Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Chair, many people may not know this, but NBC News recently reported that more than 400 illegal aliens who are affiliates of ISIS were released into the United States under this administration's watch. They have caught some of them, but they still have a significant number of them out.

Do you know what they said? Gee, if we could have enforced the law, we wouldn't have released them into the country, and we could have rounded them up and prevented them from ever getting into the country.

The reason I bring that up is because I am speaking in support of my amendment, which prohibits the use of funds to pay the salary and the expenses of the position of the DHS Secretary.

Who is the DHS Secretary? Who is this individual? It is the person who has been the architect of the open-border policy.

I think one of my colleagues from Florida, who was on the floor here just a moment ago, said it is a fictional invasion. Really? It is 10 million people in 2\1/2\, 3 years. They started setting records when? February 2021. They have set records every month since. Who is in charge of that? Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary.

In fact, this body was so disenchanted with his policies that we impeached Secretary Mayorkas. When he was confronted with: Do you have operational control of the border? He said, in a Judiciary hearing, you know what, hey, we don't like that. First, he said, yes, we have operational control. We gave him the statute. Are you at operational control? Well, you know, we basically devised our own definition.

That is the person who is occupying the Homeland Security chair right now, and they have incentivized literally millions of people to come into this country. That is the lawlessness that has brought people to their knees in many communities around this country.

We are still trying to get information from the DHS and the Department of Defense about the terrorists who attempted to infiltrate Quantico just about 6 weeks ago.

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Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Chair, I get a kick when I hear Democrats say that the so-called bipartisan bill out of the Senate would have solved this problem. Do you know what that bill did? It granted amnesty. Do you know what it did? It set a floor of 2,500 illegal aliens every day who get to come in.

Guess what else it did? They provided loophole after loophole. There is no limit on unaccompanied children, and hundreds of thousands have come in. They have misplaced over 100,000 now. They are just so irresponsible.

We heard people talk about an ineffective and outdated policy. Do you know what worked? That ineffective and outdated policy. Do you know why? Because it secured the border.

We had the most secure border in about, I don't know, our Nation's history under President Trump. When they came in, President Biden issued 93 EOs. Guess what? You have a mass invasion on the border.

What is it called? They called it a useless border wall. Do you know who voted for that border wall originally? That is right, people like Hillary Clinton. They voted for that border wall. They don't want a border wall.

I have on my phone images from the Tucson sector of people dressed in camo bringing drugs across interdicted just the other day. Do you know why they were going near the San Miguel gate, which I have taken colleagues to before? Because there is no fence. In Arizona, we largely have no fences.

Here is the deal: This Homeland Security Secretary is the one who gave us this policy.

I can say what I heard from these people. I can say what they said: ineffective, outdated policies. They said these people are legally entitled to refugee status.

Under what law? Under international law. How about the first safe nation law? They are required to obey that. Guess what? That is what the U.S. law is, as well--the first safe harbor, the first safe state. That is where someone who wants refugee status comes in, but they are not seeking refugee status. They are seeking asylum.

Do you know who sought asylum? The two outrageous murderers who just murdered that 12-year-old girl in Houston. They were released under asylum requests. They went and had the cartel cut off their ankle bracelets.

That is what is happening. That is why this Secretary, this position, which we are defunding correctly under the Holman rule, should not be funded, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment, which prohibits funding from being used to implement the DHS 2022 rule that allows illegal aliens to receive more government subsidies.

Under our immigration law, one ground of inadmissibility for aliens is if they are likely to become a public charge. That is in the statute. That is to say, if they are going to be a financial burden to the American people due to the likelihood that they will rely on public assistance programs, they are inadmissible.

However, in 2022, the DHS weakened this rule by excluding a whole host of government benefit programs, including Medicaid.

What does this mean?

First, it gives the Biden administration more excuses to allow millions of illegal aliens into the country by doing away with one standard that would legally disqualify many people.

Second, it allows the Biden administration to explicitly pay illegal aliens to be in the country with taxpayer dollars, which has always been their plan.

Third, it creates a major pull factor or incentive for people who are thinking of crossing the border to actually cross the border illegally.

There is evidence of this. Just talk to the people crossing the border. I have. I have gone down to the border many times. I take people with me, Members of Congress, all the time. When you ask people, they will say they heard the U.S. Government was going to pay them to be here--I have actually had people say this--and that they will take me where I want to go.

Why wouldn't they say that? It is true.

Can someone tell me any policy by this administration that discourages illegal aliens from entering the country? There is not one serious policy that actually deters immigration.

This is why we must vote to end this open border DHS rule and stop giving Federal dollars to illegal aliens.

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Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Chairman, the Senate bill that my colleagues love so much didn't ever make it over here. It didn't make cloture twice in the Senate. My colleagues can continue to yell and scream, but we passed H.R. 2, which is laying over there in Chuck Schumer's lap, who is refusing to move it.

Let's talk a little bit about this cruel and inhumane business. Do my colleagues on the other side of the aisle know what is cruel? How about for those who live in Yuma, Arizona, where the community has one hospital. There is one hospital. When there is an emergency, they don't have enough beds for you if you are a citizen because they are dealing with illegal aliens who have flooded that hospital.

That is cruel and inhumane. Do my colleagues know what happens? They air evac citizens to Phoenix or San Diego. That is cruel and inhumane.

Does the minority know what happens? Let's say a citizen is pregnant. That maternity ward has 10 beds in it at Yuma. Most of the time, it is filled with illegal aliens who have come in.

We just heard a lot about money, about this benefit. There are others who assert the exact opposite. The one thing that we do know for sure that everybody agrees on, right and left, if my colleagues actually talk to people who know something: There are remittances well in excess of $100 billion a year that go out from illegal aliens in this country. It is a cash flow.

If my colleagues talk to leaders from the Central American States or even representatives from Mexico, they are going to tell Members what the cash flow is that those remittances provide for them. In Mexico, it is the number two leading cash flow for them.

They come here because these individuals are incentivized to come here, in part, because of the public charge that we allow them to be on. That is why this amendment is crucial. If someone who is in this country illegally should not be here and is receiving benefits, should they receive the more than 90 social welfare benefits that this country, the Federal Government, provides?

This administration has loosened the number of those benefits that are available to illegal aliens. That should not happen. We have a public charge rule. If you come in legally, you can't get in, but my colleagues are wanting to say: Well, if you are here illegally, that is okay.

Good grief. This is the statute. We are reverting to the statute that worked. That is why this amendment is critical.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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