Crisis At the Southern Border

Floor Speech

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Ms. TENNEY. Madam Speaker, there is a crisis at our Nation's southern border, as you heard when our minority whip Steve Scalise outlined it earlier.

Last month, more than 170,000 illegal immigrants were encountered and rescued by border agents at our southern border, and almost 19,000 of them were children, the most ever in a single month.

This is a humanitarian catastrophe, as cartels are profiting at record levels from this egregious human trafficking scheme.

I visited the border, including a child processing center at the El Paso Sector, and witnessed this firsthand. I left with an even deeper sense of respect and admiration for the men and women of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency and those other agencies tasked to assist them.

Chief Gloria Chavez leads her force along the El Paso Sector with incredible tenacity, courage, compassion, and great energy. The team of agents under her command are doing an excellent job in a nearly impossible situation. These terrific people are overwhelmed because of the dangerous and inhumane policies now coming from Washington. I am grateful to Chief Chavez and her team for their insights.

Human trafficking is a nonpartisan issue. We must come together to stop it. We must finish the border wall, improve barrier technology around the wall, and we must reform this disastrous immigration policy.

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