Providing for Consideration of H.R. Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. American Dream and Promise Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Farm Workforce Modernization Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Preventing Paygo Sequestration; Providing for Consideration of H.J. Res. Removing the Deadline for the Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment; and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend, Congresswoman Fischbach, for yielding me time.

I urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question so we can take up my bill, H.R. 1897, the REACT Act.

My bill would require the Department of Homeland Security to test all migrants illegally crossing our border who they plan to release into our communities for COVID-19.

Yesterday, I traveled to El Paso, Texas, to meet with the men and women of the United States Customs and Border Protection. I saw firsthand the crisis they are facing and believe it is our job as Congress to do everything in our power to address it.

CBP is currently encountering more than 3,000 migrants on average per day, which is rapidly approaching levels seen at the height of the 2019 crisis. To put this in perspective, President Obama's Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, stated during his tenure that 1,000 apprehensions a day was considered a bad day. We are at more than three times that now, and on top of it, we continue to face a global pandemic.

In February, CBP encountered over 100,000 migrants on the southwest border trying to illegally enter our country. This does not include those migrants who may have gotten away or evaded detection, some of whom may be positive for COVID-19.

The Department of Homeland Security announced today that we are on track to encounter the highest number of migrants along the southwest border in the last 20 years. Seasonally, migration gets worse in the spring months of April and May, so we are likely to see these numbers increase over the coming months.

Yesterday, I heard directly from the Border Patrol agents that few, if any, of the thousands of migrants we saw in CBP custody are being tested for COVID-19. These migrants, and children, in particular, are being held in facilities that are already at capacity, and often for longer than the 72-hour limit permitted by law. According to recent reports, as of March 8, 185 migrants released into Brownsville, Texas, have tested positive for COVID-19.

Border security and immigration is not an issue that only affects border States. It affects every community across the country. If the Biden administration continues to release these migrants, they will not stay in our border communities. Instead, they will travel to every State. Without proper testing and quarantine, they are likely to bring COVID-19 with them, and the communities to which they are transferred are unaware.

As a physician and former director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, I know that the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over. We must ensure that any individuals the Biden administration insists on releasing into our communities do not have COVID-19. This is also why I support reinstating the PAUSE Act, to prevent the introduction of new COVID-19 cases from Canada and Mexico.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation to require that we keep all of our communities and these migrants safe and to stop spreading COVID-19 by voting ``no'' on the previous question.

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