[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 17 (Thursday, January 26, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H346]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SECURE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
New York (Ms. Malliotakis) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight one of the 
crises that we are facing in our country, and it is obvious to so 
many--except, unfortunately, so many in this House--that we have a 
crisis at our southern border.
  We have not only seen over 4.7 million people cross illegally, many 
of whom are claiming asylum despite not qualifying for asylum, but we 
are also seeing record levels of fentanyl killing so many Americans 
each and every single day. We must take a stand to secure our border to 
stop this flow of illegal drugs, to stop this mass illegal migration.
  When you talk about the number of 4.7 million, when you think about 
the number of people who have actually evaded our government, who have 
evaded any interaction with our law enforcement and CBP agents, you are 
talking about 1.2 million people. That is more than twice the size of 
Staten Island, the borough in New York City I represent.
  It is outrageous to think that we would have individuals entering our 
country illegally, and we don't know what their intentions are, where 
they are coming from, why they are here. That is what scares me the 
most as an individual who represents the city of New York.

  We know that 98 suspected terrorists on our terrorist watch list 
crossed the border last fiscal year, and we know, so far this year, 
there have been another 38. That should be alarming to every single 
person in this country.
  We must know who is entering our country and what their intentions 
are. To allow this amount of people to evade law enforcement, to evade 
any interaction with our government, is a very dangerous action on 
behalf of this administration.
  House Republicans believe that Secretary Mayorkas has completely 
abdicated his responsibility to keep our country secure, and we will be 
moving forward with hearings to expose what he is doing. I do believe 
at the end of the day it warrants him being impeached and removed from 
his position.
  Also, I highlight how the Federal Government's lack of action at the 
border, coupled with my State legislature's and Governor's horrible 
actions in New York, have led to what we are seeing now in terms of a 
rise in crime.
  First of all, New York is dealing with major actions in terms of 
crime, car thefts, people being released. In fact, I just read 
yesterday that, in my district, a 20-year-old guy who has been stealing 
cars is being released right back onto the streets. It has been about 
three times. The first time he was arrested, it was for 20 counts of 
car theft.
  Let's now look at what we are doing here. When I went down to Federal 
Plaza and met with our ICE officials, they are saying that New York 
City is not cooperating with any detainer requests for people who are 
criminals. That means they either were convicted of a crime in their 
home country or were convicted of a crime here.
  It is the worst of the worst in society that ICE is trying to remove 
from our country, and our local officials won't cooperate. I think it 
is outrageous that the city of New York continues to harbor people who 
are not only in this country illegally but are committing crimes on top 
of it.
  Just the other day, New York City residents found out that they are 
paying to house, paying to feed, paying to provide services to 
individuals who were shoplifting in our State. Think about that. Not 
only are they crossing into our country illegally, but after committing 
crimes, they were released back onto the street thanks to our State's 
ridiculous bail law, and on top of it, the taxpayers of the city of New 
York are paying to house and feed them. How does that make any sense, 
and how is that in the best interests of our citizens?
  I am the daughter of immigrants. I understand and appreciate the 
aspirations of the American Dream. We need to work together to address 
what is happening at our border. We need to work together to ensure 
that those legitimate asylum seekers are not getting stuck in the 
bureaucracy and the red tape because of those individuals who are here 
claiming asylum when they don't qualify.
  We have to work on our visa system to ensure that we address the 
labor shortage. We should have more visas, employee-sponsored visas, 
and family-sponsored immigration, as well.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues to secure our border. 
Let's impose some common sense.

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