Securing the Southern Border
Floor Speech
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Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, yesterday, the House Freedom Caucus held an offsite unsanctioned hearing on our circumstances at the border.
Now, we did that because we can't have a hearing right here in the Capitol. It is not allowed. The majority won't allow us to talk about it, doesn't want to talk about it themselves.
We are expecting the State of the Union Address from the President in about a month, and I suspect he won't talk about it then either. But the American people want to talk about it. They want to know about it, and they deserve to know about it. It is happening in their country.
Madam Speaker, Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution says that the President shall faithfully execute the laws. We have laws on the books, passed in the House, sent to the Senate, and ratified with a signature by the President of the United States that are being violated. They are being violated--not just disregarded--but actively violated by the President of the United States.
Actively violated. What does that mean? What is that? What would you call it when the Chief Executive Officer, the President of the United States, who takes an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution and the law of the land, not only disregards them but actively works to subvert them? What do you call that? I will let you decide that.
We learned a lot of things at the hearing. It was a great time. One of the things that you might not know as the Speaker's designee, as citizens, is that there is an organization, the International Organization for Migration within the United Nations, the United Nations that your tax dollars pay for. We don't know how much it spends on IOM, but the IOM is counseling people to come across our border illegally, counseling them so they can subvert the laws that your duly- elected legislature has passed, have been signed by the President and should be enforced by the executive branch.
And you are paying. Your tax dollars are going to pay for people to break the law to come into your country illegally, up to 2 million-- probably over 2 million--that the border has touched in the last year. Who knows how many there are that they haven't even interacted with? And that is just 1 year.
Madam Speaker, how long? How long will this go on?
Today is Groundhog Day. I am from Pennsylvania. We had the chief prognosticator, Punxsutawney Phil, who is predicting another 6 weeks of winter. Right? This is Groundhog Day in America for every citizen because every day when they wake up, it is not another 6 weeks, it is not another 6 minutes, it is not another 6 months. We hope, the good Lord, it is not going to be another 6 years. But this keeps happening. This keeps happening every single day. It is unacceptable.
There was a movie made about it, which was a comedy, but this isn't a comedy. This is a tragedy. This is horrific for our country. It is undermining the very things that we stand for, and we ask, we beseech our President to make it end.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Mrs. Boebert).
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Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Tiffany), a great member of our effort here.
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Mr. PERRY. Right.
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Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman, and so well said.
Look, we all want to help. All of us want to help. We earned this position to speak on behalf of our constituents in our home districts. We all want to help; America is the most generous country on the planet. And we know that there are people that are wanting, that are hurting, that are seeking a better opportunity.
We have a process here. If you ask the American people to obey the law, why is it too hard to ask people that aren't American citizens to obey the law? Yet, that is exactly what is happening. That is exactly what's happening. It is unacceptable.
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Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Mrs. Greene).
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Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I don't know if I can help her with that. I was also in business, we had a mechanical contracting business. It is hard, heavy work, and we too hired American citizens. We had to have documentation for the folks that we hired.
Wouldn't it be great though, since you brought it up, the COMPETES Act, we all want to compete better with China. We know that they are our adversary. They consider us the enemy. First of all, the COMPETES Act doesn't do that, it doesn't do anything to secure America from an aggressive bellicose China.
Shouldn't the COMPETES Act be about a competitive America? What about the competition that American citizens are in in their own country for their own jobs with people that are here illegally. Shouldn't the COMPETES Act be about making sure people don't come here illegally?
Let's face it, some folks already talked about the policy that is-- the Border Patrol said, we need the policy. Policy is in place. Laws are in place. Article II, section 3 says the President will faithful execute. But if the President doesn't faithfully execute the laws that are in place, whether we call the COMPETES Act something against China or whether the COMPETES Act is about American citizens who have to compete in their own country against foreigners, if no one is going to faithfully execute it, it is not going to matter.
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Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I think that is a great question. There are over 100,000 dead from overdose due to fentanyl coming through our southern border from Communist China, and yet we are locked down in many places. In the United States in our capital city, people from across the country can't come here and get a meal. You can't even come into the Capitol.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Clyde), maybe he can answer his colleague's question because I sure can't.
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Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I inquire with the Chair the time remaining.
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Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy), who has been on the front lines of this issue.
Madam Speaker, I don't want to take from his time, but I just want to add this. People often say to me: What would you cut? What would you cut? Well, you know what I would cut from the State and foreign ops budget, money going to the UN to pay for people to come to our country and cross our border illegally. How about cutting that, sir.
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Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, if Mr. Roy would join me in a colloquy in the remaining 2 minutes. Mr. Roy sent a letter asking for the report on these Border Patrol agents that had been suspended for allegedly whipping these Haitian illegal crossers. Of course it never happened. Even the photographer that took the pictures said that it never happened.
The only thing that was abused or whipped was the truth and the reputation of our fine Border Patrol agents. Where does that stand right now?
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Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, no apology. What about for lying to the American people and creating this division. Didn't our Chief Executive run and say that he was going to unite the country? Didn't he say that? He was going to unite the country. Isn't this an opportunity. Release the report--look, none of us are perfect, we all fall short. I think that is one thing we can agree on.
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Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, when you fall short, is there something wrong with apologizing for your failures?
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Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, the Secretary knows it and the Secretary just went to the border and talked to Border Patrol. What did they tell him?
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Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleagues from the Freedom Caucus for coming and talking about what is happening on the border. I know that the left and the majority party in this House refuse to do it, certainly the President refuses to do it, but we don't refuse to do it. We are going to do it because our country is in peril; our families are in peril; our communities are in peril, and somebody has got to say something and do something about it.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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