Providing for Consideration of H.R. South Asian Heart Health Awareness and Research Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Continental Divide Trail Completion Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Susan Muffley Act of and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mr. GUEST. Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose the previous question so that we may immediately consider H. Res. 1255.

This resolution expresses support for the United States Border Patrol agents and condemns the Biden administration for politicizing the measures taken by mounted Border Patrol agents to respond to an influx of Haitian refugees in Del Rio, Texas, in September of last year.

During the encounter, Border Patrol agents performed the job that they were trained to do. Afterward, photos were released that showed agents using long reins to control their horses. Those photos were then used by the Biden administration to manufacture an attack on law enforcement agents, a common political tactic that we have seen implemented by those on the far left in movements such as defund the police and abolish ICE.

Before any inquiry was made into the events, we saw President Biden and those in his administration attack these officers to pander to the progressives within their party. Before the investigation even began, President Biden made the promise to make those agents pay. Even after the allegations were debunked by CBP and the journalist who took the photographs, President Biden and those on the left who supported those false claims refused to retract their statements and refused to apologize to the agents they publicly attacked.

We were promised a swift investigation, but the investigation took months to complete. Once completed, the allegations of assault were dropped and replaced with punishments for using offensive language and other minor infractions.

National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd summed it up best when he said this: ``The moment he made those statements''-- referring to President Joe Biden--``the moment he said those agents would pay, the moment he convicted those agents without any evidence, without any investigation, there could be no doubt in anyone's mind that these investigators were going to come back with some sort of charges against the agents.''

Mr. Speaker, I have been to the border. I have spoken to law enforcement agents stationed there. They all say the same thing. They all say that this administration has abandoned them.

They feel that President Biden, Vice President Harris, and others in the Biden administration manufactured a political scandal by targeting the agents who are working every day to secure our border and protect our Nation. This is the last thing these hardworking agents deserve.

The morale of our Border Patrol agents remains low due to extreme pressure and long hours exacerbated by the President's border crisis. The last thing they need is for their elected officials to turn their back on them, or, in the case of Del Rio, publicly betray them.

They need to know that their elected officials stand with them, stand with them to secure our border and to end this crisis that is bringing drugs into our country and endangering the lives of law enforcement agents, American citizens, and the immigrants themselves.

That is why this legislation is so important. Congress must continue to express its support of our law enforcement agents and work with them, not against them, to secure our border. The law enforcement community needs to know that this Congress stands with them.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage all my colleagues to vote ``no'' on ordering the previous question so that we can send a simple message to the men and women who are working overtime to secure our border and secure our Nation: We stand with them, and we will never abandon them.

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