No More Empty Promises

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, last month, more than 400,000 illegal immigrants crossed the Darien Gap into Central America on their way to our southern border, nearly double the number that had arrived in all of 2022.

Let's put that number in perspective. Mr. Speaker, 400,000 is more than double the populations of Altoona, Johnstown, Chambersburg, Lewistown, Breezewood, Gettysburg, Waynesboro, Mifflintown, Newport, McConnellsburg, Greencastle, Huntingdon, Shippensburg, and Bedford combined.

It is clear that President Biden's border policies, which welcome illegal immigration, have created a national security crisis, a public health crisis, and a humanitarian crisis, all due to the porous southern border.

Since Joe Biden took office, there have been a total of 7.6 million encounters at our southern border, and for the third year in a row, Americans are now on track to see the worst border crisis in our Nation's history.

This year, we have seen public schools used as holding facilities for illegal immigrants instead of being used for American students who are already suffering from historic learning losses following Biden's prolonged school shutdowns.

While an influx of illegal immigrants has strained the food banks, the shelters, and the hospitals along our southern border, this administration continues to turn a blind eye and refuses to assist the communities that are threatened and in need.

It is time for the Senate to pass the Secure the Border Act, which would: first, force the Biden administration to restart construction of the border wall; second, increase the number of Border Patrol agents; third, end catch and release; and, finally, deploy the new technologies that our Border Patrol agents have requested in order to help secure our southern border.

President Biden's failure to address this crisis is simply unacceptable. Report after report from Eagle Pass, San Diego, and McAllen shows that this crisis will only continue to worsen each and every day.

We can't afford business as usual from Washington, and we cannot abandon our Border Patrol agents who deal with this problem. It is time for Democrats in Congress to join us and deliver real solutions and not more empty promises to the American people.

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