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Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, some of the political rhetoric and political opportunism is at an all-time high of ridiculous on this issue of immigration. Let's take a step back and let's think through this, and let us reason together as Americans.

No American who I have talked to in my district in west Texas or beyond, has any problem with folks immigrating to this great Nation. We are a Nation of immigrants. But we are a Nation of laws.

And just like if I took folks out of the unemployment line and took them to your office and sat them in your office and said, you have got to hire them, or you are heartless. You don't care about them.

You would look at me like I had three heads, and you would say, they have got to go through an application process. We have got to vet them. We need to know that they have the merit to fill the job, that they are competent, that they have the moral character, that they are qualified.

There is not a single Democrat, if I brought them people from that unemployment line, who would just hire them on account of my threats of their being heartless and any other fear tactic. Why would we be any different with the standards of citizenship in this great Nation? Why?

Most of these kids coming over here are unaccompanied, about 83 percent, and then some with their parents. There has been this recent uproar about kids coming and being separated from their parents. I don't like that. I wish it weren't the case. I am prepared to fix it. That is what we should do in Congress, fix the laws when we find something that is not working.

This President is just enforcing the laws. We haven't had a President enforce the laws. We haven't had the respect for the Constitution and the rule of law in so long that we are outraged that a President would actually just hold people accountable for breaking the law and violating our sovereignty.

Then there is that little hang-up with the 1997 Flores case, which is the law of the land that says you can't hold a minor for more than 20 days. That is the law. If you want it changed, then write your Congressman, call your Congressman, and get him to fix it. Instead of holding press conferences on the border, why don't you get back to work, roll up your sleeves, and work across the aisle to solve the problem.

Remember, most of these kids are coming from a place where they presumably fear for their lives. Their lives are at risk every day, and now they are in a country where they get three hot meals, and they get shelter. They don't have to worry about whether somebody is going to kill them. I would say that is a great start, for a benevolent country to do that.

Meanwhile, we have to process folks who don't come to a port of entry--as is the law of the land--to present yourself as an asylum seeker. We have the law for that. We have an answer: Present yourself at a port of entry.

But if you cross the border any other place, then you are going to be caught now, under this President, arrested, and processed for your hearing. And if found unlawfully to be here, you will be deported. That is the way it works. That is the way it ought to work.

Now, international law says that if you are fleeing for your life, you should stop in the first safe country you come to. That would be Mexico. That is where they should all be, if they are truly asylum seekers. If you are truly afraid for your life, you ought to be grateful that you are safe, that you don't have to worry, that you trust that the process will work, and that you will be vetted and found legitimate.

I don't want to separate the parents from their kids. This President doesn't want to either.

Mr. Speaker, Congress needs to get off our duff, do our job, and fix the problem. Everybody who is running around, taking this opportunity to fly whatever flag he or she wants to fly on this, let's solve the problem.

In Texas, illegal immigration costs us $6,000 per illegal immigrant, $12 billion, over 10 percent of our budget, and $100 billion nationwide. It is a huge cost: education, healthcare, the list goes on. We are already insolvent, $21 trillion in debt. We can't afford to make good on the promises for our kids and grandkids.

What is wrong with this picture?

Mr. Speaker, we have to work together to solve this problem, secure the border, stop illegal immigration, move to a merit-based immigration system, and move this country forward as leaders.

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