[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 44 (Tuesday, March 12, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H1127-H1131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       DENOUNCING THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION'S IMMIGRATION POLICIES

  Mr. FRY. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1071, I call up 
the resolution (H. Res. 1065) denouncing the Biden administration's 
immigration policies, and ask for its immediate consideration in the 
House.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 1071, the 
resolution is considered read.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1065

       Whereas President Joe Biden and Secretary of Homeland 
     Security Alejandro Mayorkas have created the worst border 
     security crisis in the Nation's history;
       Whereas President Biden, beginning on day one of his 
     administration, systematically dismantled effective border 
     security measures and interior immigration enforcement;
       Whereas the Biden administration's open-borders policies 
     have incentivized nearly 9,300,000 illegal aliens from all 
     around the world, including criminal aliens and suspected 
     terrorists, to arrive at the southwest border;
       Whereas the Biden administration has allowed at least 
     6,300,000 illegal aliens from the southwest border to travel 
     to American communities;
       Whereas current immigration law allows for the United 
     States to enter into asylum cooperative agreements with other 
     countries to allow for the removal of certain aliens seeking 
     asylum in the United States;
       Whereas asylum cooperative agreements provide the United 
     States with another tool to reduce the incentives for illegal 
     immigration;
       Whereas asylum cooperative agreements increase cooperation 
     with United States allies in the Western Hemisphere and 
     around the world and promote shared responsibility;
       Whereas the previous administration announced asylum 
     cooperative agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala, and 
     Honduras;
       Whereas the Biden administration suspended and terminated 
     these asylum cooperative agreements as part of its open-
     borders agenda that has encouraged mass illegal immigration 
     to the southwest border;
       Whereas the Biden administration retains the ability to 
     negotiate asylum cooperative agreements with those countries 
     but has refused to do so, despite historic illegal 
     immigration at the southwest border;
       Whereas the Immigration and Nationality Act mandates that 
     the Secretary of Homeland Security detain inadmissible aliens 
     arriving at the border who express an intention to apply for 
     asylum or fear of persecution;
       Whereas the Immigration and Nationality Act mandates that 
     the Secretary of Homeland Security detain, during removal 
     proceedings, aliens who arrive at the border and are found to 
     be inadmissible;
       Whereas the Biden administration has purposely violated 
     United States immigration law by refusing to detain 
     inadmissible aliens arriving at the border;
       Whereas, the Biden administration could comply with the 
     mandatory detention statutes of the Immigration and 
     Nationality Act;
       Whereas the Biden administration's purposeful violation of 
     the mandatory detention statutes of the Immigration and 
     Nationality Act has resulted in the mass release of millions 
     of illegal aliens into United States communities;
       Whereas current immigration law allows for inadmissible 
     aliens to be expeditiously removed from the United States 
     once encountered at the border unless they establish a 
     credible fear of persecution;
       Whereas the Biden administration has released millions of 
     illegal aliens into the United States without even processing 
     them for expedited removal to be screened for asylum 
     eligibility;
       Whereas, of the 5,600,000 illegal alien encounters from 
     January 20, 2021, through August 31, 2023, the Department of 
     Homeland Security placed only 6.8 percent of those illegal 
     aliens into expedited removal proceedings to even be screened 
     for asylum eligibility;
       Whereas, of the illegal aliens who were not found to have a 
     credible fear of persecution, roughly 40 percent were not 
     removed and remained in the United States as of August 31, 
     2023;
       Whereas, of the illegal aliens who were processed for 
     expedited removal and who did not even attempt to make a 
     claim for asylum, the Biden administration cannot confirm 
     removal or return from the United States for nearly a third 
     of those illegal aliens;
       Whereas the Biden administration could expand expedited 
     removal to more quickly remove illegal aliens at the border 
     and screen more illegal aliens for asylum eligibility instead 
     of mass releasing them into the United States;
       Whereas the Biden administration's limited use of expedited 
     removal only incentivizes illegal immigration and worsens the 
     border crisis;
       Whereas, despite its effectiveness, the Biden 
     administration terminated the Migrant Protection Protocols;
       Whereas the Biden administration has purposely violated 
     United States immigration law by abusing discretionary case-
     by-case and other parole authorities to mass parole illegal 
     aliens who would otherwise have no legal basis to enter and 
     remain in the United States;
       Whereas the Biden administration's proposed solution to the 
     border crisis failed to address catch-and-release valves such 
     as the Flores Settlement Agreement and the Trafficking 
     Victims Protection Reauthorization

[[Page H1128]]

     Act that incentivize surges of unaccompanied alien children 
     and adults arriving with children to come to the southwest 
     border putting children's lives at risk;
       Whereas the Biden administration could end its catch-and-
     release policies;
       Whereas the Biden administration's proposed solutions to 
     the border crisis did nothing to end catch-and-release but 
     instead mandated mass releases of illegal aliens at the 
     southwest border;
       Whereas parks, schools, police stations, recreation 
     centers, hotels, and airports have been repurposed for use as 
     shelters for illegal aliens;
       Whereas the Biden administration's open-borders policies 
     have strained State and local social services resources as 
     the millions of illegal aliens who have entered since January 
     20, 2021, compete with Americans and legal immigrants for 
     those resources;
       Whereas current immigration law empowers the President to 
     ``suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens . . 
     . or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may 
     deem to be appropriate'' ``[w]henever the President finds 
     that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into 
     the United States would be detrimental to the interests of 
     the United States'';
       Whereas the Supreme Court has described the President's 
     suspension of entry authority as an authority that ``exudes 
     deference to the President in every clause'';
       Whereas President Biden has cited his suspension of entry 
     authority in other instances but has refused to use that 
     authority to address the border crisis;
       Whereas President Biden retains the power to use his 
     suspension of entry authority to address the border crisis;
       Whereas President Biden's refusal to use his suspension of 
     entry authority ensures that the border stays open, endangers 
     the homeland, and encourages illegal immigration; and
       Whereas President Biden has claimed he is powerless to 
     address the border crisis through executive action: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) affirms that, in order to help control the crisis at 
     the border that it has created, the Biden Administration has 
     the authority to--
       (A) end the catch-and-release policy;
       (B) reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols;
       (C) enter into asylum cooperative agreements;
       (D) end abuses of parole authority;
       (E) detain inadmissible aliens;
       (F) use expedited removal authority; and
       (G) rein in taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal aliens;
       (2) affirms that the Biden Administration is refusing to 
     use such authorities; and
       (3) urges the Biden Administration to immediately begin 
     using such authorities.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Fry) 
and the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Jayapal) each will control 30 
minutes.
  The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Fry).


                             General Leave

  Mr. FRY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
to insert extraneous material on House Resolution 1065.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from South Carolina?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. FRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, just over 3 years ago, Joe Biden took office as 
President of the United States and he immediately began upholding his 
campaign promises to reverse the Trump administration's immigration 
policies.
  On day one, this President issued executive orders that sent the 
world a message that America's borders are open. He used his executive 
authority to stop border wall construction, rescind the remain in 
Mexico policy, prevent the removal of any illegal aliens, and block ICE 
and CBP from enforcing immigration laws.
  In the weeks and months that followed, President Biden terminated 
Trump-era policies aimed at preventing fraudulent asylum claims, ending 
catch and release, increasing criminal alien removals, and preventing 
illegal immigration.
  After all, if Trump did it, it must be bad.
  Madam Speaker, what was the result of Biden's radical and dangerous 
systematic dismantling of policies that worked to reduce and prevent 
illegal immigration?
  The biggest mass illegal immigration in the history of the United 
States.
  Nearly 7.5 million illegal aliens have been encountered by the 
Customs and Border Patrol on the southwest border. There have been 37 
straight months of 100,000 southwest border CBP encounters.
  The Biden administration has released more than 4.5 million illegal 
aliens into American communities, in addition to at least 1.8 million 
known got-aways avoiding apprehension.
  At least 340 illegal aliens on the terrorist watch list have been 
encountered by Border Patrol along the southwest border, and that is 
just the ones we know about.
  I haven't even mentioned the northern border, where historically high 
numbers of illegal aliens are encountered by CBP every single day.
  Who could have predicted those results?
  Well, for starters, the Trump administration officials did. House 
Republicans did. The American people did. Sheriffs, CBP, DHS employees 
did; ranchers, farmers, families, they all did.
  They warned the Biden transition team not to rescind policies like 
the migrant protection protocols in title 42, but politics trumped 
common sense, and the American people are left with a national 
security, public safety, and financial disaster that is the Biden 
administration's immigration agenda.
  After 3 years of chaos, the Biden administration seems to have 
finally gotten the message that Americans get uneasy when they see mobs 
of illegal aliens beating up New York City police officers, watch 
endless numbers of illegal aliens stream across the southwest border, 
and hear the heart-wrenching details of murders, like that of 22-year-
old nursing student Laken Riley, by illegal aliens who should not have 
been here in the first place.
  With an election on the horizon, President Biden's handlers have 
decided that now is the time to finally admit that what is happening on 
the southwest border is a crisis. Instead of correcting, they are 
blaming Congress.
  The American people are not stupid. They know that if President Trump 
was able to establish the most secure border in American history, 
despite the open-border groups rushing to get his immigration policies 
enjoined in activist courts at every turn, then President Biden, too, 
could use his executive authority to help secure the border and restore 
those policies.
  They know that President Biden simply refuses to do it. President 
Biden refuses to implement the migrant protection protocols, to stop 
abusing discretionary case-by-case and other parole authority, and to 
re-implement President Trump's asylum cooperative agreements so we can 
remove illegal aliens seeking asylum to third countries.

                              {time}  1530

  President Biden refuses to expand the use of expedited removal, 
refuses to use 212(f) authority to suspend the entry of aliens to 
secure the border, and refuses to end catch and release.
  President Biden refuses to comply with the mandatory detention status 
of the Immigration and Nationality Act for inadmissible aliens. He 
refuses to rein in the use of taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal 
aliens.
  This stands in stark contrast to President Trump, who only refused to 
give up on securing the border.
  To everyday Americans, the answer to the border crisis is simple: 
Secure the border and enforce the law. That is what the Trump 
administration did; that is what America needs; and that is what 
President Biden refuses to do.
  H. Res. 1065 affirms that President Biden has the executive authority 
to help control the border, affirms that the Biden administration is 
refusing to use that authority, and urges President Biden to 
immediately begin using that executive authority as has been done 
before.
  H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, passed this House last spring. It 
would enhance our current law and help ensure the border is controlled. 
Senate Democrats have refused to bring that bill to the Senate floor 
for almost a year now.
  In the meantime, and while we wait, President Biden should use his 
executive authority to ensure the national security and public safety 
of Americans is paramount. He should use it to secure our border, and 
he should do so today.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

[[Page H1129]]

  

  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  For the second time in less than 2 months, with another shutdown 
looming, we are wasting our time on a meaningless immigration 
resolution full of empty rhetoric whose sole purpose seems to be to 
justify Republicans' lack of desire to address solutions for our broken 
immigration system.
  How did we get here, Mr. Speaker? Earlier this Congress, House 
Republicans passed their cruel, inhumane, and unworkable border bill, 
H.R. 2. Republicans continue to say that H.R. 2 is the only way to 
secure the border, and they continue to say that Democrats have refused 
to bring H.R. 2 up in the Senate. In fact, that bill has since failed 
twice to pass the United States Senate, receiving just 32 votes a few 
weeks ago. That means there are a lot of Republicans over there in the 
Senate who didn't vote for H.R. 2.
  After insisting that the only way to address the border was through 
harsh border security legislation and holding Ukraine aid hostage, 
Republicans even managed to get some Democrats to agree to a border 
bill in the Senate that was written largely by the Senate's second-most 
conservative Republican Senator, a bill that Minority Leader Mitch 
McConnell called the toughest border bill in 30 years.
  What happened to that bill? Donald Trump said he didn't want to do 
anything to help the border in an election year because he wants 
immigration to be out there as a campaign issue. Other Republicans said 
it out loud as well, saying they didn't want ``to do too damn much . . 
. to help a Democrat.''
  Folding to the cult of Donald Trump, and just hours after the 370-
page text of the bill was released, Speaker Johnson declared the bill 
``dead on arrival'' in the House. The rank and file fell in line, and 
the Senate bill died before the metaphorical ink was even dry.
  Republicans showed clearly what we Democrats have been saying over 
and over again, that they don't want to do anything that would help 
address the issues of a broken immigration system that we face. Instead 
of solving the problem, my colleagues on the other side want to 
continue to weaponize the border as a political issue for this election 
year.
  The truth, Mr. Speaker, is that the situation at the border is 
directly linked to the fact that our legal immigration system has been 
left in chaos because it has not been modernized in 30 years to meet 
the needs of our country, our economy, and our families.
  When the legal process is so backed up that it takes decades for 
legal residents to get their children into the country, when employers 
simply can't get people they need to hire approved because there is a 
backlog of 2 million people who haven't been processed, or when we have 
so few immigration judges that asylum seekers wait over 8 years to get 
their cases heard, then people give in to unscrupulous actors, 
including the cartels, which promise them that if they pay them a 
boatload of money, they can get them in by going to the border.
  Until you fix the legal immigration system so that it works and 
update the caps and the quotas, you will continue to see large numbers 
of migrants at the border. You cannot fix the border without fixing the 
underlying system, and you certainly cannot fix it with only harsh 
immigration policy.
  Speaker Johnson and others have been caught in their own trap. They 
refuse to give President Biden the resources that we need to process 
people more quickly. They voted against more money to secure the border 
with more technology and equipment that Border Patrol agents have told 
us that they need. They even voted against more money for more agents 
at the border.
  To hide their hypocrisy, they are now claiming that the President can 
just ``secure the border'' through harsh executive actions alone, no 
action by Congress necessary.
  Today's resolution is just another ham-fisted attempt to weaponize 
the issue at the border, and it is filled with misinformation.
  The resolution alleges that the Biden administration is not removing 
people fast enough, yet in the 8 months since ending title 42, despite 
some of our due process concerns, this administration has removed or 
returned over half a million people, roughly equivalent to the number 
of people removed and returned by the Trump administration in all of 
fiscal year 2019.
  The resolution states that the administration ``could comply with the 
mandatory detention statutes of the Immigration and Nationality Act,'' 
which no administration, including the Trump administration, has ever 
complied with because no Congress has ever appropriated the 
extraordinary levels of funding that such compliance would require.

  The resolution complains that the President isn't using the 
suspension of entry authority in section 212(f) of the INA, but 
Republicans want to forget that President Trump tried to do exactly 
that in November 2018 and was stopped by the courts. Even the Supreme 
Court refused to intervene and lift the lower court injunction.
  Enforcement-only policies do not stop people from crossing the 
border. In fact, when former President Trump implemented the remain in 
Mexico policy early in 2019, that summer, we saw some of the highest 
levels of migration of the entire Trump administration.
  When President Trump used title 42 to turn back all border crossers, 
encounters between the ports of entry actually shot up, not down. 
Cartels made money hand over fist by providing people with multiple 
entry attempt packages.
  One individual was apprehended over 40 times alone, just one 
individual. In fact, from February 1, 2017, to December 31, 2020, the 
duration of Donald Trump's Presidency, illegal border crossings went up 
by over 300 percent.
  People do not make the arduous, dangerous journey here on a whim. 
They do it because they are often fleeing for their lives or are 
desperate to escape an unlivable situation in their home country. 
Because of that, they will continue to come, no matter how many 
draconian policies they may have to face once they arrive.
  The way we can deal with that is to have a system that actually works 
inside the United States, legal pathways for people to come to this 
country. The way to fix the border is to modernize our current 
immigration system so that it works to provide people with different 
opportunities and abilities to apply to be with their families or come 
here to work or flee war or torture and have their applications and 
claims processed in a timely way.
  We have already seen that when we provide workable ways for people to 
seek entry and refuge, they will use them, and encounters between ports 
of entry fall dramatically.
  This resolution shows once again that Republicans don't want to do 
anything to fix the border. This is a resolution that literally does 
absolutely nothing, changes not one single policy that is on the books.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to oppose this resolution, 
and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas 
(Ms. De La Cruz), my friend and colleague who is the author of this 
resolution.
  Ms. De La CRUZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 1065, which is 
critical to addressing one of the most pressing challenges of our time: 
the unprecedented crisis at our southern border.
  This resolution is not just a condemnation of this administration's 
policies but a call to action, a plea for a return to responsibility, 
security, and the rule of law.
  The Biden administration's approach to border security, marked by its 
relentless pursuit of political correctness at the expense of common 
sense and American lives, has reached a point of abject failure.
  This was made painfully clear by the President's abhorrent recent 
statements where he felt compelled to apologize for accurately 
identifying a murderer as an illegal immigrant.
  Let me be very clear: As the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants 
myself, I am very proud of our heritage. In fact, the community where 
my family and I live is over 90 percent Hispanic, and I have yet to 
encounter anyone, outside of three or four activists here in 
Washington, D.C., who are offended by calling Laken Riley's killer 
exactly what he is, an illegal immigrant who is a murderer. In fact, 
where I am from, being called an illegal immigrant is

[[Page H1130]]

perhaps the kindest thing we would say about such a despicable 
individual who is a murderer.
  The outrage seems reserved for those who are out of touch with the 
realities of everyday Americans, including the vast majority of 
Hispanics who are sick and tired of extremists using our culture as a 
shield for their radical open-borders agenda.
  President Biden's apology is emblematic of a broader issue. Our 
border policy, just like everything else with this administration, is 
not dictated by the needs of Americans but by the whims of D.C. 
insiders and elites who do not care about working Americans. Their 
policies have jeopardized the safety and well-being of both American 
families and the migrants and children who are being exploited by the 
ruthless cartels.
  This resolution, once again, brings to light the harrowing reality 
that under President Biden's and Secretary Mayorkas' watch, our Nation 
has witnessed the worst border crisis in American history.
  The resolution is clear on its demands. It is time for this 
administration to uphold its responsibilities. We must initiate asylum 
cooperative agreements with safe partner countries, employ expedited 
removal authority judiciously, and ensure that those not admissible are 
detained, as Federal law requires.
  This is not merely a question of immigration policy but of national 
security, public safety, and basic human dignity.
  Mr. Speaker, I respectfully implore my colleagues on both sides of 
the aisle to support H. Res. 1065. Let us send a resounding message 
that the safety and security of American citizens are nonnegotiable. We 
deserve a sensible, secure, and humane immigration system. For the sake 
of our Nation, for the protection of our citizens, and for the 
integrity of our borders, I urge my colleagues to support this 
resolution.

                              {time}  1545

  Mr. FRY. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I would just remind my colleagues that no 
President has ever been able to detain everybody that is required by 
law because we have never appropriated that amount of money.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. 
Velazquez).
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, if Republicans were really interested in fixing our 
broken immigration system, why are we wasting our time debating this 
nonbinding resolution?
  Republicans claim that all President Biden needs to do to fix our 
immigration system is to unconstitutionally shut down the border and 
return to the draconian policies of the Trump administration.
  Immigration in our country has been broken for decades, and 
enforcement-only immigration solutions do not work, and they know that.
  We must also recognize the positive benefits of immigration. 
According to the CBO, increased immigration will help bolster our 
economy by about $7 trillion over the next decade.
  If Republicans really cared about addressing the problems of our 
immigration system, they would join with Democrats to pass thoughtful 
and bipartisan legislation to actually address the problem at the 
border.
  Nonetheless, Mr. Speaker, they are not interested in doing that. All 
they need is a political talking point.
  Instead, we are debating a resolution that will do nothing and help 
no one.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this resolution.
  Mr. FRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McClintock).
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, this resolution reflects the testimony 
that the Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee 
of the House Judiciary Committee recently received from experts and 
former ICE officials that the President has full authority in existing 
law to secure our borders. He simply refuses to do so.
  Donald Trump enforced our laws. He used title 42 to stop millions of 
illegal crossings. He required the asylum claimants to remain in Mexico 
or other safe third countries until their cases were heard. He enforced 
court-ordered deportations, and it worked. Illegal immigration fell to 
a 46-year low.
  Now, the laws haven't changed. The President changed. On Biden's 
first day in office, he ended the remain in Mexico policy. He ordered 
ICE to stop enforcing border deportations, and he ordered all 
construction on the border wall to cease. Since that day, this 
administration has deliberately released more than 4\1/2\ million 
illegal aliens into our country and allowed an additional 1.8 million 
to evade apprehension by the Border Patrol while it was overwhelmed.
  That is a combined population of illegal immigrants who have entered 
into this country the size of the State of Missouri, our 18th largest 
State with eight Congressional Districts.
  I repeat: The laws didn't change. The President changed.
  Last year, the House passed H.R. 2 to make it harder for future 
Presidents to flout the law, but Senate Democrats killed it. Instead, 
they tout a bill that would leave a future President powerless to 
enforce our immigration laws until illegal crossings reached a minimum 
of 4,000 per day.
  This crisis is exactly what the Democrats promised to unleash, and it 
is exactly what they have unleashed and defended every day for the last 
3 years. The hard truth is that that cannot be fixed by Congress. It 
can only be fixed by replacing this administration with one that will 
secure our border, enforce our laws, and protect our people. That can 
only be done by the American people at the ballot box.
  Mr. FRY. Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers. I am ready to close, 
and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, while you may not know it from some of the language 
being used today, we are debating an immigration resolution that is 
nonbinding.
  That means it does absolutely nothing. It is full of empty rhetoric, 
but it makes no actual policy changes to address the outdated 
immigration system.
  It does not a single thing other than take up time for debate on this 
floor when we should be working on making sure that our government 
doesn't shut down.
  Rather than debating meaningless resolutions, we should be exploring 
how to meaningfully reform the broken immigration system to expand 
lawful immigration to the United States given the documented benefits 
that it brings.
  In 2021 alone, DACA recipients paid $6.5 billion in taxes, refugees 
paid almost $28 billion in taxes, and TPS holders paid $2.2 billion in 
taxes. Likewise, in 2021, undocumented immigrants paid approximately 
$18.6 million in Federal income taxes and $12.2 billion in State and 
local taxes.
  Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services released a 
study demonstrating that refugees and asylees generated $124 billion in 
fiscal benefits over 15 years. The Congressional Budget Office, a 
nonpartisan entity, recently released a report finding that recent 
immigrants who join the workforce will add $1 trillion in revenue to 
our country's GDP between 2023 and 2034, and $7 trillion overall to our 
GDP.
  It is also estimated that putting undocumented immigrants on a 
roadmap to citizenship would not only increase U.S. GDP by $1.7 
trillion over the next decade, that action would also raise wages for 
all Americans and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.
  Unfortunately, Republicans talk a big game when it comes to 
immigration and border security, but instead of trying to pass 
thoughtful and bipartisan legislation to address the problems in our 
immigration system, we are wasting our time on resolutions like the one 
before us today.

  It cannot be clearer: Republicans are simply not interested in 
solutions.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California 
(Ms. Barragan), who is the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
  Ms. BARRAGAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Jayapal for being a 
leader in this space.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose yet another anti-immigrant 
resolution from House Republicans.
  It is Republicans who refuse to vote for additional resources to 
address

[[Page H1131]]

challenges at the southern border and, instead, spend their time on 
empty messaging resolutions such as this.
  Worse yet, they continue to lie. Just take a look at the resolution. 
This resolution says that the Biden administration suspended and 
terminated asylum cooperative agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala, 
and Honduras established by the previous administration.
  The fact is two of these agreements were never implemented by the 
previous administration, and one was paused at the start of COVID, the 
pandemic.
  The resolution says the Biden administration has refused to use its 
authority to detain inadmissible migrants.
  The resolution claims the Biden administration is intentionally not 
enforcing the mandatory detention requirements of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act.
  The fact is that no administration, including the Trump 
administration, has fully complied with this Act because no Congress 
has ever provided the funds and the previous administration never even 
asked for the funding that would have come close to having this 
mandatory detention for all. That is something I don't even agree with, 
yet even the prior administration didn't do that.
  Now, this administration, the Biden administration, is actually 
detaining migrants. The fact is the Biden administration is detaining 
approximately 39,000 inadmissible migrants.
  The resolution also says the Biden administration has the authority 
to use expedited removal and is refusing to use expedited removal. 
Again, that is not true.
  Let's look at the facts. The Biden administration has expanded 
expedited removal to remove hundreds of thousands of people.
  Our point today is this just goes to show you, Mr. Speaker, 
Republicans are not serious about the border. If they were serious, 
then they would stick to the facts and they would stick to solutions. 
This resolution is not about solutions. It is all about politics.
  They have consistently opposed legislation to increase funding to 
address the needs at the southern border. It is Republicans who refuse 
to consider President Biden's $13.6 billion funding at the border.
  Let me talk about some of what is in that. Republicans refused to 
give $850 million to combat fentanyl from crossing the southern border. 
It is Republicans who refuse to consider $723 million to hire 
additional Customs and Border Protection officers and Border Patrol 
agents.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Newhouse). The time of the gentlewoman 
has expired.
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the 
gentlewoman from California.
  Ms. BARRAGAN. Mr. Speaker, Republicans refuse even to consider $1 
billion in ICE detention beds, something I don't even agree with. They 
refused money to put new fentanyl detection technology at the ports of 
entry. It is Republicans who have said no to all of this.
  Then the Biden administration helped craft a punitive, conservative, 
bipartisan Senate immigration bill that I don't even support.
  House Republicans said no before the ink was dry.
  Why?
  It is because Donald Trump called and said: Don't consider it. We 
don't want to do anything at all. I need a campaign issue.
  That is what this is about. Time and time again, Republicans have had 
a chance to do something. They failed to act every time. They mislead, 
they fearmonger, and they demonize immigrants and try to convince the 
American people that they are not responsible for their own failures to 
act. Democrats are rejecting these tactics and this dishonest 
resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her remarks, 
and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. FRY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.
  Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, I think my colleagues on the other side 
suffer from a little bit of amnesia because just as quickly as these 
border patrol policies were taken away with the stroke of a pen at the 
start of this administration, the purpose of this resolution is to 
remind our President, who seems to have forgotten, that he has every 
authority to put back the policies that worked in the first place with 
that same stroke of a pen.
  There are steps today that this administration could unilaterally do, 
including: ending catch and release, reinstating the migrant protection 
protocols, entering back into asylum cooperative agreements with Latin 
American countries, ending abuses of parole authority, detaining 
inadmissible aliens, using expedited removing authority, and reining in 
taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal aliens.
  The Biden administration single-handedly created this crisis at the 
southern border, and they can end it with the stroke of a pen.
  This resolution calls out these numerous actions the Biden 
administration has taken to systematically open up our borders.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 1065, 
and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
  Pursuant to House Resolution 1071, the previous question is ordered 
on the resolution and the preamble.
  The question is on adoption of the resolution.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mr. FRY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.

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