Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2018

August 20, 2018

The President. Thank you. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. [Applause] Wow. Wow. Thank you very much. That's really for ICE, I have to tell you. That's not for me. That's for ICE. Please, sit down.

I want to thank a true and loyal friend of ICE and CBC, our wonderful Vice President, Mike Pence. Thank you, Mike. Beautiful. Thank you, Mike. Stand up, Mike. Stand up. Great, Mike.

Great job.

I want to share my profound appreciation for our wonderful Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen. Where is Kirstjen? Kirstjen, thank you. Thank you. Great job. You're doing a great job. Not easy. And if we've got some great immigration laws, she would really set standard. But we've already broken every record in the book, haven't we? [*Laughter*] So thank you very much, Kirstjen.

Everyone here today understands a vital truth: that America is a land of opportunity because we are a nation of laws. For America to be a strong nation, we must have strong borders.

Helping to lead that effort are great patriots in the audience today, including our new Acting Director of ICE, Ron Vitiello. Where is Ron? Ronâthank you, Ron. Stand up, Ron. Great job. Good. Thank you, Ron. And the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Kevin McAleenan. Where's Kevin? Thank you. The new Chief of the U.S. Border Patrolâthe first woman ever to hold the jobâCarla Provost. Carla, thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations, Carla. And our new Acting Deputy Director of ICE, Matt Albence. Where is Matt? Matt. Thank you, Matt. Thank you.

We're also grateful to be joined today by a really wonderful friend of mine and a tremendous Senator, and that's David Perdue. David? Come on, David. You've done a great job, David. We really appreciate it. The people of Georgia really appreciate it, that I can tell you. Thank you very much.

Many State and local partners are represented in the audience, including Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. Doug? Thank you, Doug, for being here. Thank you, Doug. Great job you're doing. A wonderful man, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall. Steve, thank you very much.

Thank you. A friend of mine, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, and sheriffs from all around the country. Thank you, Alan. Thank you. Sheriffs, thank you. Say hello to your father.

Most importantly, let me extend my gratitude to every law enforcement professional representing ICE and CBC: Enforcement and Removal Operations, Homeland Security Investigations, ICE prosecutors, the Office of Field Operations, Air and Marine Operations, and Border Patrol. You're incredible people. You do an unbelievable job. You're not appreciated

enough, but I'll tell you what: Ninety-nine percent, we get it. We really get it. We love you. We'll always be with you. We'll never let you down. Thank you very much for being here too.

Over the last yearâthese are incredible numbersâICE and CBC seized more than 2.8 million pounds of illicit and deadly narcotics. A lot of people would have died. In the interior of our country, ICE officers arrested over 127,000 criminal aliensâand these are tough ones too, aren't they, fellas? Right? These are toughâthese were tough onesâincluding those charged or convicted of 48,000 assaults, 12,000 sex crimes, and 1,800 homicides. We need strong people to handle those people. We don't play games, right? We don't play games.

Every day, on average, CBC prevents 10 known or suspected terrorists from entering the United States. What a job you've done.

To protect our Nation from smuggling, trafficking, drugs, crime, the men and women of DHS are building the border wall as we sit, and the wall is getting longer and taller and stronger each and every day. We've spent and will soon be spending about $3.2 billion and we're looking for about $5 billion for this next coming year. We're building the wall, step by step. And it's not easy, because we have a little opposition called the Democrats. I guess they just don't mind crime. They don't mind crime. It's pretty sad.

Just this past month, CBC officers at a single port of entry discovered more than 30,000 fentanyl pills, 62 pounds of methâthat's a lotâand 11 pounds of heroin. Two of those officers are here: Alfredo Olfahto and David Skiahno. Where are they? Where are they? They're right here. Stand up, please. And Alfredo, David: Thank you for the amazing job you've done. We all appreciate itâeverybody in this room, everybody in this country.

Just over a week ago, a human smuggler was arrested in Laredo for lockingâand really lockingâa horrible 78 illegal aliens inside of a trailer. The Border Patrol agent who caught the accusedâand likely really saved many livesâhe's here with us. And Adrianâwhere's Adrian? Adrian is here with us. Thank you, Adrian. Great job. Thank you. It's a lot of lives. That's great.

Adrian, come here. I want to ask you a question. So, how did youâcome here. Come here. You're not nervous, right? [*Laughter*] Speaks perfect English. Come here. I want to ask you about that: 78 lives. You saved 78 people. So how did you feel that there were people in that trailer?

There's a lot of trailers around. Please.

U.S. Customs and Border PatrolâLaredo Sector Agent Adrian Anzaldua. First of allââ [At this point, Agent Anzaldua shook the President's hand]

The President. [Laughter] He didn't know he was going to do this, butâ[laughter]âit's just of interest.

Agent Anzaldua. First of all, mostâthank you for allowing me to come from Laredo. On behalf of Border Patrol, thank you as well.

It all started that day. I had a canine alert. A vehicle was referred to secondary and once a vehicle is referred to secondaryâwell, the tractor trailerâI'm sorryâwas referred to secondary, the vehicle proceeded to elude and flee the checkpoint.

Shortly after, the vehicle was stopped at theâapproximately 30-markâ30-mile markerâ which is a mile north of the checkpoint. Subsequently, I went out there, and I ran the dog, conducted a nonintrusive search of the vehicleâof the tractor trailer. And once again, the canine alerted. And subsequently, I opened the little latch of the back of the tractor trailer and revealed a lot of subjects.

I quickly asked for backup, and backup got there, and the subjects were transported back to transportâback to the checkpoint, and all of them were in good health.

The President. Fantastic job. Fantastic job.

Agent Anzaldua. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

The President. What a good job he did. What a good job. Now, you know, tomorrow he's going to beâhe's like that so much. He didn't know he was going to do it. [Laughter] Tomorrow he will be announcing that he's running for office. [Laughter] Good job. Seventy-eight people saved. Thank you very much, Adrian.

Last month, under Operation Eagle's Shield, right here in the DC area, ICE officers arrested 132 illegal aliens, including criminal aliens charged or convicted of rape, battery, and strangulation. Among those arrested was a high-ranking MSâ13 gang member, who has four prior convictions for rape and Federal warrant for felony assault with a deadly weapon. Bad, bad person.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officer Nandy Ratoe. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. It's an honor working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We're here to serve and protect our Nation, and we're proud to do it every day. Thank you so much.

The President. Thank you very much. Fantastic. Fantastic. Thank you.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officer Mark Collazo. Thank you, sir

The President. You want to say? Go ahead.

Ofc. Collazo. Hello, everyone. My name is Mark Collazo. I work for the Washington field office. And the gist of what we do is, making everyone a safeâa safe and protected place for everybody. That's what my job is. And I appreciate everyone coming out here and commemorating and giving thanks. Thank you.

The President. These are great people, brave people. ICE's Operation Matador recently led to the arrest of 325 members of MSâ13âa vicious, violent, horrible gang, horrible group of people. And we're throwing them the hell out of our country so fast, your head would spin. But too many were allowed in. Special Agent Derek Bergman, who helped lead the operation, is here with us today. And Derek, where are you? I want you toâyou're a brave-looking guy. Come here, Derek. Fast. Hurry up, Derek. Come on. Please.

Department of Homeland Security Special Agent Derek Bergman. Well, I wasn't expecting this, butâ[laughter]âI guess I would say thatâyou know, at Operation Matador, we had a lot of violence on Long Island and in the New York area. So the response started, really, with the leadership that supported us and was able to allow us to go out there and do what we had to do.

And it really speaks to the collaborative effort that we have with our State and local partners and other Federal agencies, that everybody was able to get together and assist each other in different facets of the operation. And hopefully, we were able to make a difference in the communities, because that's ultimately why we were doing it, was to make those neighborhoods safe for the people that inhabit them. So hopefully, we were able to do that.

The President. That's a beautiful job. Thank you. Beautiful.

And I know Long Island very well, and I can tell you that, when I hear some of the storiesâ I grew up there, essentially. Very near. And I know every one of the towns. And to hear some of the stories going on with MSâ13, you wouldn't believe it. And they're doing an incredible job.

They're actually liberating towns. Think of it. We're talking about liberating towns where you'd walk down the street at nightâ20 years ago, 30 years agoâyou wouldn't even think about it. People didn't lock their doors.

And today, we're liberating towns. And this is what we have coming in, but we're getting them out. We're alsoâthank you. It hits home when you know the towns. It hits home when you grew up there. That's where it really hits, when you can't even believe it's happening.

We're also deeply honored to be joined today by family members of four fallen Border Patrol agentsâLuis Aguilar, Nicolas Ivie, Rogelio Martinez, and Brian Terry. And I just met the folks and the people and the children, and these are incredible people. Could I ask you to stand, please? What incredible people. Incredible.

Our gratitude to all of you and the memories of your loved ones, because they will be honored and cherished forever in our hearts and all of our hearts. Everybody in this room, thank you very much.

Today I sent a letter to State and local leaders across our Nation asking them to pledge their full support and cooperation with the officers and agents of ICE and CBP.

Sadly, in recent monthsâincredibly, I have to say; incrediblyâa coalition of open borders extremistsâand, to me, that means crime; people that don't mind crime. They mind it when it happens to them. They don't mind it when they have to watch it on television. Have waged an unprecedented assault on American law enforcementâour greatest peopleâthreatening ICE and Border Patrol for performing their duties admirably and for defending our country from horrible people and horrible, horrible events and crimes.

In major cities across the Nation, these open border radicals have blocked access to ICE buildings, defaced public property, and threatened public safety. And what you hear in the newspapers and on the news is nothing compared to the way it really is, and we're stopping it very, very strongly. But that you have to go through what you're going through, and for you have to beâhaving to be demeaned by people that have no idea what strength is, is really very sad, and we fight it very hard. And I can tell you, all of these people right here and all of the people in this room, we will never let you down.

And I will also sayâyou're talking about the vast majorityâI don't mean like 51 percent; I mean like 88 percent, 93 percent. I've seen numbers. They're all with you. It's just a small group that gets a lot of publicity, because they have no courage, they have no guts; they just have big, loud mouths. And we don't want to put up with that. And I just want you to know that you're loved. You're loved and you're respected as much as anybody in this country is respected.

Last month, the mayor of Portland, Oregon, shamefully ordered local police to stand down, leaving Federal law enforcement officers to face an angry mob of violent people. Leading members of the Democrat Party have even launched a campaign to abolish ICE. In other words, they want to abolish America's borders. And when you think about itâI'm working on it all the time. They come inâwe're protecting borders of other countries, but we don't protect our own borders. How about that? Spending billions and billions of dollars in other countriesâin some cases, places we shouldn't beâto protect their borders, but we don't protect our own border.

We condemn these shameful attacks on our great law enforcement. Any politician who puts criminal aliens before American citizens should find a new line of work, because it's not going to

work. It's not going to work. And any politicians that get up and say that our country was never great, you heard thatâI think that's the end of that career. [*Laughter*]

Congressional Democrats have opposed Kate's Law, opposed legislation to crack down on MSâ13 thugs, and supported deadly sanctuary cities, which are a disaster and which are becoming, on a weekly basis, more and more unpopular with the public. A lot has happened in the last 2 years.

Last month, House Democrats even boycotted a resolution supporting our brave ICE officers and agents. But I will say this: The Republicans were with you all the way. All the way. And we won. We actuallyâwe won.

This new wave of antiborders, antiâlaw enforcement extremism, and shameful, dangerousâ it's horrible in every way. And it's going to stop. It's going to stop right now. It's going to stop today. We slowed it down, and now we're stopping it.

We will never surrender our Nation to the forces of anarchy and chaos and crime. We will not allow our communities to be consumed by deadly poisons and violent predators. The poisons are flowing across our border, and we're hitting it from every angle. But we need new laws. We need border laws. We need immigration laws. We need them fast. We're going to get them.

Hopefully, the midterms will help toward that end.

I think we're going to do very well in the midterms, and this is one of the very big reason. The fact is, people respect law and order, and they love our law enforcement. And I think we're going to have much more of a red wave than you're going to see as a phony blue wave. Blue wave means crime. It means open borders. Not good.

We will not stand for the vile smears, the hateful attacks, and the vicious assaults on the courageous men and women of ICE, and Border Patrol, and law enforcement. We will protect those who protect us. The extremists who attack ICE and CBP like to portray themselves as champions of social justiceâthey are not. But their radical policies are the ultimate injustice, hurting innocent Americans and spilling innocent blood. People are dying because of their either lack of knowledge, lack of understanding, or just plain stupidity.

Last year alone, sanctuary jurisdictions and local communities unleashed nearly 8,000 criminal aliens onto our streets. Our laws are no good. Our immigrations laws are broken. They've been broken for many years. And the world is laughing at us. The world is laughing at the stupidity of what we have done with immigration. But we're getting it changed, and it's actually taking place much more so and much quicker, I think, than anybody understands, because people really now understand the problem. We're pushing very, very hard.

In California, sanctuary policies released a domestic abuser. He is a suspected killer. They think he killed his girlfriend just 2 weeks after his release. It will be determined very shortly, and I have a feeling you all know the answer.

In the sanctuary city of Philadelphia, local officials refused to cooperate with ICEâwe have a lot of ICE people here that know exactly what happened thereâand they released a previously deported illegal alien back onto the streets. After his release, the illegal alien raped and battered a child.

In recent weeks, an elderly homeless woman in New York City was allegedly beaten to death by a twice-deported illegal alien. Two women in Oregon were sexually assaulted by an illegal alien previously deported 20 times. You hear that? Twenty times. The list goes on and on.

The true champions of justice are right here in this room, and they're proudly wearing the badge of American law enforcement. My pledge to each of you is that my administration will not

rest until you have the resources, the tools, and the authorities you need to do your job and do it properly and do it strong. You're saving lives. You've saving a lot of Americans.

We will stop sanctuary cities. We will end the ridiculous policy of catch-and-release. Think about that. Just think about it. You catch somebody bad, you take their name, and you release them. And except for politics, the Democrats all know it's wrong. But politics is absolutely paramount over law enforcement, safety, crime. We have to get people in that are going to do what's proper. I'll do what's proper. I'd vote the other way if I thought it was the proper thing to do. I don't have party lines.

We will pass, at some pointâhopefully, in the not-too-distant futureâKate's Law. It's a great law. And it's sitting, waiting for a vote. We will destroy MSâ13, and we will secure our border once and for all.

You are the patriots, and you are the heroes, you are the fighters, and you are the warriors for justice. You are great people. You keep us safe, you keep us free, and you make us very, very proud. Very, very proud. You don't know what I'm talking about, right? You know that. Your father. You know that. And we're proud of them.

And I'm honored every single day to serve as your Commander in Chief. I will never leave your side. I will never leave the fight. I will never, ever let you down. So on behalf of a grateful nation, let me say once more: Thank you for your service. You are truly incredible people.

God bless you, God bless law enforcement, and God bless America. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 3:22 p.m. in the East Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Rep. Addison G. "Joe" Wilson; and Mayor Edward T. Wheeler of Portland, OR.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection officers, remarks honoring.

Locations: Washington, DC.

Names: Albence, Matthew T.; Anzaldua, Adrian; Bergman, David; Collazo, Mark; Ducey, Douglas A.; Marshall, Steven T.; McAleenan, Kevin K.; Nichols, Daniel; Nielsen, Kirstjen M.; Olfahto, Alfredo; Pence, Michael R.; Perdue, David A., Jr.; Provost, Carla L.; Ratoe, Nandy; Skiahno, David; Vitiello, Ronald D.; Wheeler, Edward T.; Wilson, Addison G. "Joe"; Wilson, Alan M.

Subjects: Arizona : Governor; Defense and national security : Border security; Drug abuse and trafficking : Illegal drugs, interdiction efforts; Homeland Security, Department of : Customs and Border Protection, U.S.; Homeland Security, Department of : Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S.; Homeland Security, Department of : Secretary; Immigration and naturalization : Illegal immigration; Immigration and naturalization : Reform; Justice, Department of : Sanctuary cities, efforts to combat; Law enforcement and crime : Illegal immigration, deportation of criminals; Law enforcement and crime : Law enforcement officers, service and dedication; Law enforcement and crime : Trafficking in persons, efforts to combat; Law enforcement and crime : Transnational criminal organizations; Law enforcement and crime : Violence against law enforcement officers, prevention efforts; Mexico : Border with U.S., infrastructure and security; White House Office : Vice President.

DCPD Number: DCPD201800540.