Inflation and Our Economy

Floor Speech

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Mr. GROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, we will talk a little bit about the border again and what I think is kind of an inappropriate way to handle some recent events that happened down there.

First of all, we have got to give the backdrop, right. We are all familiar with the most recent statistics available. For April of 2022, 184,000 people crossed in the country that were not appropriately vetted and we do not particularly want here.

A year ago, that 184,000 number was at 66,000. Two years ago, under the prior administration, it was 5,700. So, first of all, the American public should kind of let that sink in: 5,700 a month to 66,000 a month to 184,000 a month. Horrific.

Part of monitoring the border is showing respect for the Border Patrol. I have been on the border eight times over the last 2 years, and I think they are the most professional of law enforcement agencies I have run into.

Last September, when potential Haitian immigrants tried to cross the Rio Grande and get up on shore, agents on horses used reins to protect the Haitians from the horses' hooves.

Every agent I have talked to felt this was an entirely appropriate way to protect the Haitians who were trying to come into our country. But President Biden, the new expert on horsemanship, felt that the new immigrants were strapped, whatever that meant, and said that they would have to pay.

Now, the Department of Homeland Security claims that the Border Patrol agents should be disciplined for protecting the Haitians from the horses' hooves.

Since then, President Biden's budget, the last budget which he signed, the last appropriation bill, provided millions of dollars for monitoring and disciplining the Border Patrol.

This is kind of a mental problem we have seen before in Washington. It reminds me when we had record murders in our big cities, and Washington responded by saying that we had to pass a bill making it easier to sue the police. In other words, all these people dying, records in the last 2 years in Milwaukee--which is adjacent to my district, and they think the problem is the police.

In any event, that is what the Biden administration did. They claimed the police were racist, making it easier to sue police. Obviously, that is inappropriate.

The other thing I think is inappropriate is we hired a new Border Patrol head who used to be a police chief. When he was a police chief, he wouldn't cooperate with ICE when they had problems with people who they were trying to deport or people who were here illegally.

I mean, can you imagine what type of effect that has on the Border Patrol agents when the person who is supposed to be the boss doesn't seem to be on board with the underlying mission?

I believe he also had a problem in which he was accused of some harassment in his prior job. Now, we have got to hire some more Border Patrol agents here, and the way to do it is to not have the administration treat these brave, honorable people inappropriately.

So I call upon Congress to try to weigh in with the President. If you have taken a trip down to the border, tell him how great the Border Patrol agents are.

Make that an attractive job because we need top-flight agents to save our country from people who don't belong here and also to save our country from the sea of fentanyl that is flowing in here and that apparently is not something that concerns Congress a whole lot.

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