[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 75 (Wednesday, May 1, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H2784-H2790]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       DENOUNCING THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION'S IMMIGRATION POLICIES

  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1137, I 
call up the resolution (H. Res. 1112) denouncing the Biden 
administration's immigration policies, and ask for its immediate 
consideration.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Yakym). Pursuant to House Resolution 
1137, the resolution is considered read.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1112

       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 9,500,000 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 
     6,400,000 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 border wall aids the Border Patrol in its 
     mission to ``detect and prevent the illegal entry of 
     individuals into the United States'';
       Whereas the Biden administration stopped the previous 
     administration's southwest border wall construction;
       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;

[[Page H2785]]

       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'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 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, when implemented by the Trump administration, the 
     Migrant Protection Protocols helped reduce illegal 
     immigration;
       Whereas, despite its effectiveness and despite the advice 
     of career Department of Homeland Security officials not to do 
     so, 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 issued multiple memoranda 
     limiting circumstances under which immigration enforcement 
     actions can be taken against illegal aliens;
       Whereas these memoranda are the basis for lower numbers of 
     criminal alien removals from the United States;
       Whereas additional criminal aliens remain on American 
     streets, free to offend and victimize more Americans, because 
     of the Biden administration's lack of immigration 
     enforcement;
       Whereas these memoranda are the basis for policies 
     directing Federal Government attorneys in immigration court 
     to not pursue removal cases against illegal aliens;
       Whereas the Biden administration's open-borders policies 
     signal to illegal aliens that when they come to the United 
     States they will be released and will not be removed;
       Whereas the Biden administration's open-borders policies 
     encourage illegal aliens to come to the United States and 
     allow illegal and other criminal aliens to remain in the 
     country;
       Whereas the illegal alien who viciously allegedly murdered 
     22-year-old Athens, Georgia, nursing student Laken Riley is a 
     beneficiary of the Biden administration's open-borders 
     policies;
       Whereas, during the State of the Union speech, President 
     Biden described Laken Riley's illegal alien alleged murderer 
     as ``an illegal'';
       Whereas, two days later, after pressure from open-borders 
     advocates, President Biden noted in a television interview 
     that he felt ``regret'' for using the word ``illegal'' to 
     describe Laken Riley's illegal alien alleged murderer;
       Whereas, during that interview, President Biden claimed 
     that illegal aliens like Laken Riley's alleged murderer 
     ``built the country'';
       Whereas Laken Riley's illegal alien alleged murderer should 
     not have been released by the Biden administration into the 
     United States;
       Whereas Laken Riley's illegal alien alleged murderer should 
     have been arrested and detained by U.S. Immigration and 
     Customs Enforcement after he committed crimes in the United 
     States; and
       Whereas Laken Riley's illegal alien alleged murderer is but 
     one of countless illegal alien criminals and terrorists the 
     Biden administration has released into the United States: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) affirms the Biden administration has taken executive 
     actions that created the current border crisis, including--
       (A) ending the Migrant Protection Protocols;
       (B) terminating asylum cooperative agreements with 
     Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador;
       (C) abusing parole authority;
       (D) stopping the previous administration's southwest border 
     wall construction;
       (E) issuing memoranda limiting immigration enforcement;
       (F) removing fewer criminal aliens from the United States; 
     and
       (G) purposely violating statutes that require the detention 
     of inadmissible aliens;
       (2) denounces the Biden administration's open-borders 
     policies, which allowed Laken Riley's illegal alien alleged 
     murderer to enter the United States and ensured he would not 
     be removed until it was too late--if at all;
       (3) condemns the public safety crisis caused by the Biden 
     administration's open-borders policies;
       (4) urges the Biden administration to rescind its open-
     borders policies; and
       (5) implores the Biden administration to implement policies 
     that end his administration's border crisis.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The resolution shall be debatable for 1 
hour, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority 
member of the Committee on the Judiciary, or their respective 
designees.
  The gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock) and the gentleman from 
New York (Mr. Nadler) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock).


                             General Leave

  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on H. Res. 1112.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, in January, the Border Patrol chief in the Del Rio 
sector told House Republicans: I am standing in front of an open fire 
hydrant with a bucket. I don't need more buckets. I need somebody to 
shut off the hydrant.
  President Trump did exactly that. His remain in Mexico policy had 
slowed illegal immigration to a trickle. The border wall was nearing 
completion with only construction gaps remaining to be closed.
  ICE was actively enforcing court-ordered deportations, sending a 
strong signal around the world that illegal migrants would end up right 
back where they started, so they stopped coming.
  On Inauguration Day, Mr. Biden reversed all of these successful 
policies, the first of more than 60 actions he has subsequently taken 
to undermine our immigration laws and open our border to the world.
  The result has been the largest illegal mass migration in history. 
Since that day, over 4.6 million illegal migrants have been released 
into this country deliberately. While the Border Patrol has been 
overwhelmed, another 1.8 million known got-aways illegally entered, as 
well.
  That is a total of 6.4 million illegals added to our population, 
larger than the entire State of Missouri, our 18th largest State with 
eight congressional districts. That is just in 3 years.
  The impact has been devastating. Schools have been overwhelmed as 
classrooms are packed with non-English-speaking students. Hospitals 
have been forced to shift millions of dollars of care from Americans to 
illegals. In Yuma, Americans are very often sent to Tucson for 
maternity care because local beds are now taken by illegals.
  The social safety net has been shredded by the deliberative admission 
of millions of impoverished illegals demanding free food, clothing, and 
shelter.
  The number of terrorist suspects the Border Patrol has encountered 
has ballooned exponentially.

                              {time}  1230

  Law enforcement officials are warning that among the 1.8 million got-
aways, mostly single, military-age men, there is likely a dangerous 
fifth column, which could soon launch devastating attacks within our 
borders.
  Fentanyl brought in through the open border is killing hundreds of 
Americans every day. Democrats' sanctuary policies hamstring attempts 
to deport criminal illegal aliens. Worst of all, the admission of 
untold thousands of the most vicious gang members on the planet are now 
producing a terrible butcher's bill of murders and assaults on 
Americans.
  This resolution speaks for Americans who have had enough, and it 
condemns these policies. I am afraid that is really all that we can do 
until the American people rise up and demand an administration and a 
Congress willing to restore our borders and to put Americans first.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time my time.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this country is facing real problems. There is an 
erosion of trust in our government and institutions.
  The right to bodily autonomy is under attack across the Nation. The 
State of Maryland needs assistance in rebuilding the Francis Scott Key 
Bridge so that the Port of Baltimore, whose economic impact touches 
communities across the country, can reopen. Our immigration system 
cannot function because Congress has failed to reform it for over 30 
years.

[[Page H2786]]

  Instead of responding to these problems, House Republicans are 
wasting our time, yet again, on another meaningless immigration 
resolution.
  At Donald Trump's direction, they refuse to work toward solutions for 
our broken immigration system, so instead, all they have to offer is a 
bunch of empty rhetoric.
  This resolution, like the others we have considered in recent months, 
will do nothing to solve the situation at the border.
  Not a single dollar will go to help our law enforcement agents at the 
border as a result of this resolution.
  Not a single person will be denied unlawful entry to this country as 
a result of this resolution. Not a single community will be made safer 
as a result of this resolution.
  This resolution is nothing more than a highlight reel of the dubious 
talking points of immigration that we have heard over and over from 
Republicans since President Biden was sworn into office.
  It is the same legislating by press release that we have become 
accustomed to in this historically unproductive Congress.
  The resolution itself is simply a rehash of the resolution we passed 
a few weeks ago. Republicans are so out of ideas that it even has the 
same exact title and much of the same content as the last resolution.
  That resolution listed all the ways that President Biden supposedly 
could secure the border and essentially asks the administration to 
reverse every policy it has implemented on immigration, even though we 
know that doing so would not be effective.
  Today's resolution simply lists most of those policies again, and 
this time it just condemns the administration. What a waste of time.
  It is important to remember how we got here. Earlier this Congress, 
House Republicans passed their partisan, cruel, and unworkable border 
bill, H.R. 2.
  Republicans spent a year saying that H.R. 2 is the only way to secure 
the border, even though they know that it cannot become law, having 
failed twice to pass the Senate, receiving just 32 votes earlier this 
year.
  Then they insisted that the price of helping to protect Ukraine 
against Russian aggression was enacting harsh border enforcement 
legislation.
  Senate Republicans even managed to convince some Democrats to agree 
on a very harsh border bill in the Senate, a bill that Minority Leader 
McConnell called the toughest border bill in 30 years, but Republicans 
could not take ``yes'' for an answer.
  Donald Trump said that he didn't want to do anything that might 
actually help at the border in an election year because he wants 
immigration as a campaign issue. Other Republicans quickly agreed.
  Folding to the cult of Donald Trump, Speaker Johnson declared the 
bill dead on arrival in the House with the rest of the Republican 
Conference quickly falling in line.
  Republicans showed clearly what Democrats have been saying over and 
over again, that they don't want to do anything that would really help 
address our broken immigration system. They clearly have given up.
  Instead of solving the problem, Republicans merely want to continue 
to weaponize the border as a political issue for the election year with 
pointless votes on meaningless resolutions that accomplish nothing and 
are full of misleading information.
  Let's review the facts once again. The resolution complains that the 
Biden administration is not removing enough people.
  However, the administration is removing people at a very significant 
pace and in ways that I am concerned may present some due process 
violations.
  Since the end of title 42 last May, the Biden administration has 
removed or returned over 630,000 individuals and members of family 
units, just since last May.
  This is more than the number of people removed or returned in all of 
fiscal year 2019 under the Trump administration.
  The resolution also alleges that the Biden administration is 
violating the mandatory detention statutes by not detaining enough 
people.
  However, no administration, including the Trump administration, has 
ever been able to comply with those statutes because no Congress has 
ever appropriated the extraordinary levels of funding such compliance 
would require.

  To detain everyone that the law requires to be held in mandatory 
detention would require Congress to appropriate over $35 billion a 
year, a number 10 times higher than what Congress appropriated this 
year or then-President Trump ever requested for detention.
  When Democrats have proposed giving DHS the resources it needs to do 
its job, the Republicans have consistently said ``no''.
  We need to work together to address our broken immigration system. 
Enforcement alone cannot fix it. We know this because an enforcement-
only approach has largely failed for three decades.
  We need to update our immigration system so that it meets the needs 
of our country. We need a balanced, bipartisan approach that expands 
lawful pathways.
  This will help relieve pressure on the border and allow people to 
come to this country in an orderly and efficient way, but Republicans 
don't want to engage in real legislating that might actually solve 
problems and deliver meaningful reform.
  They want to continue to demagogue and fearmonger with meaningless 
resolutions containing nothing but empty rhetoric designed to score 
cheap political points.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this resolution, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I would remind the gentleman who says 
that enforcement won't fix it that enforcement did fix it under the 
Trump administration.
  His policies produced the most secure borders we have had in our 
lifetimes. It was this President who reversed those policies and 
initiated this mass illegal migration that we are now suffering.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Tony 
Gonzales), the author of this resolution.
  Mr. TONY GONZALES of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from 
California for yielding time. I thank Chairman   Jim Jordan and the 
Judiciary Committee for bringing this to the floor. I thank Speaker 
Johnson and Leader Scalise for bringing this to everybody's attention.
  I live it every day. People talk about it. My district is half of the 
southern border. The facts are this: The border is as bad as it has 
ever been, and it wasn't always this way.
  Under President Trump, the border was secure. Under President Trump, 
remain in Mexico worked. Under President Trump, the PACER program 
worked. Under President Trump, other countries respected the United 
States, and under President Trump, Americans were put first, not last.
  Now, what does that mean? I have quickly realized that it is only 
President Trump that can solve this problem.
  This body has no interest in solving this border crisis. They just 
want to talk about the problem and not actually solve the problem.
  Meanwhile, the issue is: I live the problem, right. High-speed chases 
come through my town every single day. Our schools go into lockdown 
every single day.
  Yesterday, there were 7,000 people that came into this country 
illegally. Last month, there were 219,000 people that came into this 
country illegally.
  We are on pace for 2.5 million people to enter this country 
illegally, and the Biden administration does nothing. The Senate and 
Congress has done nothing. It has been all words. It has been all talk.
  This resolution does one simple thing. Put your vote where your words 
are. If you truly believe in securing the border, you will vote ``yes'' 
on this resolution. If you don't care about the people who live along 
the border, if you don't care about the people that are dying from 
fentanyl, it is very simple, vote against the resolution. The American 
people deserve to know who is going to be with them and who is not 
going to be with them.
  Right now, more than ever, this crisis is spreading. It is growing. 
On December 20, there were 10,000 people under the bridge in Eagle 
Pass. Who was there? I was the only Member of Congress to show up.

[[Page H2787]]

  Three weeks later, we had over 60 Members of Congress show up in 
Eagle Pass, and guess what? That bridge was completely cleared out. 
What does that mean? That means showing up matters, not just in 
Washington but throughout our country.
  Two years ago, there were thousands of Haitians under a bridge in Del 
Rio. All of a sudden, that went away. Why did that go away? Because the 
Biden administration started doing one simple thing that the Trump 
administration had done for so long.
  This is the secret sauce. You deport people that are here illegally, 
period. You do that, and the problem goes away.
  What you have is an administration that wants this. This crisis is 
absolutely created by the administration, it is fueled by the 
administration, and the administration has become addicted to the 
funding that it is doing to drive these places.
  Oh, by the way, this doesn't just impact my community, which is half 
of the southern border, Americans all over the country are dying from 
fentanyl.
  Americans all over the country are feeling this influx of people that 
are here illegally, and all of a sudden, you have people from Denver 
and New York and Chicago going: Wait a second. What about me? What 
about our roads? I am a U.S. citizen. What about my children? What 
about my future?
  For some reason, the Biden administration has put America last in 
this equation, and it needs to stop.
  That stops by us. Let's vote on it today. Where are you at? Are you 
with America? Are you with people that enter this country illegally?
  I have met many of these folks. I was in Del Rio 3 weeks ago. There 
was a family that walked up to the bridge, a beautiful young lady with 
two beautiful children. She walks up to the bridge, and in Spanish, she 
says: I was told to come here for a better life.
  Guess what? I have been blessed to be born in the United States of 
America. That family was not. Guess what? As sad as that situation is, 
she does not qualify for asylum.

  There needs to be a different route. The asylum route that is 
happening is a dead end. These people do not qualify for asylum, nor 
will they ever qualify for asylum, so they need to stop entering our 
country illegally, and the American families that live here need to be 
put first above everything else.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I would remind the gentleman of three things that he 
seems to have forgotten.
  One, just since the end of title 42 last May, the Biden 
administration has removed or returned over 630,000 individuals and 
members of family units.
  This is more than the number of people removed or returned in all of 
fiscal year 2019 under the Trump administration.
  I would also remind the gentleman that this legislation does nothing. 
It simply denounces the Biden administration. It does nothing. It has 
no operable clause. It is pure propaganda for political reasons. It 
does nothing to solve the immigration problem.
  Third, I would remind the gentleman that the Senate negotiated a very 
strong immigration bill approved by Senator Lankford, the second-most 
conservative Member of the Senate. Mitch McConnell said it was the 
strongest immigration bill he had ever seen. The Senate was willing to 
pass it until former President Trump said, don't pass it because I 
would rather have an election issue than solve the problem.
  The fault for the immigration problem now is President Trump's for 
preventing the Senate from passing that bill and the Republicans' fault 
for going along with him politically.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the 
distinguished gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Jayapal).
  Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this absurd and 
pointless resolution.
  I will say that I actually agree with the previous speaker across the 
aisle, my friend across the aisle, when he said that this body wants to 
do absolutely nothing that actually solves the situation at the border. 
I agree with my friend across the aisle that this body, controlled by 
the Republican majority, has no interest in doing a single thing.
  That is why, Mr. Speaker, we keep voting on resolutions that do 
nothing. They are pointless, they are absurd, and they are a tired 
recycling of the same talking points that we hear every day from the 
majority.
  Frankly, the majority is not trying to hide it. Whole sections of 
today's resolution, including its title and 12 of the 32 whereas 
clauses are copied and pasted from the other grievance-airing 
resolution that we considered in March, so these aren't even new.
  These are the same things that we are voting on over and over again 
because there aren't actual solutions that Republicans are willing to 
move forward on that would fix the immigration system.

                              {time}  1245

  Likewise, 2 weeks ago, we voted on a pointless rehashing of H.R. 2, 
the Republicans' extreme, cruel, and unworkable immigration bill that 
is going nowhere fast.
  What are we doing here, Mr. Speaker? Why does the majority insist on 
wasting our time with these bills filled with nothing but empty 
rhetoric designed to try and weaponize the issue of immigration instead 
of solving it?
  What we should be doing is talking about how to create a bipartisan, 
workable immigration system that allows Americans to reunite with their 
families, allows American businesses and universities to attract the 
best and the brightest, and create a workable process so that people 
wouldn't be forced to go to the border as the only way here. We should 
be talking about the fact that immigrants are good for our country and 
good for our economy. That is what the majority of Americans believe, 
despite all of the rhetoric from the other side.
  One in four American doctors were born abroad, and roughly 45 percent 
of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or children of 
immigrants. Seventy percent of agricultural workers are immigrants. 
Immigrants feed us, they heal us, and they help ensure that the country 
remains an economic powerhouse.
  We could be here on the floor embracing the positive impacts of 
immigrants rather than demonizing them, finding ways to allow people to 
work more quickly to fill the shortages that we have in our labor 
sector.
  The Congressional Budget Office recently announced that new 
immigrants will add $1 trillion in previously unexpected revenue to our 
country's GDP between 2023 and 2034. Similarly, the Department of 
Health and Human Services found that over a 15-year period, asylees and 
refugees alone contributed nearly $124 billion more in revenue than 
they received in services from the government. Documented and 
undocumented immigrants pay tens of billions of dollars in taxes every 
single year.
  Instead, what are we doing here on the floor? The same tired rhetoric 
that we hear every single week. The majority insists on demonizing 
immigrants and the border.
  It is true that we desperately need to fix a broken immigration 
system that hasn't been updated in over 30 years, but we cannot do 
that, we cannot solve that problem just through harsh enforcement 
measures alone. We have been trying that approach for 30 years under 
different Presidents, and every time it fails.
  The truth is that the immigration system is all connected. People are 
coming to the border because the legal immigration system has not been 
updated in three decades, and they cannot find another pathway to come 
under.
  The wait time for some legal permanent residents to bring their 
families into this country is over a century long, a century to bring 
your own family to this country. Employers are begging us to modernize 
the employment-based immigration system, because the limits on high-
tech visas were set when floppy disks were the height of technology, 
and people cannot hire the people they need. The small number of 
immigration judges that we have are absolutely crushed under a massive 
backlog of asylum cases so extensive that it is now taking people over 
8 years to get a hearing.
  Under these circumstances, it should not surprise anyone that some 
desperate people see coming to the border

[[Page H2788]]

as their only option, especially when they are fleeing for their lives 
from countries that cannot or will not protect them. If they are 
willing to face the dangers of the journey and deal with unscrupulous 
actors like cartels to get to safety here, even the most draconian of 
policies will not deter them.
  That is why, despite what you hear from the other side, even when 
former President Trump implemented the policies that this resolution 
holds up as the cure to all of our problems, encounters at the border 
actually went up, not down. They didn't work.
  Instead of talking about these failed policies, we could be 
discussing the countless, real, bipartisan solutions that passed when 
Democrats held the House majority, solutions like the Dream and Promise 
Act, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, bills that would fix real 
gaps in the immigration system, provide lawful status to people who 
have been contributing to our communities across the country for 
decades, and actually make improvements that would relieve pressure on 
the border. We could be trying to pass the kinds of investments that 
would actually increase the number of immigration judges and asylum 
officers that would help speed up the process and make it work 
effectively.
  Will any of those things make it to the floor in this Congress under 
a Republican majority whose only goal is to keep this issue out there 
as an election issue, just as former President Trump told them to do? 
No, we are just going to spend our time debating pointless resolutions 
that do not a single thing to fix the real situation of a broken 
immigration system.
  We are going to keep debating nonbinding resolutions filled to the 
brim with mistruths and disinformation.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope we can one day get back to actually governing in 
this House, but I fear that today is not that day.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the gentlewoman seems to confuse legal immigrants who 
obey all of our laws and do everything our country asks of them with 
illegal immigrants whose first act is to disobey our laws.
  Legal immigration is a boon to our Nation, but that is not what we 
are addressing here. There is no point to legal immigration if we are 
going to allow every immigrant who wants to do so to illegally enter 
our country.
  The people I found who are the angriest about this crisis are the 
legal immigrants who came to this country obeying our laws, respecting 
our sovereignty, and doing everything our country asked of them, while 
this administration allows 6.5 million illegal immigrants to cut in 
line in front of them.
  The ranking member would gaslight us by claiming that there were more 
removals under Biden than under Trump. Here are the actual numbers. 
Under Trump, ICE removed 935,000 illegal aliens; under Biden, 274,000. 
The criminal numbers are even more disturbing. This past year, Mr. 
Biden removed 60 percent fewer criminal illegal aliens than Trump did 
in 2019.

  In other words, despite massive increases in illegal migration, we 
have seen a massive decrease in criminal removals. We are seeing the 
results every day in murders and assaults on American streets and at 
empty chairs at America's family dinner tables.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Van Drew).
  Mr. VAN DREW. Mr. Speaker, since day one in office, President Biden 
has chosen illegals over American citizens. We are now approaching 10 
million illegal entries from individuals from all over the world, many 
parts of the world where they are our enemies such as China, Russia, 
Iran, and others. We don't know who they are, we don't know what they 
are about, we don't know why they are here, but a lot of it is not 
good.
  Because of the President's efforts, we now live in one of the most 
dangerous points in American history. Make no doubt about it: His FBI 
Director says he has never seen so many elevated threats to our 
national security in his entire career. That was his Christopher Wray.
  Innocent Americans, like Laken Riley, have been senselessly murdered 
by illegal immigrants. Law enforcement officers, like Christopher Gadd, 
have been killed by illegal immigrants. I won't go through the list of 
one after another after another good, law-abiding, loving Americans who 
are dead. They are not with us. Their families grieve. Most Americans 
grieve.
  Students have been kicked out of their schools to house illegal 
immigrants and have to learn remotely. Cities and towns across America 
have cut public safety and education budgets as well to cover the 
welfare of illegal immigrants, because in many cities and towns we are 
paying for their housing, we are paying for their clothing, we are 
paying for their travel, and we are giving them debit cards. We are 
paying for so many things, including healthcare, that some good 
Americans don't even have as we speak here and debate this right now.
  It is the Biden border agenda. It is what he is about. When you allow 
millions of unvetted people into our country, you have a reason. When 
you don't know where they are going, what they are doing, what they are 
about, you have a reason. When you actually hinder law enforcement's 
ability to apprehend, detain, and deport, which is the answer, you have 
a reason. You are making America less safe.
  He can fix this crisis today. Today, as we speak, he can fix it. It 
took him 1 day to undo and rescind every effective Trump border policy 
that we had, and it could take him less than 1 day to reinstate them.
  America needs to have borders. America needs to be safe. Every day 
that goes by without doing so will only result in more lives lost. Mr. 
Speaker, that is what we are debating today. Do we want more 
individuals to die because of this policy?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. DesJarlais). The time of the gentleman 
has expired.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the 
gentleman from New Jersey.
  Mr. VAN DREW. Mr. Speaker, there are more drugs and human trafficking 
at the hands of cartels at our border and more threats to our national 
security. Every day this President allows this crisis to continue, it 
becomes apparent to me--and this is harsh, but I believe it is true--
the chaos is intentional. He is seeking to change the very fabric, the 
very structure, the America that we know to forever to hold on to his 
own political power. That must be condemned in the strongest possible 
terms.
  No, this isn't a waste of time. No matter how many times it takes, no 
how many times we have to say it, we will not succumb, we will not give 
up, and we will not stop, because we are fighting for the United States 
of America, and it is worth it.
  Mr. Speaker, I support this resolution, and I urge its passage.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  All the Members on the other side forget several things. They forget 
that we had the strongest border bill that might have gone a long way 
toward solving this problem that the Senate was willing to pass, but 
President Trump said don't pass. He said in so many words: I don't want 
a solution; I want a campaign issue.
  They forget that the President has asked for a lot more money so that 
instead of someone coming in and claiming asylum--maybe he deserves it; 
maybe he doesn't--and getting a date in court 5 years later and then 
disappearing, you would have enough judges to give him a date in a 
couple of weeks and either grant him asylum if he is entitled to it or 
deport him swiftly if he is not entitled to it.
  The Republicans won't vote the money and they won't vote the bill 
that would solve or go a long way toward solving the problem.
  They also forget that this resolution doesn't do anything. All it 
does is denounce Biden. That is all they have for this Congress, 
resolution after resolution denouncing Biden, and H.R. 2, which is so 
impossible that it got only 32 votes in the Senate, a Senate where 
there are 49 Republican Senators.
  They don't want to solve the problem. They just want to talk about 
it. That is all they are doing about it now. It is total nonsense and 
not worthy of the time of this body.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

[[Page H2789]]

  

  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I would remind the gentleman who says that the President has asked 
for more money, when I was at the border last year in Yuma, I spoke 
with a group of Border Patrol agents, line agents. That is the only 
time in my life that Federal employees said: Don't send us any more 
money.

                              {time}  1300

  They said that because they felt that the administration would simply 
use that money to process more illegals into the country even faster.
  This is a deliberate policy of this administration, and it won't 
change until this administration is changed.
  As for the Senate bill the gentleman has referenced multiple times, 
let me remind him that the bill would not have ended Biden's open-
border policies. It would have institutionalized them.
  Current law gives the President full authority to secure the border. 
Trump proved that. Current law requires asylum claimants to be 
detained. Trump did that.
  This bill would have left future Presidents powerless to secure the 
border until illegal immigration reaches 4,000 a day, 1.5 million a 
year, and would have required they be released into our country. That 
is the Democrats' idea of immigration reform: a guaranteed 4,000 
illegal immigrants being released into our country every day. That is 
what they call a tough border bill.
  H.R. 2, which was the genuine border security bill, got 46 votes in 
the Senate last year and Democrats' support in the House just a couple 
of weeks ago.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Molinaro).
  Mr. MOLINARO. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, my colleagues across the aisle are spending a great deal 
of time arguing against a piece of legislation they claim has no 
purpose, is meaningless, and only denounces the policies of the Biden 
administration.
  The policies of the Biden administration are due denouncing. There is 
little question that if this were a fire, then the executive would send 
the fire department. If it were a hurricane, the executive would send 
FEMA, but because this is a crisis of this President's making, he has 
chosen not to offer any response but to allow the crisis to continue.
  I remind my colleagues across the aisle that, yes, sure, the 
immigration system is broken. I wasn't here to break it. A couple of my 
colleagues have been here long enough to fix it several times over.
  The law as it relates to securing our border is clear: We are the 
legislature. We adopted the law. The President and the executive branch 
have the responsibility to execute the law.
  Instead, he has surrendered the southern border to drug cartels that 
are not only trafficking deadly drugs, synthetic opioids, and fentanyl 
but also trafficking human lives.
  My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are like some sort of 
delusional Wizard of Oz: Pay no attention to the crisis at the border. 
Pay no attention to the chaos in our cities. Pay no attention to the 
students taken out of schools so that cities like New York can shelter 
immigrants and migrants that they welcome. Don't pay attention to any 
of it. Look over there to Donald Trump. Don't look behind the curtain.
  That is because, Mr. Speaker, you will find that this President, with 
the stroke of a pen, could reestablish the executive orders and take 
the emergency action necessary to secure our border, protect our 
citizens, and save lives.
  Instead, this President has allowed a crisis, and it is worth 
denouncing over and over again because it has caused chaos, led to 
crime and the loss of lives, and fueled instability in our communities.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the 
gentleman from New York.
  Mr. MOLINARO. We know this as New Yorkers because, despite the 
protestation otherwise, the State of New York has opened its arms. 
Then, when thousands upon thousands of migrants find their way to the 
city of New York and are relocated to other parts like upstate New 
York, which I represent, the State starts to complain.
  Enough is enough. The President needs to wake up and take this crisis 
seriously. It is not progressive. It is cruel, and he must take action. 
Yes, his current policies are worth denouncing.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I remind the gentlemen and gentlewomen on 
the other side of the aisle that when you talk about various victims of 
migrant crime, the FBI statistics show that the percentage of crime 
committed by migrants is lower than the percentage of crime committed 
by native-born Americans. Migrants, legal and illegal, seem to be more 
law-abiding, on average, than native-born Americans. So, to use a 
specific example to say that this is the fault of the immigration 
policy is nonsense.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member of the 
Judiciary Committee for yielding.
  I would like to pose a rhetorical question to the gentleman: Where is 
the wall? Where is the wall that has been talked about now for a 
decade-plus?
  I ask because others have had the same message, and here they come. 
Where is the wall?
  Our friends on the other side of the aisle seem to fill their 
legislative agenda with platitudes, promises, broken promises, and ``I 
am going to get it done.'' The American people don't need ``I am going 
to get it done.''
  What the American people need is to ensure that we have added more 
Border Patrol officers, which we have done under the Biden 
administration's plans. We will be doing that for Customs and Border 
Patrol. We will be doing that under the Biden effort. In addition, we 
will be doing more training and more recruitment.
  We know that a wall, no matter how much you do, is always going to be 
overcome--not like the song, ``We Shall Overcome,'' when we do want to 
overcome in a better life and in a better world.
  This is just a lot of talk. Mr. Speaker, I came to say that here is 
another resolution. There is no action in this resolution. It is a lot 
of talk.
  As you remember, Mr. Speaker, how we got here was a bill that was so 
crushing that Republicans in the Senate could not vote for it, and that 
was H.R. 2. The resolution condemns many of the same policy choices on 
immigration, and they asked to be reversed in the last resolution. That 
is how bad it is. They want to reverse their own work.

  Republicans now claim that no legislation is needed. Isn't that 
ridiculous, Mr. Speaker? They now have a bill that says that the other 
bills were not needed, don't listen to us.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to vote against this senseless, do-
nothing resolution. Let's come together and support President Biden's 
leadership on immigration reform.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their remarks 
to the Chair.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, we just heard that immigrants are less 
likely to break the law than native-born Americans. Tell that to the 
angel families whose family tables have empty chairs because of the 
very policy that this bill condemns.
  Put aside the fact that illegal aliens shouldn't be in this country 
to commit crimes in the first place because when the Federation for 
American Immigration Reform looked at reimbursement requests from the 
States for the cost of locking up illegal aliens, they found that 
illegals are 231 percent more likely to be jailed for crimes in 
California, 440 percent more likely in New Jersey, and 60 percent more 
likely in Texas.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. 
Yakym).
  Mr. YAKYM. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution, which 
denounces the Biden administration's failed border policies, and I do 
so because of this chart next to me.
  I have sat here and listened to the debate of who is responsible and 
why. Let's look at the facts and the data. This chart shows 
southwestern border crossing encounters over the first 38

[[Page H2790]]

months of the last six Presidential terms. It doesn't say whose line it 
is, but if you guessed the Biden administration is the red one at the 
top with nearly six times the number of illegal border crossings, then 
you would be correct, Mr. Speaker.
  The seeds of this crisis were planted on day one when 64 executive 
orders were signed by President Biden that undermined border security 
and encouraged illegal immigration. What followed has been an 
unprecedented surge of illegal immigration.
  Instead of acknowledging this failure, we get denial. Biden 
administration officials wrote off the crisis as ``cyclical'' and 
``seasonal'' right about here, 11 months into his term.
  Biden administration officials continued to insist that the border 
crisis was just part of the normal ``ebbs and flows'' at 35 months into 
his Presidency.
  President Biden only finally admitted that the border is ``not 
secure'' all the way up there at the top, right at the 36-month mark.
  What changed, Mr. Speaker, from ``ebbs and flows'' to just 2 weeks 
later that the border is ``not secure''?
  Mr. Speaker, there were no laws that changed during that time, just 
the will to enforce them.
  The Biden administration created this crisis at the border with the 
stroke of a pen and these 64 executive orders, and, Mr. Speaker, he can 
end it with the stroke of a pen.
  Be that as it may, there is no leadership. Instead, Biden 
administration officials treat border policy like a hot potato because 
it is politically thankless, and it shows.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Mr. Gonzales, for introducing this 
resolution that methodically and thoroughly documents the Biden 
administration's border failures, and I urge my colleagues to vote 
``yes.''
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to 
close.
  Mr. Speaker, whatever complaints House Republicans may have with the 
Biden administration's immigration policies, this resolution will do 
absolutely nothing to address them.
  They have had plenty of opportunities to work with Democrats on 
bipartisan solutions to reform our broken immigration system, and they 
have walked away time and again. Most recently, they rejected a 
bipartisan border deal negotiated by one of the most conservative 
Republicans in the Senate because Donald Trump told them to. He and 
they would rather preserve the issue for the upcoming election than 
actually work to solve problems.
  So, here we are again, for the third time already this year, with a 
meaningless, nonbinding resolution that talks tough and accomplishes 
nothing. What better way to sum up this Republican Congress?
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to oppose this meaningless 
resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people need to understand that this policy 
is deliberate. If you voted for this administration, then this is 
exactly what you voted for. If you are surprised by that, then you 
weren't paying any attention because this is exactly what the Democrats 
promised to do. This is exactly what they have done, and this is 
exactly what they have defended for the last 3 years in this House.
  The laws didn't change 3 years ago; the Presidency changed. An 
administration that enforced the most secure borders in our lifetimes 
was replaced by one that deliberately opened them to the world.
  Last year, House Republicans passed legislation that will make it 
easier for future Presidents like Donald Trump to enforce our 
immigration laws and harder for Presidents like Joe Biden to undermine 
those laws, but that will require a new Senate and a new President.
  The cold, hard truth is that this growing crisis cannot be fixed by 
bills that Senate Democrats won't pass and that Biden won't sign or 
enforce if they are signed.
  This crisis can be fixed only by replacing this entire administration 
and their enablers and abettors in Congress with those who are devoted 
to securing our borders, restoring our sovereignty, defending our 
people, and enforcing the rule of law. That can only be done by the 
American people at the ballot box.
  Until then, at every opportunity, we will decry and condemn these 
policies that are bringing such suffering and such harm upon our great 
Nation. Let us pray there is still time.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
  Pursuant to House Resolution 1137, 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. McCLINTOCK. 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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