[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 11, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H1136-H1139]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





      PUTTING AMERICA FIRST BORDER SECURITY POLICIES BACK IN PLACE

  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Biggs 
of Arizona was recognized for 30 minutes.)


                             General Leave

  Mr. BIGGS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on the topic of this Special 
Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Moore of West Virginia). Is there 
objection to the request of the gentleman from Arizona?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BIGGS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to be here 
tonight with my colleagues who are also members of the Border Security 
Caucus.
  For 4 years, we have stood here and exposed the open-border policies 
of the Biden-Harris administration. For 4 years, we have seen what 
happens when the America First border security policies that President 
Trump had put in place were thrown out.
  In just over 1 month, we have seen what happens when those policies 
are put back in place. Since President Trump took office, ICE agents 
have arrested more than 20,000 illegal aliens. That is just in 1 month. 
By comparison, Joe Biden only had 33,000 at-large arrests for the 
entire year of 2024.
  When Joe Biden was in charge, over 300,000 illegal aliens crossed the 
border in just 1 month. In President Trump's first month, illegal 
crossings did not even reach 10,000. The actual number was 8,400.
  Whereas Biden let all those people into the country without proper 
vetting, some of which were known criminals and terrorists that we are 
now trying to find, under President Trump, people who illegally crossed 
the border are stopped and immediately detained or removed.
  Due to President Biden's catch and release policies, every State had 
the pathologies of a border State. Immediately after taking office, 
President Trump charged ICE officers with cleaning up streets across 
the country by detaining the illegal aliens that Joe Biden had released 
into the country.
  While they were attempting to prosecute President Trump for bogus 
charges in multiple jurisdictions, the Biden regime was releasing 
actual criminals into every city in America.
  Tonight, we are going to be exposing the Biden-Harris 
administration's open-border policies and President Trump's work to 
remove them. We will highlight the tireless work of ICE agents tasked 
with arresting some of the worst individuals who have invaded our 
country.
  Despite being demonized by the mainstream media and organized 
campaigns to interfere with and prevent arrests, including by exposing 
personal information of agents, in just 1 month, those agents have 
taken thousands of violent and malevolent offenders off of our streets. 
In just 1 month, President Trump has put an end to the endless invasion 
of our communities by illegal aliens.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin), my co-
chairman of the Border Security Caucus.
  Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Biggs), my good friend and co-chair. I really appreciate him having 
tonight's very important Special Order.
  The truth is simple. The Biden administration threw open the 
floodgates, allowing murderers, rapists, and chaos to pour into our 
communities, all in pursuit of political power. They knew exactly what 
they were doing.
  Securing the border was never an impossibility, as they let the 
Nation and us believe. It was always a choice.
  For the last 4 years, the wrong choice was deliberately made. We were 
told that enforcement wouldn't work, that the crisis was simply too big 
to fix, but those were lies meant to cover up the fact that an open 
border was exactly what they wanted to do.
  They dismantled every tool that worked, inviting criminals to walk 
right in. We saw the consequences play out in the most destructive ways 
imaginable. Mr. Speaker, 15 million illegals entered under the Biden 
administration's watch.
  Tonight, you will hear about the evils that were unleashed on our 
neighborhoods by the Biden administration, resulting in death and 
destruction of innocent American lives.
  How many more lives must be lost? How many more families must grieve 
before they admit their open-border agenda is destroying this country? 
There are 100,000 Americans dying per year from deadly Mexican cartel 
and Chinese drugs that have come in over our open border.
  There have been hundreds of thousands of lost children from the child 
sex trade and human trafficking. There have been murders, rapes, and 
pillaging from illegal alien gangs and swamped public schools, 
hospitals, and public services.
  Here is the good news, though. The days of lawlessness are over 
because, on day one of the Donald Trump administration, we finally have 
a strong leader in the White House. Just like that, the border was shut 
down. All it took was that leadership and the will to enforce the law. 
The message was sent loud and clear: America is not open for 
lawbreakers anymore.
  Illegal crossings have plummeted. Deportations are back in full 
force. As co-chair of the Border Security Caucus, I am committed to 
keeping these dangerous criminals off of our streets.
  Working hand in hand with President Trump, Vice President Vance, and 
leaders like Tom Homan, we are making sure that child traffickers, drug 
smugglers, and gang members are rounded up and sent packing back to 
where they belong. We are kicking them out by the thousands, just like 
we should have been doing all along these last 4 years.
  This is how you put America first: You don't make excuses; you act. 
You don't let criminals run free; you lock them up or send them home. 
You don't leave the border wide open; you shut it down and take 
control.

  The American people deserve safety, not suffering. They deserve law 
and order, not chaos. They deserve leadership that protects them, not 
one that absolutely betrays them.
  That is what Donald Trump and Tom Homan are delivering to us right 
now, and they are just getting started.
  Mr. BIGGS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman who has seen 
in his own district time and time again the abuse caused by these out-
of-control illegal aliens.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Tiffany), 
my friend who is also on the Border Security Caucus.
  Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I thank the gentlemen who 
have led the Border Security Caucus, Mr. Babin and Mr. Biggs. I thank 
them for their leadership on this issue. It is as a result of their 
efforts that they continue to deliver this message to the American 
people of what a disaster this was going on at our southern border that 
caused this to be the number one issue in the past election before the 
American people.
  In particular, I thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs). The 
first trip I did after being sworn in, in May 2020, was to go down to 
the southern border on a trip that he led with many of us, as he did so 
many times with so many Members. I don't know if there are hardly any 
Members on the Republican side that he didn't lead to the southern 
border to deliver the message.
  It is there that I got to meet people like Sheriff Mark Lamb from 
Pinal County in Arizona and Sheriff Mark Dannels down in Cochise 
County, who back in 2020 talked about how the border was becoming 
secure, that at the end of the Trump administration's first term, the 
border was becoming more secure. We visited them a year later, and they 
told us that it was all deteriorating simply because there was a change 
in the Presidency. I thank them for their leadership in regard to this. 
They have done a service to the American people. Hopefully, we can fix 
this for the future.
  We just had a hearing this morning with a sheriff from one of the 
counties in Texas, a border county there, as well as one of the leaders 
of the Border Patrol union. They told us that it is night and day since 
January 20. Thank God we have new leadership in the White House because 
the border is once again secured.
  I would just say, remember when the media and Democrats told us that 
President Biden needed a bill to fix the border? That was a lie. As 
President

[[Page H1137]]

Trump said last week in his joint address, all we really needed was a 
new President.
  If there is one thing that has been proven over the last month, it is 
that the Democrats' border invasion was intentional.

                              {time}  1930

  Mr. Speaker, President Trump announced illegal border crossings in 
February were the lowest in decades: February 2024, under Biden, nearly 
190,000; 2025, under Trump, a little over 8,000.
  That is a 96 percent decrease without a single new law from Congress. 
The difference is real leadership. It is truly a shame that Democrats 
willingly let the killers of Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungaray and Rachel 
Morin into this country. It is also a shame that they did not deport 
criminals like the one in my congressional district who killed Steven 
Nasholm, a father of three daughters.
  Thankfully, President Trump didn't wait for excuses. He took action 
by putting remain in Mexico back in place. He declared an emergency at 
our southern border, sent troops to help the border patrol, put a stop 
to illegal crossings, and signed the Laken Riley Act into law to deport 
dangerous criminals.
  Gone are the days of catch and release, which have a completely 
different meaning where I come from in the lakes in northern Wisconsin. 
President Biden had turned it into an illegal alien term where illegals 
who were caught at our southern border were released into the U.S.
  To be clear, the last administration chose to let America be invaded. 
President Trump chose to stop it.
  American strength is back and stronger than ever, but we cannot stop 
here. Congress must act now to ensure these gains are not undone by the 
next weak President in the White House. We must codify things like 
stopping birthright citizenship, ending catch and release, ensuring 
that ICE has the tools needed to carry out mass deportations, and 
preventing parole abuse permanently.
  President Trump is doing his job. Now it is time for Congress to do 
ours. There are no more excuses. It is time to stand up for America.
  Mr. BIGGS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, and I 
appreciate his willingness. We have been to the border together. As has 
everyone else speaking tonight, I think we have all been except for Mr. 
Gill who I have got to get down there. It is always fun.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my good friend from Georgia (Mr. Clyde).
  Mr. CLYDE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Biggs for holding 
tonight's Special Order and leading on this critical border issue.
  Since day one, President Trump has taken incredible steps to secure 
our border and protect the American people. These measures include 
ending catch and release, reinstating remain in Mexico, restarting 
construction of the border wall, and cracking down on sanctuary cities.
  Recently, the Trump administration ended the taxpayer subsidization 
of open borders, meaning Americans' hard-earned tax dollars will no 
longer be used to support or incentivize illegal immigration. 
Additionally, the Trump administration has made great progress in 
carrying out its mass deportation operation.
  What used to be called the CBP One app to allow illegals to more 
easily come into the country is now the CBP Home app. Why is it called 
the CBP Home app? It is good for a one-way ticket home for illegal 
aliens so they can self-deport. President Trump is emptying our country 
of illegal aliens. Promises made; promises kept.
  Border Czar Tom Homan and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem are tirelessly 
working to detain and deport illegal aliens. ICE agents, along with key 
assistance from local, State, and Federal law enforcement partners, 
have already arrested and issued detainers for thousands of criminal 
illegal aliens including murderers, drug traffickers, suspected 
terrorists, and MS-13 gang members.
  For example, ICE recently arrested an illegal alien in Atlanta, in my 
home State of Georgia, whose criminal history includes a conviction of 
four counts of indecent liberty with a child. This heinous criminal 
illegal has no place in the Peach State or anywhere else in our great 
country for that matter. I am deeply appreciative of the Trump 
administration for taking criminal illegals off of our streets.
  My northeast Georgia district has seen the devastating impact of 
criminal illegal alien crime up close and personal. Last year, Maria 
Gomez Perez, a 12-year-old girl, was abducted in Gainesville, Georgia, 
by an illegal alien. Thankfully, she was rescued and found in Ohio.
  Days before the 2024 election, Mimi Rodriguez-Ramirez, a 25-year-old 
mother, was murdered by an illegal alien from Mexico. That happened in 
Habersham County.
  Just outside my district, Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing 
student, was brutally murdered by an illegal alien in Athens, Georgia.
  Mr. Speaker, President Trump is working to prevent these tragedies 
from devastating additional families and communities across our 
country. I applaud his work to make America secure, safe, and great 
once again.
  Mr. BIGGS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the gentleman 
from Georgia.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend from Indiana (Mr. Baird).
  Mr. Speaker, I will always remember him going off with Art Del Cueto 
and leaving the rest of us in a car, stuck in the dirt and with a bad 
tire, as we were down on the border. It is good to see that he made it.
  Mr. BAIRD. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Arizona for this 
Special Order.
  Mr. Speaker, under the Biden administration, our borders were wide 
open with record numbers of illegal immigrants and deadly drugs 
flooding across our border.
  Under President Biden, every single State became a border State 
including Indiana. These include dangerous criminals with ties to gangs 
such as the Tren de Aragua and MS-13, who have committed horrific 
crimes and vicious attacks against innocent Americans.
  Last year, an illegal immigrant with ties to MS-13 stabbed a teenage 
girl in the hand at a baseball game in Lowell, Indiana. After an 
extensive search, the culprit was found and arrested. I thank law 
enforcement officers for their hard work to find and arrest this 
criminal.
  Under President Trump, we have swiftly returned to commonsense border 
policies, and illegal border crossings have plunged to a record low. In 
January 2025, there were 61,465 illegal border crossings, down from 
176,000 in January '24. Just last month, illegal crossings at our 
southern border plummeted to the lowest level on record.

  President Trump has sent a message loud and clear that the border is 
closed, and his strong border security policies are working. House 
Republicans are working with the President to implement his agenda to 
secure our border and keep Americans safe.
  Mr. BIGGS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, who is also 
a member of the Border Security Caucus, for being with us tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gill). Texas is 
another border State, and Mr. Gill is a newcomer who is setting the 
world on fire.
  Mr. GILL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for hosting 
this Special Order.
  Over the past 4 years, Joe Biden and the Democrats have inundated 
American communities with massive numbers of violent, illegal aliens 
who are murdering, raping, torturing, and pillaging our people on our 
soil.
  They did it the entire time, not by accident but as a deliberate 
policy decision, to open up our borders and flood our country with 
people that they believed would be future Democrat voters for life.
  We have to remember it was also a part of a policy that was done with 
the approbation of a cheap labor lobby who wanted to import millions of 
people who would act as a virtual, new serf class of laborers to reduce 
American working-class wages in this country.
  The consequences of this were absolutely catastrophic for the 
American people. Almost 15 million illegal aliens, perhaps more, 
depending on what estimates we use, have come into this country.
  Thankfully, this nightmare is finally over because we have a 
President who

[[Page H1138]]

actually cares about the American people. We have a President who 
doesn't make excuses. We have a President who doesn't tell us lies, 
like the executive needs to rely on new laws to enforce our border. We 
have a President who actually just gets the job done.
  His border enforcement efforts have caused known got-aways to fall by 
93 percent with an average of just 132 a day right now. Even as this 
nightmare in this country is finally coming to a close, we have 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle right now who are 
facilitating this invasion as best they can and going back to their 
districts and helping protect illegal aliens who have no business being 
here in the first place. They are teaching them how to evade ICE 
detection.
  Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely disgusting. We have got to codify 
President Trump's border policies into law so that we don't let the 
other side of the aisle unleash the same kind of hell on our country 
that they did over the past 4 years. We have got to codify every single 
executive order including his remain in Mexico policy. I have got a 
bill, the REMAIN in Mexico Act, which would do precisely that. We have 
got over 100 cosponsors.
  Mr. Speaker, I think we need to bring this bill to the floor. This is 
what the American people want. This is what the President wants. I 
think we need to act fast.
  Mr. BIGGS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his 
passion. He is right. We do need to codify President Trump's policies 
because we cannot go back to the period of time like we just 
experienced under the Biden regime.
  Mr. Speaker, the Trump policies are a product of understanding what 
needs to happen. The mere fact that Donald Trump was elected almost 
immediately terminated the onslaught of people crossing our border.
  Let me give an example. When I was meeting with the new border patrol 
chief, Chief Banks, I asked him what is going on. He said: Andy, three 
caravans turned back yesterday.
  Mr. Speaker, that is what happens when you enforce the law. People 
were going to break the law. They stopped breaking the law. When I was 
down at the border just a few weeks back, I wanted to compare. I went 
to a place where I knew we had a regular flow of illegal aliens 
crossing the border. It was eerily quiet when I was there. The only 
thing that we saw and noticed on the southern side of the border were 
the watchers and the scouts. All of a sudden, they saw us. They came 
out. They were watching and observing us.
  Let's talk about some of the people that have come in under the Biden 
administration's terrible and dangerous anti-American policy. First is 
Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul; some call him Turko. In the sanctuary city 
of Los Angeles, Federal agents arrested Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul, 
also known as Turko, who is charged with running one of the largest 
human smuggling organizations in the country. It spanned 5 years, and 
he smuggled in around 20,000 illegal aliens, largely between Los 
Angeles and Phoenix. Just so you know, the last number was about 
$10,000 per person that he was smuggling.
  A codefendant of his was also charged with threatening to behead a 
Homeland Security Investigations agent and his family while authorities 
were conducting a search of his home.
  Charges against him and his codefendant include hostage taking, 
transporting aliens into the U.S., and transporting aliens for private 
financial gain, resulting in death.
  Illegal aliens were charged in some instances more than $15,000 for 
transportation. If they couldn't make the payment, they were held as 
hostages in stash houses in Los Angeles and Phoenix.

                              {time}  1945

  Let's take a look at someone else. Let's see if we can find Wilmer 
Yovani Fuentes-Benitez. On February 2, ICE officers in Philadelphia 
arrested Honduran national Wilmer Yovani Fuentes-Benitez who was 
previously deported three times. This time he was also arrested for 
resisting arrest and battery of a police officer.
  These are the people that my friends across the aisle say should be 
allowed to remain here in these sanctuary cities.
  ICE agents in Omaha arrested a member of Tren de Aragua who had spent 
7 years in a Venezuelan prison for robbery, resisting arrest, and 
unlawfully discharging a firearm.
  ICE agents arrested Fernando Hernandez-Martinez for two counts of 
child molestation.
  We have another poster. This is Jose Roberto Rodriguez-Urbina. On 
January 22, ICE agents arrested El Salvadoran national Jose Roberto 
Rodriguez-Urbina who was wanted in his home country on extortion 
charges. This is what happens when an administration does not properly 
vet people they let into the country.
  Criminal fugitives see the U.S. as a safe haven from justice, and 
they abuse the parole statute. They literally granted parole to 
millions of people when the very purpose of parole never saw more than 
25 or so people admitted into the country under parole but not under 
the Biden administration.
  In Saint Paul, Minnesota, another individual was arrested by ICE 
agents, Victor Covarrubias-Ozuna, for sexually assaulting a child.
  Here is another one. In San Francisco, California, ICE agents 
arrested Erwin Davila-Galvan for lewd acts with a minor.
  We have another poster. On January 27, ICE agents in San Diego 
arrested an Afghani who had an existing removal order and was a known 
or suspected terrorist. Despite having a removal order, the Biden-
Harris administration and Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas could not be 
bothered to deport this suspected terrorist. He was roaming our streets 
and had to be captured by ICE agents.
  We have another individual. On February 5, ICE officers in Harris 
County, Texas, arrested Mexican national David Gonzalez-Martinez for 
aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury. Gonzalez has 
illegally entered the country at least four times and was removed from 
the U.S. in 2001, 2008, and 2015. He was previously convicted of 
voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault with a weapon, drug 
possession, and illegal reentry.
  On January 27, ICE agents in Brockton, Massachusetts, arrested 
Guatemalan national Edilio Agustin-Orellana. Agustin is charged with 
five counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, three counts of 
kidnapping, and armed home invasion. He has a record with ICE going 
back as far as 2002 when he was first arrested for illegally entering 
the United States.
  These are the types of individuals that are currently being arrested 
by ICE under the leadership of Tom Homan. These are the types of 
individuals that are being protected by sanctuary cities.
  When we recently had a hearing, we had the mayors of four of these 
sanctuary cities come in. All of them said: We cooperate with ICE. We 
don't keep people from being deported or we don't stop handing them 
over. But they do; they release them in the parking lot.
  Let me read you the statutes that they are violating. Here is one. 8 
U.S.C. 1373(a) states: ``Notwithstanding any other provision of 
Federal, state, or local law, a Federal, State, or local government 
entity or official may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any 
government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the 
Immigration and Naturalization Service information regarding the 
citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any 
individual.'' You cannot do it. There is not even a culpable mental 
state required. You simply can't restrict it.
  The sanctuary cities are preventing ICE and the immigration officials 
from getting this information. There is this one. This is 8 U.S.C. 
1324(c). It states: ``In conducting investigations and hearings . . . 
immigration officers and administrative law judges shall have 
reasonable access to examine evidence of any person or entity being 
investigated . . .''
  When the sanctuary city mayors say you can't cooperate with ICE, they 
are violating this statute. They have criminal culpability. Also you 
will see again there is no culpable mental state. There is no 
requirement that they intentionally or willfully knowingly do it. It is 
a per se statute. They are violating this. They have criminal 
culpability.
  The sanctuary cities also have culpability on this. ``Any person who 
knowing''--now you have a culpable mental

[[Page H1139]]

state--that a ``Any person who knowing or in reckless disregard of the 
fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United 
States in violation of law, conceals, harbors, or shields from 
detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection 
such alien in any place. . . . shall for each alien in respect to whom 
such a violation occurs, be fined, imprisoned not more than 10 years, 
or both.''
  You have to understand something. What you have here is you have 
mayors telling their police chiefs and their officers don't hand these 
people over. Don't hand them over. There is no distinction between 
civil or criminal. When they do that they know that they are 
concealing. That is a criminal sentence up to 10 years. They are 
violating the law. They need to be prosecuted.
  I am calling on Pam Bondi, the new Attorney General, and I am also 
calling on Mr. Homan to make that happen.
  Mr. Speaker, I tip my hat to President Trump. What he has done just 
by enforcing the law has actually secured most of our border.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________