[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 185 (Thursday, October 21, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H5774-H5780]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DEMOCRATS' PLAN TO PUT MASS AMNESTY IN RECONCILIATION PACKAGE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 4, 2021, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin) is recognized for
60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
General Leave
Mr. BABIN. 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 subject of my Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, during my time this evening, my colleagues
and I will be shedding light on the Democrats' illegal attempt to
include mass amnesty in their multi-trillion-dollar spending package,
their so-called Build Back Better bill.
Frankly, this entire bill is a disaster. It will permanently cause
labor shortages, crush small businesses, raise taxes, lower wages, and
expand the very worst parts of our government.
As one of the chairs of the House Border Security Caucus, a Texan,
and simply as an American, I am stunned that in the middle of the worst
border security crisis we have ever faced, Senate Democrats are using
the reconciliation process to try and grant mass amnesty to millions
and millions of illegal aliens.
We are up against more crises than any American has ever seen, too
many to even keep track of anymore. But, folks, this is the worst one
of all. Our open borders and the President's dereliction of duty to
secure our southern border will unquestionably affect every single
American in this country, every single State, for generations to come.
Let that sink in.
My friends, this isn't a talking point. It is a fact. History has
shown us that amnesty erodes the integrity of our immigration system,
and it breeds contempt for the law on all sides. We are seeing this
happening and unfolding before our eyes in living color.
If we look back to 1986, which was the last time mass amnesty was
granted, we have a clear view of what will happen if Biden and the
Democrats push this plan through. Millions of jobs will be put at risk.
We will see massive waves of new illegal immigration. It is happening
as we speak. Our enemies will use this avenue to enter the United
States and embed themselves into our society.
Listen closely: Our society, our country, our neighbors, us--America
is at stake.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr.
McClintock).
Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and
thank him for his leadership on this issue.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, we learned that this year has broken all
historical records for illegal immigration. The CBP arrested 1.7
million foreign nationals illegally crossing our border this year. That
is the entire population of the States of Alaska, Wyoming, and Vermont
combined. And it is a Federal crime. It is a misdemeanor for the first
offense. It is a felony for reentry. Yet, this administration is not
only not prosecuting this crime; it is actively assisting and
encouraging it.
Today, the Attorney General, the official responsible for prosecuting
Federal crimes, could not even give us a ballpark guess of how many are
actually being prosecuted, and, I suspect, because that number is zero.
He couldn't tell us what is being done to enforce the Federal law
that forbids hiring illegals. He wasn't aware of President Biden's
inauguration day order to Immigration and Customs Enforcement not to
faithfully execute the law.
Now, I ask you, is it just possible that the administration's refusal
to enforce our immigration law might just have something to do with the
fact that our country is now being overwhelmed by this unprecedented
incursion on our border?
Ask any of the migrants. They will tell you the sole reason they are
coming is because of the Biden administration's decision to open the
border. Under Donald Trump's leadership, they say they never would have
considered making the trip, because we had achieved control of our
border for the first time in a generation.
Yet, on inauguration day, Mr. Biden reversed the Remain in Mexico
policy, he ordered ICE not to enforce the law, and he abandoned the
border wall.
This Attorney General has no idea if his department is doing anything
to enforce those immigration laws. Well, Mr. Speaker, without
immigration laws, we have no border; and if we have no border, then we
have no country.
Gallop estimates that based on their polling, there are 42 million
people living in poverty in South America and the Caribbean who intend
to come to the United States now that they can.
[[Page H5775]]
I would ask my fellow Democrats on the other the aisle, how are
American workers helped by flooding the labor market with another wave
of low-wage labor? How are our children helped by filling their
classrooms with non-English-speaking classmates? How are our
communities made safer by making it harder to deport criminal illegal
aliens and gang members? How are our hospitals made more accessible by
overwhelming emergency rooms with illegal immigrants demanding care?
Mr. Speaker, no civilization in history has survived the mass
migration that we are now watching move toward our border. And history
is screaming this warning at us, that countries that either cannot or
will not enforce their borders simply aren't around very long.
People ask me all the time now, how can this be happening to our
country? Well, the answer is pretty simple, if you voted for the
Democrats, this is exactly what you voted for. And if you are surprised
by that, you weren't paying any attention.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. McClintock.
That is so, so true. Arrests by Border Patrol are at the highest
levels since 1986. Ask yourself, what happened in 1986, folks? Mass
amnesty. This isn't coincidental. This is cause and effect.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry).
Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the good gentleman from Texas for
yielding.
Since January, we haven't witnessed migration, Mr. Speaker, we have
witnessed an invasion; a 200 percent increase over FY 2020, hundreds of
thousands of people coming across our border in July and August.
You would think that amid what is definitively an open border crisis,
replete with numerous cases of sexual assault, rape, human and drug
trafficking, proliferation of gang and cartel activity, that the United
States would be working to stop criminal activity and protect its
citizens. Not this President, not this administration, not the
Democratic Party in this House. They can't be bothered. They keep on
incentivizing this illegal invasion.
You can check the tape. You can watch the film. It was then-Vice
President Biden in 2015 who actually said it. He went on film and said
he wants unbridled, unstopping immigration into this country. Now, I
guess maybe people thought he meant legal, but it is obviously illegal.
It is crystal clear that no number of sexual assault victims, rape
victims, drug overdose deaths, no number of human traffickers, can ever
compare to the value of achieving the highest political objective of
the left, which is creating legions of new voters.
At the beginning of this reconciliation process, we saw Democrats try
to provide amnesty for literally millions of illegal aliens. What that
means is saying it doesn't matter if you break the law; we are just
going to let it go. We are not going to prosecute that. Go ahead and
break the law; the law doesn't matter. We are going to forgive all of
your crimes.
When the Parliamentarian wouldn't let them, they went to plan B. Yet
more, millions of illegal immigrants, just by moving a date. Now, they
are on plan C, amnesty, again, telling them to break our laws, to
millions of illegal aliens, millions of people in our country
illegally.
And who is paying for it? American citizens are, every single day.
Let me talk to you about the payment quickly.
Jared Vargas, killed by an illegal immigrant in Mexico. Vargas' body
was then stuffed into a closet and left there for days.
Ron Dasilva, murdered by a known gang member and an illegal
immigrant.
Two brothers, Daniel and Alfonso Mendez-Lopez, stabbed and killed by
an illegal alien.
In August of this year, a 43-year-old illegal alien was charged in
Fredrick, Maryland, just a couple miles up from the street from here,
for having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old.
In August, also, a drunk driver and illegal alien struck and killed a
3-year-old in Flat Rock, North Carolina, as she was riding her
tricycle.
Those are American citizens, ladies and gentlemen.
The people in this building take an oath to uphold and defend the
Constitution of American citizens, not illegal aliens.
Yet, on September 11, an Ecuadorian national, also here illegally,
stabbed his wife to death and left behind their 4-year-old child.
And last Wednesday, a woman was harassed and groped for nearly 40
minutes before an illegal alien forcibly tore off her clothes and raped
her on a train in Philadelphia. They went through 20 stops as up to 10
people watched and did absolutely nothing.
Continuing to incentivize people to break the law by forgiving them
for breaking all of our laws is going to continue to incentivize more
people to break our laws and to come here in doing so.
The American people deserve a government committed to their security.
We must defeat this behemoth bill and this move towards amnesty.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my good friend from Pennsylvania
and thank him so much.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).
Mr. GOOD of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas
for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to add my voice to identifying this as the worst
of the many crises created by this President. It is hard to identify,
with so many things going in the wrong direction in our country, what
is the worst crisis. But the absolute worst crisis we are facing is the
crisis of the illegal invasion at our southern border.
I submit that never in the history of the country has our own
President intentionally done more to harm the United States than this
President has done in the first 10 months of his administration.
Here we are on pace for over 2 million illegal aliens to cross our
southern border. We have had over 200,000 a month for some 2 or 3
months in a row. But the good news is, we are going to stop that
200,000 pace this month. We are expected to smash it by setting an all-
time record, with 400,000 illegal crossings this month.
{time} 1715
I have been to the southern border three times already in my first 10
months here in Congress, something that our President apparently has
never done, Mr. Speaker, been to the southern border, and something our
Vice President apparently has never done, been to the southern border.
I have been there to meet with ranchers, local law enforcement, folks
who live at the border, and the Border Patrol, who are living every day
with what is happening at our southern border.
Everything and everyone that crosses the southern border does so
under the control of the Mexican cartels. There is no compassionate
piece to our border situation, our immigration policy at our southern
border, when you have drug trafficking, human trafficking, child
trafficking, sex trafficking. People are coming through all kinds of
terrible conditions across our border. They are making every town a
border town, every city a border town, every State a border State.
I was there to witness illegals being placed on planes as we flew
back from McAllen, Texas. They were being flown wherever they wanted
around the country.
When my colleague from Illinois asked the lady beside her to show her
the paperwork from DHS, it said: You have to report at a date to be
determined in Miami; we will get back in touch with you and have you
report to a court date. No specific time, no specific way in how we are
going to get control of that person.
Get used to, American people, what we are seeing from the Haitian
crisis at the border. The 15,000, 25,000 that assembled most recently,
they are not being stopped, not sent home, but distributed into the
interior of our country.
Now we find out they are even flying them during the night to places
around the country at taxpayer expense. They are not trying to fix it.
They are trying to hide it from the American people. They are
willfully, intentionally, purposefully facilitating this invasion of
our southern border.
You have to ask why. Why is this happening? Why would an
administration, why would a majority party, the Democrat Party, support
this invasion of our southern border? No borders.
[[Page H5776]]
Why would they intentionally stop the already-funded completion of
the southern border wall? Just because it was started by the previous
President? Why would we pay contractors not to complete the wall? Why
would we allow hundreds of thousands a month to come across our border
unvetted? Whether it is because of a health issue or a criminal
background, or whatever the reason is, why would they allow that to
continue to happen?
In the short run, it is because it is Democrat voters. In the long
run, it is because they don't believe in American exceptionalism. They
don't believe it is worth preserving the culture of our country, and
they want to change our country to look like socialist Europe.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Posey).
Mr. POSEY. Mr. Speaker, the President's theme, Build Back Better,
just can't pass the straight-face test. In reality, it is more like
demolish America faster.
If you really think it builds America back better, your view of
America is a lot different than most of the people I know.
We grew up in an America where college professors taught students how
to think, not what to think.
We grew up in an America where you could express your thoughts on any
subject without having the media collude with Big Tech to censor you
through bullying, intimidation, or bogus so-called fact checks.
We grew up in an America where parents were encouraged to support the
education of their children, not targeted by the Department of Justice
as domestic terrorists for telling the school board members that they
think they are going in the wrong direction.
We grew up in an America where immigrants, like most of our
predecessors, our ancestors, were welcomed if they came here legally.
I can move to Mexico, but it would be impossible for me to become a
Mexican. I can move to Honduras, but I can never become Honduran. I can
move to Somalia, but it would be impossible for me to become a
Somalian. On and on it goes.
But it is possible for people from other countries to come here and
become Americans. If they work hard and play by the rules, they can
build a better future for themselves and their families. They can
achieve the American Dream.
That is why people risk their lives, and some have died, trying to
come to this country. No other countries with the kind of policies you
are trying to force down the throat of Americans are like that.
Yes, we lived in an America where most folks, unless they were
plagued with affluenza, wokeness, entitlementitis, or Trump-phobia,
believed they lived in the greatest and the freest country in the
history of the world.
Pre-COVID-19, we lived in an America with the lowest unemployment
rate in decades, the lowest African-American and Hispanic unemployment
rate since they began keeping records.
An America that was energy independent.
An America with mostly fair elections.
And an America with secure borders.
Speaking about secure borders, let's be clear. There is a crisis at
the border, even though the President, the Vice President, and most of
my colleagues across the aisle deny it. Coming into our country
illegally does not make someone a legal immigrant any more than someone
breaking into your house makes them one of your family.
Most people know there is a difference between legal immigration and
the illegal invasion that we are witnessing right now. Proposed mass
amnesty will only encourage others to come and try illegally. It is not
hard to see where you are coming from.
Based upon the false promise that he would unify America, President
Biden got into the Oval Office, and my friends on the other side of the
aisle gained a razor-thin majority in the House and Senate. But we all
know, everybody knows, the unification promise was a lie, and their
majority is going to be short-lived. So they must feel compelled to
rush through a radical agenda before the midterms.
Now, people are understandably frustrated. Actually, they are very
angry, and they are not going to sit back and take it much longer.
Instead of the bogus Build Back Better plan and reconciliation plan,
you know what they want? They want the Democrats to help put America
back where they found it and leave it the hell alone.
Let's go, Brandon.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, we are not against immigration. Most of us
are the children of immigrants. My own daughter-in-law is a naturalized
citizen. But we have to do it the right way, and that is exactly what
we are here to do.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Tiffany).
Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, today I had a chance to ask some questions
to Attorney General Garland and talk about what is happening at the
Department of Justice.
What became very evident as we were having our question-and-answer
today is that there are two sets of rules in America. It starts with
our immigration system, where we are seeing people come across our
southern border, people being imported from all parts of the world, and
they are getting free things from the American people. They get food
stamps. They get free housing. They get all of those things that are
free, while Americans have to pay for it.
One of the questions I posed to the Attorney General is in regard to
Facebook, and I think that very much highlights that there are two sets
of rules in America. Recently, Facebook Vice President William
Castleberry, said: ``We do allow people to share information about how
to enter a country illegally or request information about how to be
smuggled.''
Don't you think an administration, in particular an Attorney General,
would be concerned about that?
Let me read to you U.S. Code title 8, subsection 1324. It makes it
illegal for any person to knowingly encourage or induce an alien to
come to, enter, or reside in the United States in violation of law or
for individuals to aid or abet illegal entry.
Yet, Facebook is allowed to do that. Are they a full-blown subsidiary
of the Biden administration at this point? A person has to be very
concerned over the last couple months that that is what is happening.
The Attorney General would not make a commitment that he is going to
investigate what is illegal activity from one of the largest companies
in the United States of America and, clearly, one of the most powerful
companies in the United States of America.
Also what came out of our hearing today, in my State is Fort McCoy,
and we have been hearing stories coming out of Fort McCoy as a result
of the mass migration perpetrated on the American people by the Biden
administration over the last 2 months.
We found out very early on that there was no SIV process that was
going on, no Special Immigrant Visa process. They were just being
waived in on parole.
We found out people could leave any time that they want to. We found
out that 600 people were in quarantine with measles, COVID, and
tuberculosis--just being allowed into our country.
We found out that there were people being charged with violent
crimes, a man raping two young boys in that camp at Fort McCoy. We
found out that a man was beating his wife to death at Fort McCoy. We
found out at Fort Bliss that a female soldier was being beaten by
Afghan men.
The American people wonder; they wonder why there are two sets of
rules.
My good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Perry), brought up the story in regard to the rape on the Philadelphia
train that has horrified Americans. The assailant was an illegal
immigrant with prior convictions related to sexual abuse and drugs. He
should have been deported. However, he was allowed to stay in the
United States after an appeals board determined that his prior sex
crime was not serious enough to merit his removal.
I asked the Justice Department, how serious does a sex crime have to
be?
These are the two sets of rules that we are seeing in America, and
they are seeing it in a stark basis, with the mass migration that is
coming into our country.
We have an Attorney General that is being urged by school boards
across the
[[Page H5777]]
country to entertain the use of the PATRIOT Act on mothers and parents.
We won't use the PATRIOT Act on people who propose to come into the
United States of America illegally, but we will use it on our own
citizens? Something is wrong, America.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, House Democrats actually rejected the
Republican efforts to block amnesty for illegal aliens who are gang
members or have gun charges or are sex offenders, as Mr. Tiffany just
said, or who have multiple DUI offenses. That is lunacy. All you can
say is it is lunacy.
I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Keller).
Mr. KELLER. Mr. Speaker, the flow of illegal aliens into the United
States is out of control. President Biden stopped building the wall,
brought back the Obama-era catch-and-release policy, and rolled out an
open borders agenda that is now devastating our country.
More than 1.3 million illegal aliens have been apprehended at our
border since January, and the men and women of the U.S. Customs and
Border Patrol are preparing for another surge of up to 400,000 foreign
nationals sometime this month.
We must invest in border security now. But instead, Washington
Democrats are pushing a radical $5 trillion tax-and-spend package that
will only make our borders and our border crisis worse.
This package includes zero funding for border security and grants
blanket amnesty to 10 million illegal aliens while providing them with
$100 billion in taxpayer-funded benefits.
The border crisis is real. Democrats' far-left, socialist
reconciliation package would only make it worse.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia, Mr.
Buddy Carter.
Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, the massive reconciliation
package that the House has been considering aims to fundamentally
change our country. Normally, an effort this huge is considered over
months and years instead of the expedited timeline we are on now.
That is why I am so glad my colleagues and I are taking this time to
highlight how they intend to dramatically change our country and the
consequences it will have.
Today, we focus on perhaps the most immediate problem we are facing:
illegal immigration. This is happening as we speak.
There were over 208,000 border apprehensions in August, a 317 percent
increase from the previous year. August was the second straight month
with over 200,000 apprehensions. What is worse, this is not a new
thing.
To quote The Washington Post, of all places, ``Illegal crossings
began rising last year but skyrocketed in the months after President
Biden took office.''
There have been over 1.3 million illegal border crossings under
President Biden. The Department of Homeland Security warns us to be
prepared for, next month, the possibility of 350,000 to 400,000 illegal
border apprehensions in October.
The United States has never--never--recorded that number of illegal
border apprehensions in a single month.
{time} 1730
So we now know that this has been a problem in the past. It is still
a problem now. And it will even be worse in the future.
And what are Democrats doing about it since they are in control?
The Democrats have included a plan to grant amnesty for around eight
million illegal immigrants at a cost of $100 billion over the next 10
years. All of that money to granting amnesty instead of securing our
border.
I am a pharmacist by trade, so believe me when I say that the phrase
``an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure'' is an
understatement here.
We are already paying the price for illegal immigration that is
harming our citizens. Over 6,000 pounds of deadly fentanyl has been
seized at the southern border since February, enough to kill every
American four times over.
That is dangerous. That is ludicrous. It is ridiculous.
At least 160,000 illegal immigrants have been released in the U.S.,
often with little supervision by the Biden administration since March.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle truly do not recognize
what is happening in our country and the world.
We need leadership to navigate these serious issues we face.
Folks, I have been to the border several times, and I can tell you it
is a disaster and a tragedy. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris simply do not
understand the problem or how to fix it.
However, I know that if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris wanted to
understand the cause of the crisis at the border, they need look no
further than the nearest mirror.
Every State has become a border State, and rather than support our
Border Patrol agents, the Biden administration has neglected them and
left our communities in danger. These people face threats in their
lives, abuse and manipulation from cartels and worse. These people have
been inundated with illegal aliens who have come across this border.
It is irresponsible to not only neglect the safety of Americans, but
this is a tragedy for those being misled that it is okay to come to
America illegally.
We cannot in good conscience continue policies that cause this much
harm and damage to everyone involved. Let's stop this insanity.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for his
input.
I yield to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Hern).
Mr. HERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, the co-chair of the
Border Security Caucus for holding this Special Order tonight.
Just when we thought we had seen the worst of the Democrats'
socialist wish list with this $5 trillion reconciliation plan, they
manage to squeeze in yet another radical, dangerous, unnecessary
provision. This time, it is effectively creating an open U.S. border.
So first, let's set the scene.
This summer and fall, we have seen record numbers of illegal border
crossings, reaching over 200,000 apprehensions in July and August each.
Earlier this week, U.S. authorities confirmed 1.7 million
apprehensions in the fiscal year, the most ever recorded.
More than 16,000 migrants tested positive for coronavirus and were
released into the United States without vaccination requirements and
without any trace of where they are traveling, who they were coming in
contact with. This 16,000 was on top of the tens of thousands of
migrants released into the interior of the country by Joe Biden.
We no longer have detention centers at our borders, we have border
distribution centers where we are sending people all over this country.
We now know that the Biden administration was covertly flying migrant
children around the country. They didn't want anyone to know.
So my question for Joe Biden is this: How many children were flown
out from the border and who is paying for it? The American people want
to know. If the taxpayers are on the hook for these flights, we have
the right to know.
This is not normal. What we have on our hands is equivalent to an
invasion of our southern border. For 9 months, the Biden administration
has ignored the crisis, meanwhile it grows exponentially worse. Biden
stripped away all the policies that President Trump put in place to
limit illegal crossings and to keep our borders safe, and now our
Border Patrol has all but surrendered to the cartels.
While all this is happening, Democrats decided to exacerbate the
crisis with these so-called reforms they are sneaking into the build
back broke reconciliation package at the last minute. Free college for
illegal immigrants; enhanced child tax credits for illegal immigrants;
amnesty for 10 million illegal immigrants to the tune of $100 billion
at taxpayers' expense; incentivizing illegal entry by waiving
provisions for inadmissibility, meaning that illegal immigrants will
practically be guaranteed amnesty; they are removing convictions for
illegal immigrants to increase their chance for amnesty. Let me say
that again: The Federal Government is going to drop charges against
drug traffickers and others who break our laws just so they don't have
to deport them. Insane.
These policies and many more are being written behind closed doors
without the knowledge or input of the American people.
[[Page H5778]]
Democrats who hold the majority in both the House and the Senate and
thereby have a stranglehold on power in the United States, must take
immediate action to secure our border and protect our American people.
Instead of putting Americans first, they are ensuring that illegal
immigrants are protected and prioritized above the American people,
which is an absolute abandonment of their sworn duty as a Member of
Congress.
Mr. BABIN. Well said. Thank you very much, Mr. Hern. I appreciated
that.
I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Miller).
Mrs. MILLER of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Babin
for yielding.
The Biden socialist spending bill provides amnesty to eight million
illegal immigrants, including illegal aliens who are active gang
members, have convictions for sex crimes, and have multiple DUI
offenses.
The chairman of the Judiciary Committee actually said he was okay
with allowing illegal immigrants to remain in our country even if they
have 20 DUI convictions. Does that make our country more safe?
The Biden-Harris open border policies have allowed over 200,000
illegal immigrants to cross our border each month with a caravan of
400,000 on the way. This is equal to the population of Minneapolis.
They are about to cross our border in the next few weeks.
Tragically, the Biden administration has allowed 125,000 children to
be trafficked into our country by criminal cartels. These children
often face sexual assaults by cartel predators who are only able to
operate because the Biden administration eliminated remain in Mexico
and brought back catch and release.
The invasion at our border plus amnesty is truly the end of our
country as we know it.
Americans oppose mass amnesty for illegal immigrants. We want strong
borders and a border wall.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mrs. Miller. We really appreciate
that.
For those of you who don't know, one of the leaders of the 1993 World
Trade Center bombing was legalized through the 1986 amnesty by falsely
claiming that he was a seasonal worker. After receiving amnesty, he
traveled back and forth to Afghanistan and Pakistan to receive
terrorist training. There is no reason to believe that terrorists would
not once again take full advantage of amnesty to hurt us.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bergman),
the highest ranking military officer to serve in the House of
Representatives.
MR. BERGMAN: Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Texas for yielding
and for leading tonight's Special Order.
How do you apply an adequate objective to the shocking, clueless
attempt to jam amnesty for eight million illegal immigrants into this
Democrat-owned, Democrat-grown, Democrat-processed multitrillion-dollar
reconciliation bill? Again, it is a complete sham.
I think it is clear to most Americans why illegal immigration is
illegal--it kind of sounds like I am repeating words here, but it is
still illegal--and why any nation and our Nation needs borders.
People aren't trying to break out of the United States of America.
Let's be clear why we are the greatest country in the world. Because we
built it. Nobody else did.
The Democrats running our country today, however, are defying logic
and the rule of law.
They are hosting an open border policy on the front end while
simultaneously proposing a mass legalization policy on the back end.
The amnesty policy before us is the opposite of a solution.
We need real solutions, like when we had a wall being built and
border security policies that worked.
I am here tonight because we need to stop this illegal activity on
the southern border and make sure it is not rewarded by this shameful
sham bill.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate what the gentleman said.
While the exact number of the millions of illegal aliens potentially
eligible for amnesty is very fluid, data shows that historically each
immigrant to the United States sponsors an average of 3.45 additional
family members for green cards. So theoretically, if the estimated 13
million illegal aliens currently here in the United States were given
lawful status and sponsored green cards for three or four family
members, 43 million--let me repeat that, 43 million--new immigrants
would be coming in. This is astounding data.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman).
Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
The topic for tonight, and rightfully so--when we look at the $3.5
trillion bill with so many things that will permanently change
America--is some of the most radical immigration provisions we have
ever seen. Predictions by the Democrats, themselves, will be that they
will affect 9 to 12 million more people in this country who are not
here legally and will ultimately lead to a huge change in America.
This has nothing to do with legal immigration. Every year in this
country about 800,000 people are sworn in as citizens. They are
appropriately vetted, they have jobs, they are not committing crimes,
and they are added to our citizenry.
I am talking about the people who are coming across the border
claiming they want asylum.
I was down at the border last week to have a look at some of these
people who apparently people feel will make good citizens.
One of the first things you notice, at least in the Yuma sector in
Arizona, is you look at the path of people coming here, the path is
littered with identification that is being thrown away by people who
want to get in this country.
Now, why would people throw away identification? Normally you keep
your identification because you have nothing to fear. If you are
throwing the identification on the ground, it means you are creating a
new identity when you come here. These are the type of people that
under this bill are eventually going to work their way to become
American citizens.
And it is not surprising. The Democratic Party in many other ways has
made it clear the type of people we want to get are not the type of
people normally sworn in.
Look at all the sanctuary cities or sanctuary counties around the
country. And by having a sanctuary city or a sanctuary county to me it
is an invitation to say you are going to go on public assistance.
We are sending in children without their parents. People normally
would like to have an intact family, but what we are doing in this bill
is we are going to encourage more parents to send their underage
children to the United States not knowing what will happen to them.
Under this bill as the word gets out that the United States does not
care about enforcing laws and more people come here, it will inevitably
mean more illegal drugs in the country under this bill. And we are now
in a position in which over 90,000 Americans are already dying every
year primarily of COVID but also from other drugs that pass through the
border.
The only thing in this bill that you would expect to have--given the
$3.5 trillion number, you would expect to have maybe more money spent
that is immigration related--is more border patrol agents. But as in
their regular budget, that is not something that they feel we need more
of.
So, again, I beg the American people. I know it is easy to get lost
among the $3.5 trillion in spending, but I beg the American people to
rise up against this bill because of the massive green light for
illegal immigration that is going to come if it passes.
{time} 1745
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, (Mr. Grothman). So
true.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. McClain),
my colleague.
Mrs. McCLAIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for
having this Special Order.
Mr. Speaker, once again, I come before this Chamber to ask when will
this administration address the ever-growing crisis at our southern
border.
Every day that passes, from sunup to sundown, our Nation's
immigration laws are being violated by thousands of illegal border
crossers. For the life of
[[Page H5779]]
me, I don't understand why--and let me say this again--I don't
understand why our Commander in Chief refuses to go and see the mess
that he and his open border politics have created.
But I have seen this crisis myself so let me paint him a picture. And
I am going to use a paint brush with some facts.
In fiscal year 2020, 458,000 illegal aliens were apprehended at our
southern border; that was in 2020. Fast forward to fiscal year 2021,
under President Biden's ``leadership,'' the number skyrocketed to 1.7
million.
And that is not a crisis? That doesn't even warrant a ``pick your
head up and open your eyes and go down to the border.'' From 458,000 to
1.7 million, I would hate to see what a crisis would look like under
his watch.
Last month, more than 12,000 illegal aliens from Haiti squatted under
a bridge until President Biden's Department of Homeland Security began
moving those illegal aliens into the interior of our country.
The problem doesn't stop with people coming in illegally. Illegal
drugs from the border are coming to a town near you. And we are already
seeing it. Again, let me use some facts:
In fiscal year 2021, Border Patrol agents at the southwest border
seized 900 pounds of fentanyl. That is what they seized. Doing the
math, that is enough to kill nearly 200 million people. That is nearly
two-thirds of the country.
To all of my colleagues, I beg of you, I implore you, we must fix
this crisis at the border, but you can't fix a problem you don't think
exists.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman, (Mrs. McClain). I
really appreciate it.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Donalds), my
friend.
Mr. DONALDS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my distinguished colleague from the
Lone Star State, Dr. Babin.
Mr. Speaker, I have been on this floor already a couple times this
week talking about the 4.3 trillion or the 3.5 trillion--or maybe what
they are saying on CNN now--maybe $2 trillion. Who knows how many
trillions of dollars is in this bill. But I am here today to speak
against a provision that I find to be just as disastrous as some of the
others, including the one that will allow the IRS into the bank
accounts of every American.
It is a provision in this bill that allows for mass amnesty through
budget reconciliation. Something, by the way, that the Senate
Parliamentarian has already said is out of order but it is still in the
House provision. It is important that the American people understand
this.
How disastrous of a policy is that? It is because those are the
things that the Vice President of the United States said she was
looking for. She was looking for root causes. Well, here is the number
one root cause. When this body decides to green-light in a package that
there will be mass amnesty in a spending bill, that tells the drug
cartels, it tells the coyotes, it tells anybody who has been waiting
south of our border to emigrate into the United States illegally to
come on down, because they are the next contestant.
When you do something like that, you are giving a signal to the
entire world that we do not take our own border seriously. There has
been a fight in this Chamber to complete border wall construction for
30 years but what people need to understand is that the number one
entity that has been asking for a border wall is Border Patrol
themselves.
You see, the American people will never build walls in their house
with wide open gaps. That is just silly. But in Congress, we think that
is okay. That is why Congress has not taken their responsibility
serious enough to complete the border wall, so Border Patrol has every
tool at their disposal to secure our southern border.
Immigration is critical to any nation, let alone a nation like ours.
We need legal immigration in our country, but it must be legal. It
cannot be out of control. And what is in this budget reconciliation
bill would allow for the most reckless and the most wide open and the
most insecure border our country has ever seen. And that is actually
something that our Congress needs to not do.
We need to stand up for our border agents and the American people. We
need to secure our southern border and take that provision out of this
bill, amongst others.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman (Mr. Donalds). I
appreciate that very much.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr.
Fitzgerald), my friend.
Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, amnesty is not infrastructure, and I know this seems
obvious to many Americans, but I know for some of my colleagues they
are trying to redefine. And what is tucked away right now in the $5.5
trillion spending package are provisions that would give amnesty to
over a million illegal immigrants.
I have been to the border. Some of my colleagues that I have been
able to visit the border with are here this evening.
Eye-opening experiences in McAllen, Texas. And in the travel back to
Houston to fly back to Wisconsin, I saw a plane that was full of
refugees with brown envelopes and destinations written in black magic
marker. And I just wondered who could possibly be sponsoring all of
these individuals and where would they end up.
We know that there is 11 million illegal immigrants living in the
U.S. today. Not only does this provision pose a risk to national
security, but studies have found that it is going to cost us trillions
of dollars in payouts in increased entitlement benefits.
Mr. Speaker, what I witnessed, and I think what I have experienced
back in Wisconsin, has put us in a position where unless we act now,
unless we act swiftly to get a handle on the southern border, we will
no longer have the borders that bind us Americans. And I don't think
the urgency could be any more clear and any more in front of us right
now.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Fitzgerald. I appreciate that.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Van Drew),
my friend and colleague, and a dentist as well.
Mr. VAN DREW. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and fellow dentist for
yielding.
Mr. Speaker, it is no surprise that Democrats, led by President Joe
Biden, are abusing the budget reconciliation process to pass an
extremely partisan, socialist spending spree that will fundamentally
change our Nation forever.
One of their many dangerous provisions is to provide amnesty to more
than 8 million illegal immigrants. And for those that didn't quite hear
me or didn't quite believe it, 8 million illegal immigrants. Even
though the Senate Parliamentarian already ruled that to do so would
violate the rules of the reconciliation process.
Additionally, the majority party outright rejected offers from
Republicans to bar gang members, sex offenders, and other violent
criminals from receiving amnesty. As I have stated before, literally
you have to believe that many Democrats are actively trying to destroy
our great Nation.
With record-breaking levels of migrant crossings, drug smuggling, and
child trafficking, the majority is still somehow finding new ways to
weaken and undermine our great America. Let me be clear to you. I love
immigrants. America needs immigrants, and immigrants need America. But
it must be done legally. We are a nation of laws, and those who enter
America must go through our legal process.
True story, just the other day, I received a call from one of my
constituents who emigrated to the United States from Eastern Europe.
With her husband, she went through America's legal immigration process
because she loves our country and she respects our country. She called
me, literally crying in utter disbelief with our current immigration
situation and also the current state of affairs in the United States of
America.
She came to the United States, worked hard as a hotel employee, and
eventually saved enough money by working double shifts to purchase her
own business with her husband. That is the America that I know. That is
the America that we all love; not this reckless concept of open borders
with zero accountability.
For how long are Democrats going to pursue these radical ideas. Is
this really what America is becoming? A place where people can
uncontrollably flow
[[Page H5780]]
through our borders and do whatever they want? Dammit, that is wrong.
Think about our communities. Think about our children. Think about
our grandchildren, who are going to have to suffer the consequences of
these radical Democratic policies. They have proven that not only do
they not care about our institutions, but they do not care about our
laws or protecting our great America. God help us.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Dr. Van Drew. I appreciate it.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs), my
friend, and also fellow cochair of the House Border Security Caucus.
Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman (Mr. Babin), my
colleague on the House Border Security Caucus.
Mr. Speaker, you have heard a lot about numbers today. I want to just
tell you a little bit about some of the faces and individuals. I have
been from the Rio Grande Valley to San Diego, and back again, this
year. I get down to the border incredibly often; just down again last
week, down two weeks before that, down a few weeks before that. And
that is kind of way I live, because I live in Arizona and it is
affected and it is impacted.
I was down in RGV, the Rio Grande Valley, and you can go there in the
area of La Jolla. And you sit at the river, the Rio Grande River runs,
and you can go and you wait--this little fork in the road. We parked
the car. I had a CBP agent with me, had a couple Members of Congress.
It is nighttime. We are looking out and we see about 40 people
literally emerging from the river. They are dressed great.
But you know what? Most of them are kids under age 14, I would guess.
A little girl 7 years old, she is with her brother, 5. There is no mom.
There is no dad. There is no aunt or uncle. There is no one there to
take care of them. The coyote brought them across the river and
deposited them.
Do you know what would happen in the United States for us who are
citizens, who are legally here, if we had a 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-year-old
child and we put that child in the hands of a criminally-violent
person? That is what a coyote is; they are working for the cartels. And
we sewed into their britches a name and a phone number, or a city. We
put that child there; and then we were up in Detroit, or LA, or
Phoenix. And that coyote, the person we gave that child to, then turned
the child over to the Border Patrol to reunite with us.
Upon reunification, we would be charged with child abuse. But our
government is the logistics arm of the cartel, and we don't do that. We
reunite that child and we allow that mom and that child to remain in
the United States of America and we don't bring criminal charges. And
we don't remove from this country. Instead, we release with all the
benefits of our social welfare safety net, our education system, our
healthcare, the free phones, the housing--all of that. That is what we
do.
And down in Yuma, just recently, how about this, I am standing there
with some of my friends. We are standing literally next to the fence.
But the fence ends, and there is a space of several hundred yards. And
literally, we are getting pictures of us standing in front of this hole
in the fence.
Here comes a fellow. He is walking up, and so we stop and talk to
him.
{time} 1800
Where are you from? Cuba. Where were you before that? I came from
Russia. I went from Cuba to Russian and then I went to Spain and then
to France and then to Mexico City, and then I got myself to Mexicali. I
took a bus from Mexicali to Yuma--actually, Los Algodones, which is
right across the border, and he walks dry across the dregs of that
point of the Colorado River.
I say: What are you doing here? I want to be in America. He wanted to
be an American.
We say: Well, why don't you sit right here? There is water. There is
a station where you can clean yourself up a little bit. Border Patrol
is going to be along in just a second.
That person is not an economic refugee. There is no credible fear. He
is traveling and wants to come to the United States of America.
Do you know what is going to happen to him if they don't title 42
him, which they are not doing many title 42s anymore? He is probably
already in the country somewhere. That is where that fellow is. He was
an engaging fellow, but, nonetheless, illegally in this country.
Mr. BABIN. I thank my good friend from Arizona. Mr. Speaker, how much
time do I have left?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Texas has 90 seconds
remaining.
Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friends for bringing attention to
this unbelievably important issue. Every one of us, as well as my
colleagues who couldn't be here tonight, could talk about this crisis
for days. Since our time is limited, I want to close with this.
Our very existence as a democratic republic, as a nation, hangs in
the balance. The overwhelming majority of Americans reject the idea of
mass amnesty. The border crisis, including the abuse, assault, drug
trafficking, abduction, danger, murder, fraud, and death that comes
along with it will only get worse.
We cannot afford to risk the lives of migrants or Americans by
granting a mass amnesty. We will continue to fight against this for as
long as we need to.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from
engaging in personalities toward the President.
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