Secure the Border Act of 2023

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, in my 20 years in Congress, including when I was chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and as a former Federal prosecutor tasked with securing our border in Texas, I have never seen our border this chaotic, this broken. What we are witnessing today is unprecedented.

Right now, as I speak, there is a tidal wave of migrants marching across our southern border. Just yesterday, CBP apprehended over 10,000 migrants--10,000 in a single day. This is the largest human trafficking crisis I have ever witnessed in my lifetime, and it is time for Congress to act and restore control to this uncontrolled border.

While the administration and DHS Secretary Mayorkas have assured us ``the border is closed'' and that they have operational control of the border, just last month, Border Patrol Chief Ortiz testified that DHS does not have operational control of the border because the drug cartels have operational control of the border.

I know that. I have been down there. I have seen this movie before, but this is the worst movie I have seen.

It didn't have to happen. It was a self-inflicted wound. That is because, on day one, the Biden administration rescinded the Migrant Protection Protocols, otherwise known as remain in Mexico.

In my many meetings with Border Patrol agents down on the border, they tell me very bluntly that the rescission of these policies by President Biden on his very first day in office has had a direct cause and effect on the chaos at the border.

This policy was working under the last administration. Illegal immigration was dramatically declining. However, since President Biden took office in January 2021, we are witnessing a massive increase in illegal immigrant encounters and apprehensions at our southern border-- 5 million of them. The numbers don't lie.

Since President Biden took office, I repeat, there have been over 5 million migrant encounters, with at least 1.4 million known get-aways.

What is going to happen to these people? They have no legal status. They live in the shadows. The young girls are sex trafficked, and the young boys and men, their home will be MS-13.

Worse, more than 100,000 Americans have died from fentanyl flowing across the border, going from China to Mexico and across my State of Texas. That is nearly double the number of deaths in the entire Vietnam war over two decades.

Mr. Speaker, 853 migrants and counting have died trying to make the dangerous journey across the border just last year alone. This is the most recorded in history.

Thirty-five percent of women and children are raped and sexually abused throughout their journey at the hands of the brutal cartels.

What happens when they get here? We know that Mayorkas lifted the restriction so that sponsors of these children do not have to be vetted. What are we seeing?

We are seeing 10, 20, 30 children being sent to the same house, to their sponsors who have not been vetted.

This turns into a major trafficking problem right here inside the United States. When the cartels say, ``You still need to pay us more money. You need to run more drugs. You need to prostitute yourself,'' we are creating a criminal network right now inside the United States of America.

It is only going to get worse, particularly when title 42 is lifted today, the very day we are going to pass this bill.

From my point of view, as a former chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, 98 suspected terrorists attempted to enter the homeland last year. When I chaired the Homeland Security Committee, I always asked the question: How many special interest aliens, how many on the terror watch list, have tried to get in? How many have gotten in? That is just who we know about.

Think about the threat, the national security threat to the homeland, particularly after the collapse of Afghanistan and the rise of terrorism overseas.

I would argue that President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas are complicit in this crisis. The Federal Government's job is to secure borders--air, land, and sea. Unfortunately, this administration has failed to do so. They have abdicated their solemn duty to protect the homeland, to protect the American people, to protect these children.

One rescission, one stroke of the pen rescinding the remain in Mexico policy, created this chaos at the border. Don't take my word for it. Take the Chief of Border Patrol's word for it. Take the countless Border Patrol officers and agents I have talked to down on the border.

That is why I introduced this legislation, to compel the administration to solve this crisis once and for all. Congress is doing what the Biden administration has failed to do for the last 2\1/2\ years to fix our broken borders.

Our first priority must be to stem the massive flow of illegal aliens by reinstating and codifying the Migrant Protection Protocols known as remain in Mexico because it worked.

In my State, we have a saying: If it is not broken, don't fix it. It wasn't broken. It was working. They rescinded it, and now we have this crisis.

This legislation will also direct the State Department to renegotiate asylum cooperation agreements. These agreements prohibit migrants who travel throughout any countries with asylum agreements from eligibility for asylum in the United States.

Asylum is the magnet. It is the pull factor that is being abused by the cartels to make money off these children, women, and migrants.

This policy was very effective, and it worked under the prior administration. Reinstating it is a proven solution to reduce the chaos, the crisis.

By directing the Secretary of State to reauthorize and codify MPP and the ACAs, this bill bolsters the work being done on asylum reform and border security in both the House Judiciary Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee.

Finally, I would say this should not be a partisan issue. When I chaired the Homeland Security Committee, Ranking Member Thompson and I worked on many border security bills that were bipartisan. Many passed unanimously out of our committee. Yet, here we are on this partisan fight.

I think the American people deserve better than partisanship. They deserve solutions.

In my State, we witness this every day. Ranchers see dead bodies on their property and the drugs flowing in.

Secretary Mayorkas asked for a bill. Here it is. It is time that we reinstate the policies that have a proven track record of success.

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Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I will state for the record that we put in this bill a provision specifically for those paroled in the United States from Afghanistan so that this would not affect their legal status and that they can stay here in the United States.

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Mr. McCAUL. Let me just say a few things. My friends on the other side of the aisle talk about this bill being inhumane.

Really?

Is it humane under this administration to stuff 40 migrants in an 18- wheeler to die from heat and suffocation in my home State of Texas?

Is it humane for the cartels to rape and traffic little girls?

Is it humane to kill 100,000 young people in this country from the poison of fentanyl?

Is it humane, Mr. Speaker, to send children to stash houses in the United States to become sex slaves and child labor slaves that even Child Protective Services would find criminal?

That is what this administration has done.

Susan Rice, our domestic policy adviser, is quoted in The New York Times as saying that she ``vented in a note she scribbled on a memo detailing the position of advocates, who believed a pandemic-era border closure was compelling parents to send unaccompanied children, sometimes called UCs.''

In other words, what was happening because of the change of policy by the Biden administration was that parents were compelled to send their children by themselves in the hands of the cartels, the traffickers, and the human smugglers.

What did Ms. Susan Rice, Mr. Biden's domestic policy adviser, say? ``This is BS,'' she wrote, according to a copy of the memo reviewed by the Times. She says: ``What is leading to `voluntary' separation of children is our generosity to these [unaccompanied minors].''

Wow. This administration, they know exactly what they are doing. They know what this policy has done. They know the results and the consequences of rescinding the MPP program, which is called inhumane. By the way, all it says is, you cannot enter the United States; you have to remain in Mexico pending your asylum claim.

You know why? Once you enter the United States, it is catch and release all over again. The very first bill I introduced 20 years ago in Congress was to end catch and release, and here we are so many years later, and we are right back to it.

The sad thing is, we had this thing under control with the construction of physical barriers and technology. Personally, I think it is very, very sad. Recent news reports show that in a single week there were almost 55,000 apprehensions by Border Patrol and more than 18,600 got-aways. Those are some of the highest totals on record.

Make no mistake, the termination of title 42 is well known among migrants. It is well known to the drug traffickers and the cartels, who make money off this racket. They are waiting for this policy to end to cross the border en masse. We see caravans right now, south, coming up toward my home State. It is clear the administration is not prepared and that this crisis will only get worse and devolve into chaos. As a result, the number of crossings, already at historic levels, will explode.

Mr. Speaker, this is unsustainable. We are facing a humanitarian crisis of generational proportions. It only benefits the cartels. I know this game too well. I was a Federal prosecutor on the other side prosecuting them. They know exactly what they are doing. They exploit, they terrorize, and they make a ton of money off exploiting human beings. It has cost countless lives.

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Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the right to close.

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