Secure America Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman, my colleague and friend from Texas, for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bill.

Madam Speaker, we should all be here today to express our strong support for this important piece of legislation to properly and fully fund the Department of Homeland Security, including, yes, the people who actually are tasked with carrying out our immigration laws. That is the job of ICE and CBP. These are the laws that we all pass.

I know our colleagues on the other side of the aisle would love to go back to open borders, but they are not, fortunately, going to go back to open borders because we won't let them.

Madam Speaker, we worked with President Trump to secure the border. In fact, it was the number one issue in the 2024 election. The American people spoke loud and clear, and, yes, that was on the ballot. Everybody knew where each side was.

You would think, now that that issue is resolved, that we could be here in Congress to work together to properly make sure that we fund the Department of Homeland Security. Sadly, that is not what has happened.

You have seen the Democrats, time and time again, shut this Department down, the Department of Homeland Security, formed out of September 11. You would think some people on the other side of the aisle are acting like it is still September 10, like we don't have threats on our homeland.

Yet, we have threats coming from more places than ever because the other side let millions of people into our country. Millions of people illegally come into our country, including many violent criminals. They want you to think, Madam Speaker, that it is just everybody coming in to seek the American Dream.

We have a legal method for that to happen. Every country does, by the way. The United States is the most generous nation in the world in terms of our legal process to come to America--yes, legal. That means you have to follow the rules to be a part of this great American Dream.

If somebody doesn't want to follow those rules, including the prior President, then what it does is wreak havoc. What kind of havoc? I know the other side just likes to attack law enforcement every single day, the party that tried to defund the police. Yes, they are still at it. This vote today, make no mistake, if you are voting ``yes,'' you are not only voting to secure America's border. You are voting to fund law enforcement. If you vote ``no,'' you are voting to defund the police.

Those are the people, the law enforcement officers, who are risking their lives to keep our communities safe. I think, Madam Speaker, that it is important to ask safe from whom? Let's walk a little bit down memory lane and talk about some of the American citizens who are no longer with us today because of people who came into this country illegally because of Joe Biden's open border, because of the policies that the Democratic Party on the other side, Madam Speaker, wants us to go back to.

They want open borders. That is why they are voting ``no.'' Make no mistake about it, this vote is about opening the border again. This vote is about defunding the police. We cannot let that happen.

Why? Let's remember Laken Riley. Did some on the other side already forget who Laken Riley is? She was a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed while jogging near the University of Georgia campus in February 2024. The man convicted of her murder was, yes, a man from Venezuela who entered into the United States illegally.

Let's talk about Sheridan Gorman, Madam Speaker. She was an 18-year- old Loyola University Chicago freshman who was shot and killed in March 2026. The suspect: Jose Medina-Medina, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela.

Stephanie Minter, a Virginia mother, was fatally stabbed at a Fairfax County bus stop in February of this year.

Yes, anybody who votes ``no'' is voting against the people who are stopping criminal illegals who are murdering American citizens still to this day. Yet, they are going to cast that ``no'' vote, Madam Speaker.

Stephanie Minter, who was murdered, her suspect, Abdul Jalloh, came here illegally, an immigrant from Sierra Leone with over 30 police arrests, 30 times arrested, over and over again, until finally he murdered somebody.

Look at these sanctuary cities. By the way, go look at who is running these sanctuary cities.

When these Democrats are coming up here, saying that they want to grab more power, asking you to give them power again, look at what they do with power. They install sanctuary city policies. They let murderers get out of prison over and over again until they murder innocent citizens. You can just go look at the leadership of every Democratic- run city in America right now. Most of the States have major losses of population because of their policies.

Now, where are they going? Mostly to red States, States that are run by Republicans who want to lower taxes, who want to have commonsense policy, to get away from the crazy policies that we are seeing over and over again in these Democrat-run States.

In fact, the policies are so bad that you can look at the city of Chicago and know you will no longer be able to go to the city of Chicago to see the Chicago Bears play football. Illinois ran the Chicago Bears out of the State of Illinois, out of the city of Chicago over to Indiana because they are so antibusiness. Because they are so antiworker, and because they won't stand up and protect their own citizens.

Mr. Speaker, you listen to the people that get up here, day in and day out, and attack President Trump over and over again. What they don't tell you is that because President Trump focused on border security and protecting the American citizens, we now have the lowest murder rate in the United States in over 100 years because President Trump cares about people and their communities.

Look at some of these Democrat-run cities where they let illegals out over and over again. Go back to the suspect who murdered Stephanie Minter in Virginia. He was in prison and let out over 30 times.

Let's talk about Kayla Hamilton, a 20-year-old Maryland woman strangled to death in 2022 by a known MS-13 gang member from El Salvador.

Rachel Morin, a Maryland mother of five, was murdered while exercising on a hiking trail in 2023. Yes, it was someone who came here illegally, who murdered her, who was finally later convicted of that crime.

Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old Houston girl, was sexually assaulted and then murdered in June of 2024, Mr. Speaker. Two Venezuelans who entered the United States illegally were charged in that case.

Keep in mind, every one of these I am reading, we are about to have a vote to say: Should we have people working for ICE, working for CBP, protecting us from these violent criminals, who are coming into our country illegally to kill our citizens? And you are going to be able to vote yes or no.

And if you vote no, you are saying you want these people to keep coming in. Mr. Speaker, you are voting to defund the law enforcement officers who are going to stop these criminals from coming into our communities.

It is not like some hypothetical. It has happened over and over and over again. Sadly, there are more.

Luis Jocsan Nanez Lopez, a 15-year-old, was shot and killed while trying to protect his mother from an attempted rape by an illegal in Kentucky. The killer was a Mexican national.

Hallie Helgeson and Brady Heiling, 18- and 19-year-olds, were killed in a car crash by a Honduran national who was driving intoxicated in the wrong direction on a highway. This took place in a sanctuary jurisdiction in Wisconsin. They act like they are doing you a favor by looking the other way and not at the laws, except their own citizens are dying.

Megan Bos was killed by a Mexican in Illinois in 2025. After the killer's court appearance, a sanctuary city judge freed him onto the streets of Chicago. There that is again. Fortunately, it was ICE who rearrested that murderer.

And they want to make ICE out to be the enemy? They are defending the murderers. Over and over again they want to defund law enforcement, to stand up for criminals who are wreaking havoc in our communities all across this country.

Thank God, we have a President in Donald Trump who is willing to stand up for the American people and protect us, to keep us safe in our homeland. That is the whole purpose of the Department of Homeland Security. It is why it needs to be fully funded. We need to pass this bill. It should have been done months ago. And it should not be partisan. Everybody should vote for it.

But when that board lights up, you are going to see who is standing with the American people to keep us safe in our home and who is going to defend the criminals.

Mr. Speaker, I stand with the American people and say, let's keep our communities safe. Let's pass this bill. Let's fund this department.

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