Illegal Immigration
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. HARIDOPOLOS. Mr. Speaker, lives destroyed, trust violated, and hearts broken, this is the story of illegal immigration.
Young girls and boys have been sold into sexual slavery. Hundreds of thousands have been killed by fentanyl. Hundreds of known terrorists have entered our Nation. Schools, hospitals, and towns have been overrun by numbers of illegal aliens and the high cost of taxpayers. Criminals entered and preyed on our citizens. Sadly, many committed murder and rape.
Yet, we learned just over 2 weeks ago that this is a problem that could be quickly solved, and that is what is happening today with the election and actions of our new President. This crisis can be quickly solved with commonsense and decisive action.
Today, I am joined by other freshmen Members of this Congress who are problem-solvers, people who have made it work at the local level at businesses across our country, and they understand how to get things done just like our President has been doing for the last 2\1/2\ weeks.
The first of our speakers today comes from the experienced Missouri Legislature, serving in both the house and senate. He has great accomplishments as both an attorney and a doctor. He represents a central part of Missouri just west of St. Louis, and he is a person who back in 2008 knew this problem was coming to a head. He sponsored and passed legislation to make sure we did not have sanctuary cities.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. HARIDOPOLOS. Mr. Speaker, next we have Congressman Tony Wied from the great State of Wisconsin. He represents the northeastern portion of Wisconsin, the Eighth Congressional District.
He comes with the real-world experience of being a businessowner, as he and his wife have developed an amazing business in their neck of the woods. He serves on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Committee on Agriculture, as well as the Committee on Small Business.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. HARIDOPOLOS. Mr. Speaker, my next speaker, Representative Brad Knott, is a Federal prosecutor, and he has seen firsthand the challenges that come with illegal immigration. It was one of the ways that I truly learned about what was going on at the border. Congressman Knott and I had long discussions about the challenges we faced at the Department of Justice and the everyday trials and tribulations that people face because of this illegal activity.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. HARIDOPOLOS. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the good words of the Congressman from the 13th District of North Carolina giving real-world examples of how this unfair policy has impacted so many of us not just with dollars but with lives.
As I mentioned earlier, this is a crime which we must end. The good news is we are moving in that direction. What I have mentioned before is so telling, and that is the idea of lives destroyed, trust violated, and hearts broken.
America is the land of opportunity and equal justice. What was so frustrating in watching this issue grow over the last 4 years is that as people are paying more and more for rent, gasoline, and the basics of life, here was the Federal Government actually subsidizing illegal activity by giving phone cards, giving cash cards, free housing, and other benefits while the Americans were suffering each and every day.
To further complicate that issue, they were hiding not only illegal individuals but people who had committed crimes in sanctuary cities. Everyone in that neighborhood knew exactly who these people were. We saw on day one when Donald Trump took the Office of the Presidency once again, those people were quickly identified, arrested, and deported or put into jail if they committed a completely violent act.
It was a no-brainer. As our colleagues before me talked about, all he had to do was nothing. It is the ultimate goal of life, just show up and do nothing, and you would actually continue to solve a problem. However, the former President actually took action. New executive orders repealed the successful policies of President Trump, and the problem grew and grew and grew.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I reached out to the place that I used to serve in the Florida legislature talking to what is called AHCA. AHCA is the group that oversees our healthcare system in Florida. The numbers are there in concrete form. Over half a billion dollars was put on the backs of taxpayers because illegal aliens accessed the medical system for free through Medicaid or other devices, and those cost shifts would take place. That means that half a billion dollars was taken out of taxpayers' pockets that could have been spent on schools, hospitals, roads, the environment, or even tax reduction. Instead, it was spent on folks who shouldn't be here, period.
Mr. Speaker, as you can imagine, my last name is a unique one. My dad was actually born in Athens, Greece, but he came here to make a better life. He wanted to play by the rules. That is the second thing I want to get into tonight.
There are millions of people who want to come here legally. Yet, they are being cut in line by people who are undercutting the rule of law. Those folks want to contribute. They have skills that we need: Science, technology, engineering, math, and other skills that we desperately need in this potential growing economy, especially if the Trump tax cuts are reinforced.
However, instead, we continue to spend, spend, spend with no hope in sight for folks who just don't want to contribute to the American Dream. It is a great frustration because, Mr. Speaker, when you look at the graphs before, the President called it correctly, his policies actually worked. It is so enlightening for all of us and such a joy that when the President simply went back to the old policy, the number of illegals diminished to almost zero. That means we can now go after those people who have been preying on the system, whether it be for financial or more, let's just say, devious reasons.
I am proud to represent the great State of Florida. They have been aggressive about illegal immigration. In one of my first days in the Florida Legislature, one of the bills that was introduced was to give the illegal aliens a driver's license, a ticket to ride, so to speak. Fortunately, we were able to kill such legislation.
Congressman Unger back in 2008 passed legislation to get tough on sanctuary cities. Those policies simply work. I think what all of us want, whether on the left side of the aisle or our side, we want problem solvers in America again. We want people who just want to come here and get things done.
Candidly, I think that is why so many people love President Trump. He is a problem solver. He looks at a problem in a common sense way. He doesn't automatically put a Republican or a Democratic spin on it. He said: How do we solve the problem? He talked to the experts. He put those items in place, and the border crisis went away in his first term. He implemented those policies once again 2 weeks into office, and we are back in a successful border. Without a successful border, we simply don't have a nation.
Again, I am encouraged by these actions. I am just amazed that the prior President and his team would turn their backs on the American people who gave them this opportunity to lead. It is going to be a challenging time to get this thing right. The good news is that with President Trump in place, we have seen the changes in a clear and let's just say discernible way.
As we look at the testimony earlier by Congressman Knott, it is one of the reasons I wanted to have this conversation today. A few weeks ago before we were actually sworn into office, Congressman Knott and I sat down in Boston. I said: What is really happening at the Department of Justice? Why are they not prosecuting these crimes?
As he mentioned in his very eloquent speech, he walks us through the crisis. He tells us how simple it is to solve this crisis, and the other team just chooses to turn a blind eye.
The statistics are pretty overwhelming with the number of people who were in challenging situations. Just to give you an idea, Mr. Speaker, of how frustrating it is to so many people on this issue. As the Biden administration was winding down, they were actually looking to sell off the very border wall that the American public had already paid for. You talk about insulting; it is to the highest degree. They are literally letting this metal rot and rust in the desert instead of just simply putting it up.
I am glad to see, I must admit, one of the real highlights of my early career here in Congress was actually seeing the bipartisanship that was shown on the Laken Riley bill. It was a pleasant surprise given the rhetoric of the prior 4 years. I hope it is a sign of things to come.
I happen to serve on the Financial Services Committee, I serve on the Science Committee, and I chair the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee. Those should be bipartisan solutions in which we come across the aisle and solve problems as opposed to pointing fingers.
I really appreciate the kind words of the President this morning during his address at the National Day of Prayer. He talked about reaching across the aisle and solving problems in a concrete way. This issue should be one where we all solve that problem. Again, I don't care about who gets the support because the American people support the idea of finally closing the gates to these people who come across illegally and opening the door once again to smart, commonsense legal immigration as opposed to illegal immigration.
As I get ready to close, I am thankful, first of all, for these types of opportunities. America is such a unique place. I noticed as the other side of the aisle is going to have their Special Order hour today, that we need to have these constructive dialogues. It seemed so hyperbolic during the campaign, the pointing of fingers, but it is so nice to see a quick and decisive result in talking about illegal immigration and how quickly we can solve this issue and truly secure our border and remove those people who should not be here.
I am so glad the President is going after those violent offenders first, the ones who have been protected by sanctuary cities. My former Attorney General, Pam Bondi, has now taken the reins at the Attorney General's Office. She is a tough-on-crime prosecutor. She is not a politico. She is a person who has been a problem solver throughout her career and who cared about her State and now her Nation. She is saying: We will go after those offenders. If the law is not going to be enforced and it is a sanctuary city, then move over. We are taking away the funding. We are extracting these people who have preyed on the system for too long and who have been protected, sadly, by the political class in their community. The political class who has been turning their backs on the very people who put them into power and into office.
I hope that we can have this constructive dialogue, and I am optimistic that the Senate will take up our tough border ideas so that we can, again, create a logical immigration system that created so many opportunities for each of us.
We each have a story about how our parents, our grandparents, and our great-grandparents, for that matter, came to this country. That is that dream of America, that they want to come to America, assimilate, and live the American Dream.
Sadly, the actions of the previous administration undercut that very ideal because people take a sour view of immigration.
As I get ready to close today, I am sorry that the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Crank) could not make it back from his other obligations, but I appreciate the good words of Congressman Knott, Congressman Onder, and Congressman Wied. They have done a remarkable job of putting a human face on illegal immigration.
Let us never forget that the biggest victims of this, besides the crisis with fentanyl, are those young boys and girls who have been sold into sexual slavery.
I don't like the term ``human trafficking'' because it is such a bland term. The term is ``sexual slavery,'' and I can't imagine the horrors that these individuals have gone through as they came across the border thinking that they would be given an opportunity in America. Instead, they were sentenced to a life of evil.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight on this important issue, and I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source