[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 80 (Thursday, May 11, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H2249]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CRISIS AT THE SOUTHERN BORDER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
New York (Ms. Malliotakis) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Mr. Speaker, my parents came to this country as 
immigrants. Many of my constituents came to this country as immigrants. 
I think fundamentally Republicans and Democrats agree that we are a 
Nation of immigrants. Yet, what we are seeing currently at our southern 
border is a travesty. It is not helpful to the migrants, it is not 
helpful to our Nation, and it has certainly created so many problems 
that we are facing right now.
  We have seen over 5 million illegal crossings at the southern border, 
another 1.3 million got-aways. CBP has seized 14,000 pounds of fentanyl 
at our southern border, enough to kill over 3.1 billion people.
  In 2021, more than 71,000 individuals died from synthetic opioid 
overdoses, and this is roughly 200 people every day. In my city of New 
York, we have seen overdoses skyrocket since Joe Biden put in place his 
open border policy, 2,700 in his first year alone. That is the highest 
in decades. We are seeing fatal overdoses in New York City, on average, 
every 3 hours. A couple weeks ago, we saw a 16-month-old baby in my 
district overdose from fentanyl, as well.
  The only people that are truly benefiting from this policy are the 
cartels that are making $13 billion a year from human and drug 
smuggling.
  We also need to be concerned about who is attempting and is entering 
our country. In the first 6 months of fiscal year 2023, 80 people on 
the terrorist watch list were stopped attempting to cross the southern 
border on top of 98 last year. That is more than the previous 5 years 
combined.
  We can say that we want to support immigration, but it must be legal 
immigration.
  This is completely unsustainable, it is dangerous, and that is why I 
stand before you to ask in a bipartisan manner that we get behind H.R. 
2 and vote to pass it today and that Senator Schumer brings it for a 
vote in the Senate.
  In New York City, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is now saying 
that they are fully booked through October 2032 because two-thirds, at 
least, of the individuals crossing into our country claiming asylum do 
not qualify, and they are clogging up the system for those who truly 
are eligible for asylum.
  We have seen 60,000-plus migrants come to New York City since last 
spring. Remember, they have crossed and they entered our country not by 
the proper channels but by crossing our southern border, and Joe Biden 
has allowed them to do it.
  Our mayor is spending billions of dollars to house these individuals 
in city hotels. At the same time, he is saying we are going to cut city 
services by a billion dollars every year for the next 4 years, and we 
are going to cut everything from libraries to programs for our 
children, fire, sanitation, parks, and homeless services. We have 
homeless New Yorkers, and the mayor is saying that he has to put 
citizens of other countries in shelters instead of our own. It is just 
completely backward and unsustainable.
  As I walked here today, I just got notice that the mayor decided to 
halt this ridiculous policy. He was basing all of this, by the way, on 
a right-to-shelter law under Mayor Ed Koch that was meant for homeless 
New Yorkers. He has abused that, and that is what we are seeing take 
place today.
  We can work to address this issue. Let's protect the taxpayers. Let's 
protect our Nation's security. Let's put forward the border security 
plan that is before us today, and then let's also work to make sure 
that we know who is entering in and out of our country through proper 
visas, employer visas, family-sponsored visas. I am willing to work 
with everybody on that, as well. We must stem the flow. Let's stop 
putting the drug cartels before American citizens, and let's move 
forward today and pass this bill.

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