[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11465]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             NO BORDER WALL

  (Mr. O'ROURKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to stand against a proposal 
that we will vote on later this week to spend more than $1.6 billion to 
build a wall that we don't need at our border with Mexico.
  We have never had lower apprehensions coming from Mexico in my 
lifetime. We had 105 apprehensions per Border Patrol agent 10 years 
ago; last year, it was 25.
  The border has never been safer. We have never spent more money--
$19.5 billion a year--and instead of putting this $1.6 billion toward 
jobs or healthcare or reducing student loan debt, we are trying to 
solve a problem that we don't have in this country.
  We need to instead look to the example of El Paso, Texas, one of the 
safest cities in the United States. It is the safest not in spite of 
its connection with Mexico, not in spite of the fact that so many 
people whom I represent in that community were born in another 
country--most of them Mexico--but because of those things.
  When we treat each other with respect, dignity, and compassion, we 
also create security, safety, and success. Mr. Speaker, that is the 
example that we should be following, not a $1.6 billion investment in a 
wall that we don't need.

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