Crisis At Our Border

Floor Speech

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Mr. GROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, I would like to report on what I did during my time off. I spent time at the Mexican border, both in San Diego and Yuma, and received a further shock, if that is possible, on what I think is the most important story facing America today. Indeed, every reporter or every major news organization ought to have somebody making daily reports on the border.

Two weeks ago tonight, in Yuma, I saw two groups--about 80 people-- crossing the border. So you understand, those people were from Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Cuba, Bangladesh, India, and Uzbekistan. In other words, the whole world is coming here.

Because of the huge amount of paperwork, the average Border Patrol agent reports to work, and unlike immediately guarding the border, like they should, 70 percent of them are doing paperwork. At the end of their shift, 90 percent are doing paperwork.

For that reason, it is not surprising the confiscation of drugs is going down--not because there are less drugs coming into our country and killing 100,000 people a year. The reason so few drugs are being confiscated is we have a shortage of Border Patrol agents and they have got to spend all their time doing paperwork.

Madam Speaker, I beg the rest of my colleagues to go to the border and learn about this.

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