House Freedom Caucus

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLOUD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for recognizing me tonight.

Mr. Speaker, tonight I speak to the humanitarian and criminal crisis at our southern border.

This crisis has been permitted to exist because of Congress' failure to act. For over 30 years, the American people have been promised results, but they have received empty promises.

We know from history that our southern border wall works. This is not a new concept. Where we have implemented a wall, we have seen great success in curbing illicit activity.

Our Nation is a generous nation, one of the most diverse in the world, and our generosity is being taken advantage of by illegal cartels across our southern border. These cartels have created a humanitarian and criminal crisis that abuses the rule of law and costs innocent lives.

Cartels recruit and send migrants across our border, making thousands of dollars a person, in a strategy to tax our human resources and distract from our enforcement against drug trafficking.

As the Representative of the 27th District of Texas, the southern part of my district is just 2 hours from the border.

I know the good men and women who serve on our southern border, and they always prioritize life. Cartels know this and take advantage of it.

Failure to complete a southern border wall and loopholes in our asylum laws have created a magnet for illegal immigration. According to DHS, around 80 percent of asylum cases that go to a hearing are rejected by the judge as illegitimate.

DHS spokesman Tyler Houlton pointed out earlier this year that smugglers and traffickers understand our broken immigration laws better than most.

The catch-and-release process, whereby migrants come into the country and are issued a date to appear in court, often years away, are released into the interior, and it is driving this humanitarian crisis. ICE reports that the number of migrants, including many women and children seeking entry, has increased dramatically in recent years. They often find themselves at risk for assault and abuse, such as rape, beatings, kidnapping, and robbery. =========================== NOTE ===========================

December 19, 2018 on Page H10329 the following appeared: ISIS reports that the number of migrants, including many women and children seeking entry, has increased dramatically in recent years.

The online version has been corrected to read: ICE reports that the number of migrants, including many women and children seeking entry, has increased dramatically in recent years. ========================= END NOTE =========================

Tonight, Mr. Speaker, we are here advocating for an end to the humanitarian and criminal crisis on our southern border caused by Congress' failure to act. This means ending the status quo, funding border security, and closing the loopholes in our broken asylum system.

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