area they would be most disappointed is in the fourth estate.
The bootlicking sycophants of the fourth estate are just horrible.
These toadies are ruining the country.
Wake up. Insist on being able to talk to the Border Patrol. Get down
to the Border Patrol and find out exactly what is going on.
Mr. Speaker, my final plea tonight is for the press corps to wake up,
get to the southern border, and report what is really going on down
there.
Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin for
his remarks.
Mr. Speaker, I think that this administration and our current
President, Joe Biden, would do well to take a page out of President
Trump's playbook, and I mean this with all sincerity.
The reason people by the millions followed this unconventional,
nonpolitician businessman and leader is because they were convinced he
would fight for them. It is because they watched as he followed through
on what he promised he would do for them. And lastly, Mr. Speaker, it
is because he put America first.
Perfect he was not, but I will tell you what, Mr. Speaker, with every
fiber of his being and ounce of strength in every waking moment, he was
vigilant in keeping those promises, and one of them was to secure the
border and stop illegal immigration once and for all.
Politicians have come and gone. They have made the same promises but
to no avail. President Trump reduced illegal crossings by 75 percent.
We know what to do in this Chamber. We know the policies that would
work to protect our fellow Americans, secure our border, and stop this
chaos and madness that has ensued as a result of these reckless,
unilateral decisions that this President is making.
We know what to do, Mr. Speaker, but there is no political will to do
it. The message, as we have said, is clear. It is demoralizing and
insulting that the leadership of this administration and our Commander
in Chief have prioritized illegal immigrants over our own citizens.
I am wearing a mask in the people's House. Most of our colleagues,
Mr. Speaker, have been vaccinated or have had COVID. We have social
distancing, and we are still wearing masks. What a pathetic posture as
we just release hundreds every day, thousands upon
[[Page H1494]]
thousands--some say the infection rate is upward of 20 percent--into
the interior of our country and into our communities while we the
American people have spent trillions of dollars and made untold
sacrifices to help our country get back to its feet. It is just
unbelievable.
Those poor Border Patrol agents, who have had to hear that they too
should be defunded, are hamstrung, at best. They see the revolving
door.
How would you like to go to work every day, Mr. Speaker, with a clear
mission, and a righteous and patriotic mission, to secure the border
and protect your citizens and have a Commander in Chief who says come
one, come all, and has such little regard for the rule of law and for
those who risk their lives every day to enforce it?
These are just the cold, hard facts. It is the truth. I believe, and
always have, in the American people's good judgment. While some folks
may have had an aversion to the style and personality of the last
President--I can appreciate that--they have to look back and say that
he achieved unprecedented results that left this Nation safer,
stronger, and more prosperous than we have been in recent history, if
ever.
Mr. Speaker, I pray our country will return to that level of
strength, and I pray this President will embrace the facts and reality.
I hope he comes to visit border States like Texas and listens to the
cries that have gone unheard from his administration, from the people
of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California, and throughout this land who
need him to step up and be our Commander in Chief.
Mr. Speaker, I am done, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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