[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 18 (Wednesday, January 31, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H359]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               IN SUPPORT OF SECRETARY ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS

  (Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
one minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support Department of 
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
  House Republicans failed to discuss the facts about the border 
security. Since May, the administration has removed or returned or 
expelled more than 500,000 individuals who entered the country 
illegally nationwide.
  This is the highest total of expulsions in the last decade: It has 
arrested 14,000 smugglers. It has seized more than 43,000 pounds of 
fentanyl. It has confiscated thousands of pounds of cocaine, heroin, 
and meth.
  It could do so much more with the proper support and resources from 
Congress, but Republicans don't want to give that support. They don't 
want to discuss effective border policy. Under the previous Republican 
administration, Border Patrol was an absolute joke.
  Instead of righting the wrong, Republicans want to blame others for 
their mistakes. It is failed leadership, and I know voters are 
watching.
  They are at the behest of the twice-impeached former President of the 
United States, who has asked them to keep this subject alive so he can 
win.

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