[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 60 (Tuesday, April 9, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H2236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INVASION ACROSS OUR SOUTHERN BORDER
(Mr. GROTHMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for
1 minute.)
Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, we haven't been in Congress for 2 weeks
now, but the number one issue in the country remains what it was 2
weeks ago because the President of the United States refuses to act and
that, of course, is the invasion across our southern border.
Around the time we left, we had new estimates on the number of people
who have come over here. They are estimates because nobody knows
exactly the number. We estimate that about 40,000 to 50,000 of the
people who come across every month are what they call got-aways. Due to
a shortage of people in the Border Patrol, we do not even count them or
interview them or know much about them. Our estimate is that in
February, we had about 220,000 people come here. That was down from
December, but still about 10 times the number who came across in Donald
Trump's final February of his term.
We have 10 times as many. We estimate about 9,000 to 10,000 of those
are unaccompanied minors. This is a crisis that demands immediate
attention from the White House and, quite frankly, a little more
attention from this body. It dwarfs all the other bills we have here. I
hope that Congress now deals with this issue.
____________________