Secure the Border Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. JORDAN. Mr. Speaker, since Joe Biden took office: 5 million illegal border crossings have been encountered, another 2 million illegal aliens have been released into the country, and over 370,000 unaccompanied alien children have been encountered on the border. The Biden administration has lost track of 85,000 kids of that number. Nearly 200 on the terrorist watch list have been encountered on our border. At midnight tonight, it gets worse. It gets worse tonight.

Here is the kicker. It has all been done intentionally. Day one, January 20, 2021, Joe Biden said: No more wall. No more remain in Mexico. If you get to the border, you get released into the country.

Well, shazam, everyone is going to come. That is exactly what has happened. They are all coming. Tonight, it gets worse.

It was done in a premeditated fashion, deliberate fashion, purposely. It was all done intentionally. I cannot figure out why they would do this.

Who seized on this? The cartels. They are making tons of money exploiting people and kids. It is terrible.

This bill, the strongest immigration enforcement legislation in modern times, does all kinds of good things on E-Verify, visa overstay, parole authority, the Flores decision, unaccompanied alien children, and asylum reforms.

The best part of this bill, the key component of this bill, is where we say that if you come to our country, you will get, according to the law, to file your asylum claim. We are going to follow the law, but you will be detained or returned while your claim is adjudicated.

We changed the incentive. If you don't do that, you never solve this problem. That is what this legislation does.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the leadership of our Conference, the Speaker, the leader, the whip, and the Conference chair, their staff, Andrea Loving and her staff for doing an amazing job.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Biggs, Mr. Bentz, Mr. Roy, Mr. Tiffany, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Carter, Mr. Moran, Chairman Green, and Mr. Diaz Balart, who sponsored the legislation.

The guy who deserves the most thanks is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement. Without his work, his effort, and how he has stuck to this issue and got it done, this doesn't happen.

This is a good day for the country. Let's hope that the Senate will take up this bill after we pass it. This is the only thing that will help stop the craziness that, for 28 months now, has been going on, on our southern border.

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