WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Representative John Rose (TN-6) took to the House Floor Wednesday to highlight the conditions along the U.S.-Mexico border, particularly the unprecedented number of migrant encounters and transport-related deaths.
The full speech, as prepared for delivery, is below:
Madam Speaker, June was the fourth consecutive month with more than 200,000 migrant encounters along our southern border. The total number of illegal immigrant apprehensions since this president took office now sits at more than 3.1 million. That’s on top of more than 800,000 known “got-aways.”
It's costing lives. More than 100,000 Americans – many of them young Americans – died last year of drug overdose. Those deaths were fueled by fentanyl that illegally came across our border.
Since last October, border patrol has seized more than 8,400 pounds of fentanyl. These are not just statistics. They’re people. They’re families forever shattered. Yet, this administration continues to fight to end policies like “Title 42” and “Remain in Mexico,” sending a clear message that our borders are open.
This administration is putting our economic security at risk, our national security at risk, and exacerbating a humanitarian crisis. A large and growing number of children, with limited resources, are being exploited by drug cartels to dangerously run the streets or into forced prostitution.
Additionally, over 1,000 people have died along our border since President Biden took office – many while trying to enter our country illegally. Instead of taking bold action to combat this problem, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas continues to claim our border is secure.
Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Marc Couch sees the humanitarian crisis every day along the Rio Grande Valley. He recently told Fox News that to say the border is secure is quote “a misnomer of a statement that has no truth in it.”
I agree. But I’d like to put it a different way. It’s grossly misleading. In fact, it’s just flat wrong – so much so that, it’s difficult to understand how he could in good faith believe otherwise.
Madam Speaker, I usually end these speeches by urging the president to do better with regard to our border. But the reality is, we know this administration has little appetite for securing our border and instead prefers to appeal to its far-left base. It falls on Congress to hold the executive branch accountable when it fails to uphold our laws. So, I’d like to close today by urging Congressional Democrats to do their job and as the House majority at least until January, join Republicans to hold this administration accountable.
Let’s take a break from voting on messaging bills that have no chance in the Senate. Let’s find ways to come together and secure our border. This should be a top priority for both parties – because open borders make every state a border state.
You can watch the full speech here.
Original source can be found here.
