Termination of National Emergency Declared By the President on February 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, in February, I authored a resolution to reject the President's emergency declaration at the border. Both Chambers of Congress, a Democratic House and a Republican Senate, rejected that sham declaration by passing the resolution. Today, we consider a similar resolution to terminate the President's emergency declaration.

A border wall does nothing to make us safer or address the real humanitarian crisis at our border. This time around, the President is raiding actual national security priorities to build his wall. He is stealing millions of dollars reserved for important projects that range from training sites for our servicemembers to the schools for their children, to our military readiness projects.

It is shameful that our servicemen and -women are collateral damage in his quest to build this racist wall. It is a disgrace that money is being stolen from over two dozen States and territories, ensuring that American taxpayers--not Mexico, as the President repeatedly promised-- are actually paying for the wall.

For example, in my district alone, we are losing out on $18.5 million in military construction funds. In the State of Texas, that number is $38.5 million. The total impact for the entire country is over $1 billion.

This should be shameful to all of my colleagues that this administration would leave our military families out to dry. I ask all of my colleagues to vote their conscience and to vote their district.

I would also add that the heavy burden of this wall will be felt by the people in the Rio Grande Valley and in south Texas. Miles and miles of private property, Texans' land, will be taken to build Donald Trump's wall.

There have been stories about how people's property will be split; some of it in front of the wall, some of it behind the wall. Some people, there will be the wall in front of them, and they will have to drive and use a clicker to open the wall to come into what would be considered the United States. Those are American citizens who are literally going to be behind the wall in Texas because of Donald Trump.

This is a shame. This was a simple campaign promise. This doesn't do anything to keep us safer. I hope, as we did last time, that this House of Representatives, Republicans and Democrats, will vote overwhelmingly to terminate the President's emergency declaration.

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