[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 14, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H594]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                         PROBLEM AT OUR BORDERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I rise today to talk about 
an issue. In my lifetime, I always heard the saying: There are no 
problems in our family. There are just a lot of things we don't talk 
about.
  What I am talking about today is the fact that we have an incredible 
problem at our borders, and not just the southwestern border, by the 
way, but also our northern border.
  Now, if these people coming into our country were wearing the uniform 
of a foreign country, we would swear we had been invaded and overrun. 
The other part of that is: It is okay, though, because we will do 
everything we can to accommodate them while they are here. It doesn't 
matter if they came here legally or illegally. We are America and those 
are the things that we do.
  Madam Speaker, I bring this thing up because I listen to telecast 
after telecast from the current administration that says: Well, if 
Congress would just do something to help us, we would jump on it. We 
would do everything we can.
  I would like to remind the executive branch that we legislate. We 
make laws, we debate laws, we pass laws, and then it is the executive 
branch who is responsible for enforcing those laws.

  We have an administration that continues to say: There is no problem 
at our borders; this is imaginary; we don't have a problem; but if it 
were up to me, I would do something about it.
  These are the eight authorities that the President could put into 
effect: End catch and release, reinstate remain in Mexico, enter into 
asylum cooperation agreements, end parole abuses, detain inadmissible 
aliens, use expedited removal, rein in taxpayer-funded benefits for all 
illegal aliens, and issue a proclamation to suspend or restrict entry.
  Madam Speaker, you and I know because we face this every single day. 
The issues that face America today are America's issues. They do not 
simply rest in this body. We will do things according to what the laws 
are and what we structure. The executive branch must be held 
accountable for enforcing those laws.
  We wonder what in the world happened at our southern border. My 
goodness, the numbers are in the millions of people who have come in. 
One of the things we don't pay attention to is our northern border.
  I brought a picture of this--I know it is very hard to see, but in 
the whole world, the longest continuous border is our northern border. 
It is 5,500 miles long and virtually unprotected because we don't have 
enough people to do it. In one stretch, over 500 miles, there are two 
Border Patrol agents responsible. That would be like driving from 
Philadelphia to Columbus, Ohio, and back again and saying: I didn't see 
one State policeman. I didn't see one law enforcement officer. I wonder 
where they are.
  Well, the truth of the matter is, we have people pouring in from all 
over the world; some of them for the right reasons, others for the 
wrong reasons, and for reasons that in the future will harm our country 
and harm our fellow citizens.
  When you start to talk about what has taken place and how if we 
ignore it, it doesn't exist, then we are in very serious trouble. This 
is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue or a Libertarian issue. 
This is an American issue. If those of us who run for office and get 
elected and take an oath of office cannot follow that oath of office, 
then why are we here? Why are we here?
  Millions of people have poured across our border. There were 564 
encounters with a terrorist screening dataset, 484 at the northern 
border. In fiscal year 2022 82 percent of these encounters were at our 
northern border. In the first 3 months of 2024, 94 percent of the 
terrorist screening dataset encounters were at our northern border.
  While we think we are so safe because of our history and what we have 
done in history that we can protect ourselves, the underlying effect is 
the enemy is not from without; it is from within.
  When we fail to follow the laws that are put into place and we don't 
enforce them, then we are at fault. I would suggest to our fellow 
Americans, please forget about being woke. Please wake the hell up. We 
are losing our country.

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