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Supporting Cuban People

Floor Speech

By: John Rose
By: John Rose
Date: July 21, 2021
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Foreign Affairs

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Mr. ROSE. Madam Speaker, I rise tonight because I am outraged by the Biden administration's lack of effort to protect our Nation from the invasion of illegal immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

I have visited our southern border twice now this year, and I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, it is a full-blown catastrophe on every front: humanitarian, national security, and public health.

President Biden's irrational reversal of the Trump administration's border security policies, like canceling construction of the border wall, reversing the remain in Mexico policy, and sending mixed messages about America's southern border, is why we face this unmitigated disaster today.

There has been a surge of crossings, with more than 188,000 border crossings reported in June, a 450 percent increase from just a year ago.

On top of that, more than 7,500 new COVID cases were reported in detention centers from April through the beginning of July--a surge at the border, a surge of COVID.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have seized 7,450 pounds of fentanyl so far this year, enough to kill every American several times over, and it is just getting worse.

States across the country are feeling the consequences of the border crisis, including my home State of Tennessee. Although our State is 1,000 miles from the southern border, Tennesseans will bear the brunt of this disaster in many ways, including in our school systems, healthcare systems, and police departments, as planeloads of illegal immigrants are offloaded in our communities.

We must reestablish law and order at the southern border by finishing the border wall, fully reinstating the remain in Mexico policy, robustly implementing title 42 authority, and sending a clear message that our borders are not open to illegal crossings.

When it comes to the border crisis, Americans, including Tennesseans, are looking for leadership, not denials, deflections, and distractions from our sleepy leaders in the White House.

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