Policy Solutions to the Border Crisis

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Utah, Vice Chairman Moore, for yielding and for claiming this time this afternoon to discuss these important issues facing our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, as the music note dropped in Nashville and Americans rang in the new year on January 1, we woke up in the morning to horrifying news. 302,000 illegal immigrant encounters had occurred at our southern border, the most in any single month ever, in December 2023. To put this number into perspective, that is more than the entire population of Knoxville, Tennessee, which is the third largest city in my home State of Tennessee.

Keep in mind, Mr. Speaker, that out of the 302,000 illegal immigrants encountered at the southern border, none of these includes the illegal immigrants who successfully evaded our Customs and Border Patrol agents.

Nevertheless, Mr. Speaker, it is actually much worse. In fact, in fiscal year 2023 which ended on September 30, so it doesn't include the record-breaking month of December, Customs and Border Protection reported 2.48 million illegal immigrant encounters, and there were over 1.1 million known got-aways. That includes 169 people who were stopped trying to cross the border in fiscal year 2023 whose names appear on the terrorist watch list, which is more than in fiscal years '17, '18, '19, '20, '21, and '22 combined. Or to put it another way, the entire Trump Presidency plus Biden's first 2 years.

Additionally, border officials seized 27,293 pounds of fentanyl in fiscal year 2023. That is a whopping 464 percent increase from 2020 and, obviously, points out the failure of the White House and the Department of Homeland Security to enforce our Nation's laws.

Their desire for open border policies is wreaking havoc on an entire generation of young people in my home State and across our country who are dying from fentanyl overdose at an alarming rate.

From halting border wall construction to ending the successful remain in Mexico program implemented during the Trump administration to ending title 42 powers that kept illegals out of the country, the White House continues to send a message to the world that our borders are wide open.

Thankfully, there is a solution that would make for a great new year's resolution. The House Republicans passed H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023. It would end the catch-and-release policy, pay more for Border Patrol agents, restart important border wall construction, and strengthen and streamline the asylum process.

The bottom line is we must enforce the laws already on the books and pass new ones that put an end to the skyrocketing illegal immigration disrupting every corner of America, including my home State of Tennessee. Unfortunately, until then, every town in President Biden's America will be a border town.

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