[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 101 (Tuesday, June 14, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H5492-H5493]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                         PUTTING AMERICANS LAST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. LaMalfa) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, as the 4-day tour occurs inside the Capitol 
on January 6, where a loaded, biased committee attempts to parse the 
words of the President on the day, we have many other crises to deal 
with in this country that are directly affecting and harming the 
American people, their ability to do their basic day-to-day operation 
of their homes, get to their jobs, get their kids to school.
  So what are we doing? What are we doing? Chasing January 6. Look at 
our border right now, where under the current Biden policies, we are 
attracting the largest caravan ever of illegal aliens heading toward 
our border. The idea that we are going to get rid of title 42 or just 
the general porosity of the border anyway. It has been a giant magnet 
ever since January 20, 2021, when this President came in and started 
shredding our border policy.
  We had success under President Trump, where we had the best control 
of the border we had in quite a while, with approximately 450 
additional miles of rebuilt or new fence that was very effective in 
those zones.
  So what do we have now? We have warehouses and stacks and pallets of 
fence material, millions of dollars' worth of it, lying about on our 
southern border being stored instead of installed.
  We heard some chatter here a couple months ago from the Biden 
administration, well, maybe we should just go ahead and put up those 
additional pieces there where there are some obvious gaps.
  I had a chance to visit Yuma, Arizona a few weeks ago. It was pretty 
incredible because there would be miles of fence, but there would be 
these gaps occasionally, and that is where people would pour through 
illegally. Amazing.
  We could rectify that by just filling a lot of the gaps, thereby 
making our Customs and Border Patrol job much easier by being able to 
focus on fewer areas instead of wide-open spaces or gaps all along our 
border.
  But, no, it seems to be about some other agenda. 15,000 people 
possibly will crowd the border here soon under the idea that we are 
going to possibly let title 42 go. Thankfully, two different courts 
have stopped that.
  So what are we doing? The terrorists come across our border really 
almost unchecked. They capture a handful of them, but how many are 
getting by that get away? We don't know that. Are they starting cells 
right here in our country? Why not?
  As we know, in April, there were over 230,000 encounters, they call 
them, at the southern border. That is the highest in U.S. history for 
one month. Why is this? Because we have a giant magnet, again, turned 
on by this administration saying, come on across. You only need to have 
a sliver of an excuse for asylum.
  The asylum law needs to be changed if that is how they are going to 
enforce it because it has to be for a true threat. You also have to 
seek asylum in the country closest to you, if you are an asylum seeker 
and that is what you are really after, but one closest to you, not pick 
and choose what country you are going to move up to, basically the 
United States with all the benefits it hands out.
  According to polling, when you ask the American people, who are 
worried about gas and groceries or whether another load of formula is 
going to come in from Europe on a military transport in time for their 
small children to be able to have the type of food that they are 
accustomed to, the majority of Americans disapprove of the Biden 
administration's operation of our borders, especially the elimination 
of title 42, which is a health risk issue.
  When you talk about the issue of formula, we are putting Americans 
last, when the Biden administration prioritized shipments of pallets of 
baby formula to the border holding stations instead of across the 
fruited plain. It is pretty pathetic. Indeed, it was this 
administration whose FDA stepped in on the major producer of formula 
and said: We are going to shut you down because we had a couple of 
incidents that have been reported.
  So what happens? The FDA didn't call back when the company that is 
the major producer of formula asks, What is it we need to do to be in 
compliance in your eyes? The administration knew about this, yet they 
prioritized what

[[Page H5493]]

formula was available to go down to the border stations there. 
Thankfully, recently, we passed legislation so that we could release 
more supplies to have them be eligible for those who are on assistance.
  As we see the disaster on the border, I don't see a single remedy 
even being talked about by the Biden administration. They don't really 
care about the American people.

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