Introducing Freshman Republican Members

Floor Speech

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Mrs. LUNA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to address the politicization of what is happening at our southern border against the American people.

Several years ago, before politics was even a factor or thought for me, I got involved as a counter-trafficking activist. During that time, I had the honor and privilege of working next to some very brave people who were working to expose what was happening with the whole immigration debate.

One of the more alarming things that I found is the more that I addressed this issue, the more that I got involved to really shed light on it to the American people, the more that I was called a ``coconut,'' the more the color of my skin became a topic of discussion, and the more that the left sought to, if anything, underestimate and undermine my capability to address this topic because of the fact that I am a conservative.

Yes, I am Hispanic. Yes, I am a veteran. Yes, I grew up and saw things that a lot of people, probably in this very body, haven't had to experience.

But what I am standing here today to say is: What I have realized over that journey--what I have realized over the past couple of years-- is that I thought that in politics some people would be here to do the right things, and I found that it is actually the exact opposite.

I found that within this body people will lie to the American people about what is happening at our southern border, not because they want to help people, not because they actually care about these issues, but because they simply seek power. I think that we are seeing that today.

Only several years ago you could see some Members of the Democrat Party, some people like former-President Barack Obama say: Don't come here, you will get hurt in the process. Yet, the media seems to forget about that.

They say now that if you are a Republican, if you embrace border security, if you want to stand up for people that are being trafficked that you are a racist, that you are xenophobic, and they seek to label us. It is simply not true.

I have been down to the border three times, and I can tell you that on my last experience down there I went with a member of the Border Patrol Union, his name is Art Del Cueto. We went down to a portion of the border that was completely open. It was on an Indian reservation. What I saw and heard down there was alarming. It was alarming for several reasons, one mainly being that the media wasn't discussing it. But also, too, one of the most horrifying stories that I heard was actually from him saying that on just regular walkie-talkies that you could purchase at Walmart, you could pick up the radio frequency of some of the ``coyotes'' working with the cartels to actually scout out women that were crossing illegally and they would be brought up to the top of these mountains and raped. That was their right of passage they would say; they would joke about it.

That is something that we should all be talking about. We pride ourselves in this country--being that we are a free country, free of slavery. Yet, that is happening every single day. We have the opportunity to fix it and we don't.

Why?

It is not because we can't fix it, we can.

It is because of partisan politics. That has to end. In 2021 alone, 147,000 unaccompanied minors were crossing along the U.S.-Mexico border. There is no question in my mind that these young people are absolutely exploited for entry and abuse of the asylum process that has been actively happening over the last couple of years, especially under this administration.

The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women estimated that 60 percent of Latin-American children caught by cartels are actually exploited for child pornography or drug trafficking purposes.

If we, as a country, cannot come together and address the simple issue of trafficking, of modern-day slavery, of the exploitation of children--minority children at that--then are we any better than a Third World country or a place like China that engages in human rights abuses every single day?

I am tired of this. I am sitting here willing to work with Members across the aisle, but I don't see that olive branch because of the fact that I am a conservative Republican. That is wrong, and that is why I am standing here today.

I hope that we, as a country, can come together. That this administration can accept responsibility for the absolutely inappropriate abuse of the media saying that they want to legalize everyone, that is encouraging people to come here and people are hurt on both sides because of it.

Madam Speaker, if there are people willing to work with me, I hope to work with them. I hope to end this awful slavery that we are seeing every single day.

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