U.S. Border Crisis

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Wisconsin for holding the floor down here with--I am quite confident--riveting expositions on any number of great things because my friend from Wisconsin is a great American, and I do appreciate the gentleman.

It is important that we recognize the situation that this country currently faces with respect to our border crisis.

It is so beyond understanding that the so-called greatest country in the history of the world could allow an environment in which, as we speak here on the floor, a little girl is getting sold into the sex trafficking trade in Houston or San Antonio in a stash house; or as happened last summer, 53 migrants died in a tractor trailer, cooked in the Texas summer heat; or 40 migrants who burned up just this past week. All, almost a direct consequence of the chosen policies of this administration. That is the simple truth.

We have free will as the greatest country in the history of the world, the strongest country in the history of the world. We have to use that free will and make choices. Are we going to be a sovereign Nation that secures its borders and ensures safe passage and avenues for people around the world to come to this country, or are we going to allow cartels to maintain operational control of our border?

Are we going to allow cartels to use human beings as profit centers, no matter what it means for them and their well-being? Are we going allow China to exploit our borders and run fentanyl into our communities and kill Americans, or are we going to do our job and secure the border of the United States?

Those are the questions before us as Members of the House of Representatives. My message to my colleagues on this side of the aisle is: When you campaign on securing the border and you are given control of the House of Representatives, you have an obligation to actually secure the border.

To my colleagues who run around using rhetoric about what is or is not Christian-like. I will say it is inherently un-Christian to allow migrants to die and call that compassion. It is inherently un-Christian to allow Americans to die from fentanyl poisoning and say that it is un-Christian to say that we should secure the border.

It is inherently un-Christian for us to turn our backs on the responsibility of being a sovereign Nation that defends the rule of law to be the beacon of hope for people around the world to come here in the first place.

This country has done more for more people around the world than any other Nation in history. Yes, our history is about opening our arms and allowing millions from around the globe to seek freedom and opportunity here, and we must continue to be. That must be built on the rule of law.

If we do not maintain the rule of law, then we forsake the very thing that attracts people from around the world. People come here from Venezuela, they come here from Cuba because of the rule of law. The rule of law is supposed to matter.

For people to hide behind asylum claims and hide behind exploitations of our law, to flood our border, such that we no longer have control of it, such that then the law becomes meaningless, turns the rule of law on its head and means we will not be able to be the place of refuge for the people around the world who need it.

More than that, we should be exporting the rule of law. We should be improving conditions in the Western Hemisphere and around the world rather than importing lawlessness and importing fentanyl and killing our own people and undermining the lives of migrants.

On March 13 a human smuggler transporting 11 illegal aliens in Ozona, Texas, was being chased by law enforcement, and during the chase the smuggler crashed into another vehicle killing the other occupants, including a 7-year old girl and her grandmother. The victims' names are Maria Alvarez and her granddaughter Emilia Tambunga. Two migrants perished from the crash. That is one example of hundreds I can give.

I run into the ranchers who find dead migrants on their south Texas ranches. Madam Speaker, 1,000 migrants have died along the southwest border last year.

The fact is we are seeing, as we speak, thousands rush our border from El Paso down along the Texas border because of the failed policies of this administration.

We have an obligation as a body, but while our Democrat colleagues bury their heads in the sand and refuse to acknowledge the crisis at the border, Republicans have an obligation to do exactly what they said they would do and what they campaigned to do, and that is to secure the border of the United States.

Let me be very clear. Securing the border of the United States does not mean more money. It does not mean more technology. It does not mean more Border Patrol agents. It does not mean throwing money at the problem. It means actually doing the job of enforcing the laws of the United States and embracing policies that will stop the abuse of our law, as this administration is doing to undermine it, to allow people to flood our zone, and to allow cartels to exploit it, which harms Americans and migrants.

We absolutely can and will ensure that people who have a credible claim to asylum will be able to have that claim heard while making sure that it is not exploited by cartels to rush our border with thousands of people and make it such that it is bad for them and us while fentanyl pours in killing Americans and undermining our security. That is actually our job.

I submit, Madam Speaker, that we should honor the promises that we made that gave us the majority because I can promise you if we try to pass border security that doesn't actually stop the problem, then we will no longer be in the majority.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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