Negative National Security Consequences

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the negative national security consequences of 3\1/2\ years of President Biden's open-border policies. While we hear President Biden and his allies boast about a so-called drop in illegal immigrant encounters in recent weeks, the number of national security threats resulting from this administration's policies continue to mount.

According to the Department of Homeland Security's own threat assessment for this year, illegal drugs produced in Mexico and sold in the United States will take more American lives than any other threat we face.

Further underscoring the threat our country faces due to the President's open-border policies, we learned 2 weeks ago that the Department of Homeland Security has identified more than 400 illegal immigrants that have entered the U.S. over the last 3 years as ``subjects of concern.'' They are subjects of concern because they were brought here by an ISIS-affiliated human smuggling network, according to sources who spoke with NBC News.

These unnamed officials report that 150 of these individuals have been arrested, but the whereabouts of many more are unknown. We also don't know whether the money earned in this human smuggling operation is funding ISIS activity.

A couple of weeks prior to this story, NBC also reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested eight men from Tajikistan, also for suspected affiliation with ISIS, in three major U.S. cities. This turned out to be an entirely separate ISIS-affiliated human smuggling network.

Mr. Speaker, these are just a couple of examples from recent weeks. We face many, many more national security threats that are a direct result of open borders and a refusal to uphold existing immigration laws in this country.

More than 350 illegal immigrants who are on the terror watch list have attempted to cross into the United States since President Biden took office. More than 1.8 million people have successfully evaded Border Patrol. Hundreds of thousands of unknown individuals have been admitted into the U.S. on parole with no way of tracking many of these individuals. This widespread abuse of parole authority was a key factor in my vote to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. It has truly paved the way for countless instances of crime across this country.

The President's recent executive order is far too little, far too late. It doesn't go far enough to treat these threats to our safety and security with the seriousness that they merit. The action, however, does prove what I have been saying and arguing for months, that the President has and has had the authority to end this crisis at our border. It also highlights the fact that our Commander in Chief waited 3\1/2\ years before taking any action to curb the unprecedented flow of illegal immigrants into this country.

This isn't hyperbole. These are facts. As sobering as they may be, I fear they will persist as long as President Biden or whoever is making decisions at the White House is in the White House.

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