West El Dorado News

Measure next goes to the Senate

Washington, D.C. – Representative McClintock (CA-05) today delivered remarks on the House floor in support of HR 2, the Secure the Border Act of 2023. The legislation passed the House on May11 and now goes to the Senate.  Representative McClintock is a co-author of the legislation.

The Congressman’s remarks:

Speech in Support of HR 2 
Rep. Tom McClintock
May 11, 2023

Mr. Speaker:

On Inauguration Day our border was secure.  The Trump policies had slowed illegal immigration to a trickle.  That afternoon, Joe Biden reversed these policies and in the last 27 months, the Democrats have deliberately admitted more than 2.1 million illegal aliens into our country.  That’s the population of Nebraska.  While the Border Patrol was overwhelmed, more than 1.5 million known got-aways entered as well.  That is an additional population larger than Hawaii.  All of this In 27 months.
But as we can see at this very moment, this was only a prelude to the mass invasion now unfolding before our eyes.  The Border Patrol Union warned yesterday:
“Field reports from agents across the southern border verify the enormity of this tidal wave of illegal aliens coming now.  Huge groups are overwhelming stations and it is completely out of control.  Massive releases beginning and it's going to get much worse.”
For Americans, this means classrooms packed with non-English speaking students; hospitals flooded with illegals demanding uncompensated care; violent criminal cartels and gangs introduced into our communities; fentanyl killing an average 300 Americans every day; suppressed wages for working Americans and the collapse of the social safety net that was supposed to take care of Americans in need.
For the millions of illegal migrants, it means exposure to hazardous conditions that have claimed two thousand lives that we know of.  Many arrive sick, traumatized, starved, brutalized, raped, and deeply in debt to the cartels.     
These are NOT asylum seekers.  Asylum is a specific refuge for those singled out by their government for persecution because of race, religion or political beliefs.  Asylum is achieved by crossing the first international border that separates you from that government.  Asylum is not an open invitation to bum rush our borders.  But the Democrats have made it precisely that.
If you make a fraudulent asylum claim, you now receive immediate admission into our country, you get cash, a range of free goods and services, and indefinite residency and work authorizations.  When your claim is ultimately rejected by a clogged court system years in the future, you will not be deported and need only wait for the next amnesty.
This makes a mockery of legitimate asylum, the sovereignty of our nation, and the rule of law.  Our bill removes the incentives to break our laws by reinforcing the existing requirement that forbids releasing asylum claimants into the country until their claim is resolved.
This bill also returns unaccompanied minors safely home as we already do with children from Mexico or Canada.  But this administration sends all other children to poorly vetted so-called sponsors in this country with little concern or follow-up over the conditions into which we have abandoned them.  Many become indentured servants – slaves – to the cartels and their gangs, forced into sex trafficking, labor trafficking, drug trafficking – under horrific conditions.
The only way to stop this trafficking is to return these children safely home.  The cartels are paid thousands of dollars to bring them to the United States and that will stop the moment we return these children home.  Every Border Patrol agent I’ve talked to tells me that is the ONLY way to stop this heart-breaking tragedy. 
And for those crossing as families – this measure keeps them together.  It allows them to make their asylum claim and then to wait in Mexico, or in a family residential center, until their claim is heard.   This measure removes the incentives for cartels to traffic children to pose as families in order to be automatically released into our country as the Democrats are doing.
I want to thank Mr. Biggs, Mr. Roy, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Carter of Texas, Mr. Johnson of Louisiana, Mr. Tiffany, and Mr. Moran for their work that comprises the Judiciary section of this bill, and thank you to the many members who have helped craft it into its current form.
Yes, we are a nation of immigrants.  And we are also a nation of laws.  Millions of immigrants come to our country LEGALLY.  They obey our laws; they wait patiently and do everything our country asks of them.  Meanwhile, millions of illegal immigrants are cutting in line in front of them, aided, abetted, encouraged and rewarded by Democratic officials.
It's been said that this bill has no chance in the Senate and that if it did pass, it would be vetoed by the President.  THAT is a question the American people must ultimately decide before it is too late.  

Original source can be found here