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THE CRISIS AT THE SOUTHERN BORDER
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 4, 2021, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr. C. Scott Franklin) for 30 minutes.
General Leave
Mr. C. SCOTT FRANKLIN of Florida. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in order to revise and extend their remarks.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman?
There was no objection.
Mr. C. SCOTT FRANKLIN of Florida. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly).
Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, this has been a confusing time period I think for most of America, and why the confusion is becoming so cluttered among us all is because we are using definitions that sometimes don't seem to make sense for the situation that we are in.
So I was thinking back, and not too long ago we were told that we don't have to worry about our borders because we really don't have a crisis there, what we have is a challenge.
As we seem to constantly redefine or put different labels on what we know to be true, I think it is time for a moment of clarity. I went to Oxford Languages to find out just what a crisis is.
So this is not my definition. This is what Oxford Languages has said: A crisis is a time of intense difficulty or trouble or danger; a time when a difficult or important decision must be made.
So what is it I am talking about?
I am talking about our crisis at our borders.
So why would a guy who lives in western Pennsylvania worry about what is happening on the borders in Texas and Arizona? That is almost 2,000 miles away from where I live. That is almost 2,000 miles away from the people I represent. How could it possibly impact them?
So I would tell my friends that if you don't think this is going to have an impact in the community you live in, this is coming to a town real close to you real soon.
In Erie, Pennsylvania, we are now housing about 150 young girls who have come from the border. Now, I don't know where their starting point was. I know where their entry came, and I know now that these unaccompanied young ladies--they are 7 to 12 years old--have now been shuttled to Erie, Pennsylvania, into housing which is much better than what they were experiencing at the border. They are living there now, and I am not sure that they know what the consequences of this relocation means to them.
I have been told that of those people who have come in, those little girls who have come in, approximately 30 of them have COVID.
We sit in this House--the people's House--and we debate issues that are sometimes very confusing and very conflicting and separate us as a people. This is not an issue that should separate us. If we truly believe that there is a humanitarian crisis, then we should fix it in a humanitarian way.
I have often been told that you can't beat something with nothing. The previous administration under President Trump had a very clear policy about how we were supposed to handle the surge at our borders, a very clear process, very clear what was to take place. That all changed. As the Biden administration came in, they said, no, this policy from the previous administration is untenable, it is not humane, and it is no longer going to be in existence.
Again, Madam Speaker, you can't replace something with nothing. My question to the administration through several letters and through several requests for the HHS and the Office of Refugee Resettlement, was answered with no answer at all. So if you have no policy you have no answer.
If you continue to say that we really don't have a crisis at our border, then you are either unaware or just choose not to say what you really have in mind, and you can only do that if you don't really have anything in mind.
Madam Speaker, I think that in the people's House--and we are always defined as who is in the majority and who is in the minority and who represents whom and whose best interests are being upheld, and I would just suggest that this is the people's House. It is not called the Republic House or the Democrat House. It is called the people's House, and the people--the American people--need to have an answer to what is our policy on the border?
What is our policy going forward?
How are we going to relocate these children?
They are children. My wife and I being the mother and father of four children and grandparents of 10 children, I cannot imagine in my life handing over my grandchildren or my children to somebody I don't know and saying: Would you please get them to America where I know they will be safe, sound, and well-treated?
This is truly a crisis. More importantly, this is a dereliction of duty by the current administration. I am requesting that the Biden administration answer not just me from western Pennsylvania, the 16th Congressional District, but the people of America who deserve to know what this policy is, how it is going to be administered, and what do these contracts look like when we are transporting these children from one location to another, and, ultimately, where are they supposed to land?
Where are they supposed to find refuge?
Where are they supposed to find a loving family to take care of them?
I have been told that 90 percent of these unaccompanied children are going to end up with family members, and my question is: Where did you collect that data?
I have granddaughters who were 12, and I have granddaughters who were 7. I think it would be a difficult question to ask them what their future looks like whenever they have been shuttled off to someplace far away from home by people they don't know and then being told: Don't worry, everything is going to be fine, and 90 percent of you are going to end up with a family member.
Really?
Where is that data?
I will close with this--and I really appreciate the gentleman yielding--it is time for Americans to stand up and demand that we have an answer to what our policy is at our border.
What are we going to do with these children?
If we are truly calling this a humanitarian crisis, then we need to have a humanitarian answer. No answer, no process absolutely is not the way America works.
So I am calling on the administration today to please answer our questions. I will be in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Saturday where I will be able to physically examine where these children are, and I will come back to Congress with what I have seen happen.
Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. C. SCOTT FRANKLIN of Florida. Madam Speaker, I also rise to address the self-inflicted disaster occurring at our southern border. I, along with nine other Republicans in the House Oversight and Reform Committee, visited the border last week to see for ourselves the national security and humanitarian disaster that is wreaking havoc on our Nation.
When our Border Patrol agents are pulled from their posts to deal with the swarms of children at processing facilities, the remote border is left wide-open for the really bad folks to stroll right in. These aren't people whom we see on television wearing Biden T-shirts, looking for the nearest Border Patrol agent so they can surrender to them. These are folks in full camouflage, ski masks, and usually armed, often with automatic weapons.
These intruders who breach the remote parts of the border illegally are referred to as get-aways. Because our agents are outnumbered, usually all they can do is simply document these groups as they pass on by. The notation for the records is simply 20 plus, even though there are often 40, 60, or even 80 or more people.
In January and February alone, there were over 61,000 reported get-
aways. That is a staggering amount, but because the 20-plus documentation grossly underestimates the actual figures, agents told us the real number for the first 2 months of this year was probably closer to 120,000.
Left unchecked, we are looking at 750,000 get-aways breaking into our country this year alone. Again, these are not asylum seekers surrendering at the border. They are dangerous criminals, drug smugglers, human traffickers, and terrorists who are willing to do anything to get into America and not be caught. Once they make it to Interstate 10, just a few miles north of the border, they can have easy access to any place in the country.
This isn't a border State problem. It is an unfolding national disaster of unprecedented scope that must be addressed for the security of our country. Yet the Biden administration and my colleagues across the aisle refuse to even acknowledge the problem. So far, neither the President nor Vice President have bothered to visit the border.
We can stop this manufactured crisis.
First, we need to complete the border wall. We have construction materials laying idle in the desert. President Biden used to think the border wall was a good idea. It is time he stops cowing to the radical elements within his own party and do what he knows is right. The materials are there and the contracts to complete the work are in place, just sitting there. Just finish the job.
Second, end the practice of catch and release and re-implement the Migrant Protection Protocols that proved so successful in reducing the number of border incursions. Officers shared with us that only 10 to 12 percent of people who come here seeking asylum have legitimate cases. The rest are sent back. By requiring them to remain in Mexico while their asylum requests are adjudicated, roughly 90 percent who know their cases are bogus won't risk the journey, and those who do have legitimate causes to seek asylum will have it granted more expeditiously. That would be the humane course of action.
We are, indeed, a nation of immigrants. Many industries in my home State of Florida, including agriculture, hospitality, and construction, depend on a steady flow of legal immigrants in order to function. But for America to remain the world's brightest beacon of hope, we must acknowledge that a fundamental part of what makes it so attractive is our adherence to the rule of law.
Honest, law-abiding citizens like the Johnsons, the Coopers, and others we met at the border asked us to tell their story. They are not confident, though, that we will. They also want our government to know that they aren't looking for special consideration. These are tough people who simply want the opportunity to live and work their land in peace and security without having to live in fear. They want to know that we will not forget about them. We promised to share their story. We must not let them down.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 70
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