[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 37 (Thursday, February 29, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H746]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        BIDEN'S BORDER DISASTER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MEUSER. Mr. Speaker, on day one of the Biden Presidency, the 
President reversed many, if not all, of the successful border policies 
implemented by the previous administration, the Trump administration, 
that kept our Nation safe and kept our border secure.
  Joe Biden ended remain in Mexico, halted border wall construction, 
loosened asylum requirements, issued a moratorium on deportations, 
essentially telling the world: Our border is open. Come on in.
  Meanwhile, Customs and Border Patrol, on any visit you make to the 
border, will tell you that just by instituting remain in Mexico, 75 to 
80 percent of those trying to enter our country illegally would be 
deterred and would not enter.
  These policy reversals led to, at the time, caravans of migrants in 
Mexico wearing ``Biden, thank you'' T-shirts as they approached the 
United States border.
  Since that time, Mr. Speaker, there have been 8.5 million illegal 
border crossings, as well as an estimated 1.7 million got-aways, over 
10 million illegal entries, most of whom we don't have any idea who 
they are or where they are throughout the United States of America.
  So why did President Biden take these actions? Ideological idiocy? 
What he did was anything but humanitarian or rational. Migrants made 
this journey here, Mr. Speaker, under false, deadly pretenses. People 
have drowned. People are drowning. Probably today, Mr. Speaker, people 
are drowning in the Rio Grande and under false pretenses coming to our 
country.
  People are being killed. The reports are that one-third of women are 
sexually assaulted. At the same time, drug cartels are getting rich, 
coyotes are getting rich, and much of Mexico, thanks to the Biden 
administration's wonderful policies, is a gangland.
  Along with the suffering of the migrants, the American people are 
suffering. During Biden's time in office, there have been over 300,000 
American deaths from fentanyl and other opioids which were smuggled 
across the southern border--nothing to smile about.
  American teens and young adults are dying at alarming rates. To date, 
this administration has done nothing to correct course. We are 
experiencing all of this locally. Don't we all know an individual, 
usually a young person, who has died from a fentanyl overdose?
  While it is no match for the cost of life that has been lost, we 
cannot forget the immense financial cost our cities, States, and 
taxpayers have incurred as a result of Biden's disastrous border 
policies, exponentially disastrous.
  The Center for Immigration Studies reports the annual cost of Biden's 
immigration crisis to the United States is $452 billion of American 
taxpayer funds. The Federation for American Immigration Reform notes 
that the cost to my home State, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is 
$1.64 billion per year.
  Mr. Speaker, what about the crime epidemic? We now have something 
called migrant crime. Mr. Speaker, is there anything more horrific than 
we have seen from the Laken Riley situation, how an illegal from 
Venezuela made it across the border illegally, went to New York, 
committed all kinds of crimes, was let out by the weak, foolish, 
ideological prosecutors in New York, and then went on to Georgia and 
murdered a beautiful young girl?
  To add insult to this injury, the Biden administration takes the 
American people for idiots by trying to blame this border crisis on 
Republicans and Donald Trump, after 3 years of Secretary Mayorkas 
and Vice President Harris and everybody else in the Biden 
administration telling us that the border is secure, along with 90 
percent of the media.

  Mr. Speaker, the American people are not buying it. The facts don't 
lie. Our eyes don't lie. No matter how many times they tell us they do, 
this unmitigated disaster is a direct result of this administration's 
weak policies, and it is the height of hypocrisy.
  After causing this catastrophe, President Biden going to the border 
today is clearly nothing more than a sad, sorry attempt to save him 
from a political standpoint. This trip is not about solving the border 
problem. It is about solving a political problem that is getting worse.
  Perhaps more shameful is Biden's attempt to blame those who want to 
protect our border for a lack of support for Ukraine. That, too, is 
outrageous. We can do both. The will of the American people matters. 
Let's not forget who we represent in our constitutional Republic.

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