WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Representative John Rose (TN-6) spoke on the House Floor Wednesday on recently released data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, showing a record-number of immigrant encounters during the month of May.
The full speech, as prepared for delivery, is below:
Madam Speaker, I rise today to address another devastating record set on President Biden’s watch – this time along our southern border. Numbers released last week from U.S. Customs and Border Protection tell us there were more migrant encounters in May than any month on record. May was also the fourth straight month of encounters reaching more than 200,000.
Here are the numbers. 239,416 total encounters. That’s up 32% from the May before – and nearly 10x the number of encounters during the same month in 2020. 25% of migrants were repeat offenders… meaning they’ve been deported or arrested before. Agents also reported 20% more unaccompanied minors crossing the border, compared to April.
This continues to be a national security and humanitarian crisis – that’s only getting worse.
And, if you can believe it, the numbers could actually be much worse. Had it not been for a federal judge delaying the Biden Administration’s plan to end Title 42, who knows how many people would have crossed into our country illegally? Title 42 is a critical tool for our already overwhelmed border patrol agents. Yet, the Biden Justice Department continues to fight for the administration’s open border policies by appealing that judge’s decision.
Since President Biden took office, more than 700,000 people have avoided law enforcement and made their way into our country. Agents stopped at least 50 people on the terrorist screening database in just nine months. This begs the question: out of those who evaded law enforcement, how many could potentially be on the terrorist watch list?
Republicans may sound like a broken record when it comes to the border, but we wouldn’t have to talk about it so much if it were not for the broken policies of President Biden and his D-H-S Secretary.
They simply must do better.
You can watch the full speech here.
Original source can be found here.
