Border Security

Floor Speech

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Mr. KEVIN HERN of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, my constituents have been calling the office in overwhelming numbers. They tell me to stand with our President to get the funding our Customs and Border agents have asked for.

I got a call from a police recruit in Tulsa just this week who has seen firsthand the impact that illegal immigration has on the safety of our citizens. It places a huge burden on our law enforcement agents who are already putting themselves in harm's way for our safety every day.

With unregulated borders, we open our country up to the tragedy of human trafficking. Undocumented women and children are especially vulnerable to traffickers. Ninety percent of the heroin in our country comes illegally from Mexico.

With dangerous drugs like cocaine, methamphetamines, and heroine come gun activity, violent crime, and the serious problem of addiction.

In December, Tulsa law enforcement officers found 2 pounds of heroin and 16 pounds of methamphetamines in connection in the Sinaloa drug cartel smuggled into the States from Mexico. These dangerous and illegal drugs are finding their way into communities across the country.

There is a fix for all of this: Build the wall.

A physical barrier--which I might add, most of my friends from the other side of the aisle have historically supported--will stop illegal entry in its tracks. There is no replacement for a physical barrier.

Last month, the President told the American people that we need a wall, not because we hate the people on the outside, but because we love the people on the inside.

Mr. Speaker, I agree. How can we keep our people safe when we don't know who is coming into this country? Let's start prioritizing the American people and their safety.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to rise above partisanship for the sake of our citizens. We can stop the human trafficking crisis. We can catch the drug smugglers. We can keep our people safe. At the end of the day, the only thing that will truly help us is to pass bipartisan legislation to secure our borders and build a wall.

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