[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 10 (Thursday, January 18, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H195]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
BORDER CRISIS
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cloud). The Chair recognizes the
gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Mann) for 5 minutes.
Mr. MANN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the ongoing crisis at
the southern border, President Biden's failure of leadership, and the
dire need to fix this crisis now.
Every year, I hold a townhall in each of the 60 counties in the Big
First District. I just finished townhall 22 for this year, and at each
of those townhalls, Kansans have brought up the border crisis as one of
the top issues on their minds. I share their outrage. The crisis at our
southern border is unnecessary, and President Biden has only escalated
it.
Since President Biden took office, there have been more than 7
million illegal encounters at our southern border. There have been 2
million known got-aways. These are just the people whom we know about
who avoided apprehension and entered our country illegally. That is
nearly 13 congressional districts and is over three times the
population of the State of Kansas.
There have been 312 suspects on the terrorist watch list apprehended
trying to cross our southern border. No one knows how many terrorists
actually made it into our country.
Meanwhile, crime is spiking; our brave Border Patrol agents are
overwhelmed; and lethal drugs like fentanyl are pouring into this
country, wreaking havoc on our families and killing Americans.
The word is out all over the world: President Biden hasn't just
created a porous southern border. He has created a wide-open border
with a welcome mat, and he has done so with disregard for law and
order.
I have been to the southern border. I saw human heartbreak, scared
children, overcrowded facilities, and evidence of crimes committed by
Mexican cartels, which are making $13 billion a year smuggling people
and drugs into our country.
I also saw giant sections of the unfinished border wall with the
materials to finish those sections literally sitting there, lying in
piles in the sun.
Fixing the border crisis isn't rocket science. It would just take a
few commonsense steps.
House Republicans have done our job. Eight months ago, we passed H.R.
2, the Secure the Border Act. That legislation required the Biden
administration to restart construction of the southern border wall,
deploy state-of-the-art technology to strengthen the border security
system, ensure transparency from the Department of Homeland Security
regarding illegal crossings, and increase the number of Border Patrol
agents.
The Secure the Border Act would also strengthen existing laws to
protect children from human trafficking, terminate catch and release,
end the abuse of executive immigration authority, and make critical
reforms to streamline the asylum process.
Those are commonsense steps to fix the border crisis. It is time for
the U.S. Senate and President Biden to act.
President Biden needs to fix this crisis now. He needs to end catch
and release, stop the abuse of the asylum system, finish the wall,
invest in more Border Patrol agents, and reinstate the remain in Mexico
policy.
It is estimated that if President Biden would just reinstate the
remain in Mexico policy, which he inherited on day one of his
Presidency and which was working until he reversed it, then it could
reduce the flow of migrants to the border by up to 70 percent.
Again, the legislation to do all of this has already passed in the
House. President Biden could end this crisis today if he wanted to.
Migrant encounters at the southern border hit a new record last month
at 302,000, with 12,600 on December 18, which was a single-day record.
If that doesn't wake up the administration to reality, then I am not
sure what will. Let's fix the problem at our southern border and secure
our country now.
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