Secure the Border Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I am up here in my capacity as not only a United States Congressman, but also one of the co-chairs of the House Border Security Caucus.

On a monthly basis, we have had dozens of speakers come to speak to our Caucus. Normally, there are probably 30 who are present, but we have an enrollment in our Caucus of about 60 to 70, quite frankly.

It is amazing to me to hear our colleagues and friends on the other side of the aisle talk about humanity and humane treatment because I remember in the previous administration, when we had these so-called kids in cages.

I took a congressional delegation down to the Rio Grande Valley, we went to Donna, Texas, to see one of the detention facilities. After that, we went out to Carrizo Springs to the HHS facility there. Then we went, at a later time, to Fort Bliss out in El Paso. At each one of those, we saw these so-called kids in cages.

Then we went back after the change of administration and dramatically, there was nothing really different, except the enormous numbers of detainees in pods that were equipped to hold maybe 25 or 30, and they had a couple hundred people packed in these little pods.

I remember being told by the facilities there that the administration, the Biden administration, at the time that these unaccompanied children were coming in--and we are talking about 13,000 per month of unaccompanied children coming in now--that they were being so well cared for, and they were being reunited with their families and their loved ones.

I remember asking the folks who were in charge of these facilities, okay, if they are being taken care of, let me ask you a question because I have 17 grandkids. Kids mean a lot to me. My wife and I have been married 50 years. We have 5 children and now 17 grandkids. Kids need to be cared for, without question.

I said, are you doing any vetting of these so-called families?

Are you doing background checks?

Are you doing criminal history checks on them?

Oh, well, we don't have the resources to do that.

Are you doing DNA testing?

Well, we don't have DNA. We don't have the resources to do DNA testing, as well. Although during the Trump administration they were doing some DNA testing.

So now we come to the point where there are 85,000 unaccounted for children, UACs, under this administration's watch.

Where are these kids?

They are supposed to be followed up on by the authorities and the administration where these children are being sent. There are 85,000 that are unaccounted for.

We have seen a skyrocketing of violations of child labor laws. We know that there are some real shady deals going on in this country and that human trafficking, sex slavery, et cetera, is rampant.

Is this part of that deal? I am not up here pointing fingers in an accusatory way. But if you can't keep up with 85,000 UACs, we have got some real problems in this administration.

We have also had conversations with Alejandro Mayorkas, who is the DHS Secretary. I actually led that meeting. Of course, he is not under oath talking to our caucus.

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Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, we are being told that Mr. Mayorkas says that he has operational control over the border. We are being told that his policies are actually being successful. We are told that we have a secure border.

Let me tell you something: We have anything but a secure border when you have 5 million people who come across our border, all of them getting a free education.

I am 300 miles away from the border. My district is Houston over to Louisiana. We have a school district there that is growing faster than just about any district in the country, and it is because of the influx of illegal aliens. We are mandated to not only provide them with healthcare but also with an education.

This is an enormous burden on our people, the local governments, and the school districts that we have. This bill needs to be passed. I urge my colleagues very strongly to vote ``yes'' on this.

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