Secure the Border Act of 2023

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation, which is long overdue.

For the last 2 years, this administration has systematically and deliberately erased our border. They have unleashed a tidal wave of illegal aliens and deadly drugs into our communities.

They have enriched the cartels and human traffickers.

They have disrespected the millions of legal immigrants who followed our laws and came here the right way.

They have pushed our local hospitals and schools to the breaking point and forced you, the American people, to pick up the tab.

Mr. Speaker, that ends today. This bill would restart border wall construction, add more Border Patrol agents, crack down on people gaming our asylum laws, and end the failed policy of catch and release.

I am also pleased that this legislation includes a measure I authored to end the administration's flagrant abuse of parole.

As everyone in this Chamber knows, parole authority is limited. It allows for the admission of foreigners without a visa under very narrow circumstances for urgent humanitarian reasons on an individual case-by- case basis.

It was intended to accommodate, for example, a young child seeking immediate lifesaving medical treatment that is only available here in the United States, but that is not how President Biden has used it. Instead, he has converted this narrow avenue into an open borders superhighway, indiscriminately admitting more than 1 million illegal immigrants over just the last 2 years.

This is not just wrong, it is reckless.

It is time to restore the rule of law, and it is time to restrain the dangerous impulses of this administration.

Mr. Speaker, Americans are tired of the chaos. They deserve an immigration system that puts the safety and well-being of Americans first, and that is exactly what this bill does. I ask for a ``yes'' vote on the bill.

I will close by thanking the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock), who did such a stellar job of shepherding this bill through the Judiciary Committee and now onto the House floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source