Ice Under Attack

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROY. Recognizing the South Carolina National Guard

Mrs. BIGGS of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and thank the brave men and women of the South Carolina National Guard who are currently deployed here in Washington, D.C.

I have been fortunate to spend time with these young men and women on several occasions during their mission. I have shared a meal with the guardsmen. I visited as they prepared for patrol. I have seen them in action while on duty.

I also thank the families, spouses, and loved ones back home who carry the weight while their Guard members serve here in D.C. The families' sacrifice and strength are a vital part of a successful mission. Their dedication reflects the values we hold dear in South Carolina. I am grateful to Governor McMaster for standing firmly behind them on this important mission.

Mr. Speaker, in the coming days, I will be introducing legislation to ensure our guardsmen are better protected and supported, both during deployments like this and beyond.

God bless our military. South Carolina stands with you, and so do I. Suicide is at Crisis Levels in the Country

Mrs. BIGGS of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, suicide is at crisis levels in the country, and this year it is hitting heartbreaking highs in my own district.

As a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, I have met with families in the hardest moments of their lives, and I have seen what happens when the system fails to connect with someone in a crisis to get the help that they may need.

That is why I have introduced the Hope Heals Act. When an individual is in crisis, they don't need a maze of red tape. They need intervention, a professional to see them, to listen, and to act.

My bill is about making sure families don't get left in the dark. It is about giving communities better tools to recognize when something is wrong and the confidence to respond before it is too late.

No one should have to fight the system to save a life. The Hope Heals Act is about honoring the God-given value of every life and making sure help is there when it is needed most.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in this mission.

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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from South Carolina, particularly for her shout-out to the National Guard from her own State that has been deployed to the District of Columbia.

Unfortunately, that has been necessary, and I am proud of the President for trying to make sure that we secure the Nation's Capital. They are one of the many National Guard units that have been deployed to do the job that the people of D.C. should be doing if they were competent and if they were doing what they are supposed to do as the Nation's Capital. The President is taking charge, and he is leading to ensure that our Nation's Capital is safe for the American people to come visit.

I will note that, relatedly, when we are talking about the state of law enforcement and the state of the security of the American people, we have heard a lot of criticisms from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, both in the House and Senate and generally around the country, directed at the great men and women of ICE, the law enforcement agency that is dedicated to the task of removing illegal aliens and, in particular, dangerous illegal aliens from the streets of the United States of America according to the law.

They are particularly focusing on and targeting those individuals--I believe the number is around 1.5 million people who are currently in the United States under orders of removal. That is, they have gone through the process. Judges in this country have ordered the removal of 1.5 million people, and ICE is tasked with removing them. Hundreds of thousands of them are dangerous individuals who have committed crimes in their home countries, who are trafficking narcotics, and who have been engaging in criminal behavior in the United States of America.

What do my Democratic colleagues do? They stand up in defense of criminals, of criminal illegal aliens, and are in constant attack on the men and women of ICE.

Let's just go through some recent criticisms of the great men and women who are working for ICE:

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz smeared ICE officers as a ``threat'' to the public, called ICE reckless, suggested the State is at war with Federal officers and under attack by ICE, and smeared ICE as the ``modern-day Gestapo.''

California Governor Gavin Newsom likened ICE to ``secret police,'' calling them authoritarian, and calling on the people to push back.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker claimed ICE is turning the country into Nazi Germany.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul accused ICE of ``terrorizing people.''

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro claimed ICE officers ``make our neighborhoods less safe.''

Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan said ICE officers caused ``chaos and terror.''

Senator Chuck Schumer declared that ICE does not belong in our neighborhoods.

Senator Tina Smith called ICE ``a clear and present threat.''

Senator John Hickenlooper smeared ICE as a ``reign of terror.''

Senator Jeff Merkley likened ICE operations to ``fascism'' and claimed officers are doing nothing but ``terrorizing our communities.''

Senator Bernie Sanders asked people to ``stop ICE from what they are doing as soon as possible.''

Senator Elizabeth Warren claimed ICE is ``intentionally stok[ing] fear and tear[ing] communities apart.''

Senator Ruben Gallego said ICE exists ``to scare the American public.''

Senator Mark Warner equated ICE officers to a brutal dictator.

Senator Dick Blumenthal accused ICE of spreading ``lawlessness and recklessness.''

Senator Alex Padilla accused ICE of ``indiscriminate violence.''

Senator Dick Durbin accused ICE's officers of committing ``atrocities.''

Representative Ilhan Omar said ICE is ``state violence,'' called officers ``vile and beyond cruel,'' and stated ``abolishing ICE is not enough.''

Representative Pramila Jayapal called ICE officers ``deranged,'' accused them of ``kidnapping,'' said ``resistance'' to ICE is ``inspiring,'' and claimed ICE officers will ``shoot at you and kill you.''

Representative Eric Swalwell smeared ICE officers as ``masked thugs,'' called them ``terrorizing bandit[s],'' said it was his ``priority'' to ensure officers are ``no longer faceless,'' compared them to the KGB, and demanded they ``stay the f-- out of California.''

Representative Jasmine Crockett compared ICE to ``slave patrols'' and called them thugs.

Representative Delia Ramirez said DHS ``is the single biggest threat to public safety right now.'' I will repeat: She said DHS ``is the single biggest threat to public safety right now'' and attacked ICE as a ``terror force.''

Representative Summer Lee said ICE is ``out of control'' and ``a police state.''

Representative Ayanna Pressley called ICE ``a rogue, violent agency'' that ``has no business in our communities'' and ``must be abolished,'' and accused ICE of ``terrorizing our communities.''

Representative April McClain Delaney called ICE ``lawless.''

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called ICE ``an anticivilian force'' and said they ``should not exist.''

Representative Rashida Tlaib said ICE is ``terrorizing our communities'' and ``turning our country into a fascist police state,'' called it a ``rogue agency,'' and called for it to be abolished.

Representative Julie Johnson excused violence against ICE as people ``channeling that frustration.''

Representative Laura Friedman said ICE officers are ``terrorizing our friends and neighbors . . . and bringing chaos and violence to our streets.''

I have dozens more of these. I could continue to fill time on the House floor by going through the absolute vitriolic attacks on the people of ICE, literally another 30 in the list that I could read off. That is what is occurring on a daily basis and is directed at the people of ICE.

Now, I will give you a tale of two choices. I want you to look at and make a decision here about who you want to focus on. Over here, we have victims of dangerous illegal aliens that were in the United States of America. Over here, we have five Americans who are no longer with us.

We have Kayla Hamilton, a 20-year-old woman with autism living in Aberdeen, Maryland, who was savagely strangled to death by an illegal alien, an MS-13 gang member released by Biden at the border.

Mr. Speaker, we have Sergeant Brandon Mendoza from Arizona, a 13-year Mesa Police Department veteran, who was struck by a previously convicted illegal alien who was drunk when he struck Brandon.

Somewhat probably most infamously, we have Laken Hope Riley. Riley was a 22-year-old nursing student who attended Augusta University. She was killed by a Tren de Aragua gang member illegally paroled into the country under Joe Biden.

We have Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old Maryland mother of five. While going out for a walk, she was raped and murdered by an illegal alien who snuck across the border under Biden.

We have Jocelyn Nungaray, a woman whose mother I have gotten to know, a woman whose mother I invited to join us at the inauguration of President Trump a year ago because of her courage for standing up and calling out the lawlessness of the people who have been released on the streets of this country and that resulted in the death of her daughter, Jocelyn.

Jocelyn was a 12-year-old girl in Houston, who was out for a walk, when two Venezuelan illegal aliens released under Biden forced her under a bridge and forced her to take off her clothes before she was savagely killed in Houston, Texas, my home State.

Do you want to know what? Their lives mattered. Those individuals' lives mattered. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle, whether they are in this Chamber or in the other Chamber or in State houses across this country, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to ignore what has happened to these five Americans.

By the way, they are simply the faces of hundreds of thousands of Americans who have lost their lives violently through narcotics, through fentanyl, through drunk drivers, through murder, through rape, and through intimidation.

They represent a large block of Americans suffering at the hands of people who have been released on our streets purposely for crass political purposes by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. The fact is that has left us with a current situation that is even worse.

I will go through a few more. Then I want to bring my colleagues into this conversation.

Here behind me, after all of the eruption over what has occurred in Minnesota, where there has been a lot of vitriol directed at ICE in Minnesota, let us look at these individuals right here. These represent about eighteen individuals who are the people that ICE has been arresting in Minnesota. There has been a lot of news over one incident in Minnesota.

What we have here is a Somalian illegal alien convicted of homicide.

We have a Salvadorian illegal alien convicted of three counts of homicide with a deportation order since June of 2025.

We have a Mexican illegal convicted of homicide, who was previously deported in 2002.

We have a Sudanese illegal alien convicted of homicide.

We have a Laotian illegal alien convicted of two counts of homicide with a deportation order since 2009.

We have an illegal alien from Sierra Leon convicted of two counts of homicide with a deportation order since 2022.

We have a Mexican illegal alien convicted of homicide with a deportation order since 2015.

We have a Somalian illegal alien convicted of manslaughter with a deportation order since 2022.

We have a Sudanese illegal alien convicted of attempt to commit homicide, weapons possession, and DUI.

We have a Guatemalan illegal alien convicted of negligent homicide with a vehicle and a DUI with a deportation order since 2022.

We have a Burmese illegal alien convicted of negligent homicide.

We have another Laotian illegal alien convicted of the strong-arm rape of a 12-year-old girl and kidnapping a child with intent to sexually assault her with a deportation order since 2024.

We have a Laotian illegal alien convicted of strong-arm rape, aggravated assault with a weapon, and strangulation with a deportation order since 2012.

We have a Laotian illegal alien convicted of rape and child fondling with a deportation order since 2003.

We have a Laotian illegal alien convicted of rape, rape with a weapon, and sexual assault with a deportation order since 1996.

We have a Mexican illegal alien convicted of sexual assault of a child and DUI with a deportation order since 2016.

We have a Laotian illegal alien convicted of a strong-arm sodomy of a boy and a strong-arm sodomy of a girl with a deportation order since 2018.

We have a Laotian illegal alien convicted of sexual assault and sodomy of a girl under age 13 and procuring a child for prostitution with a deportation order since 2006.

These are the individuals in Minnesota that ICE--who is being attacked, criticized, and demonized by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle--went out, risked their lives, and put their lives on the line to remove these people from our streets so that our children and our families might be safe.

No, I am not going to apologize for ICE. No, I am not going to join in the bandwagon of criticism against ICE. Yes, you review procedures. Yes, you make sure you do things by the book and that people have due process.

When we are talking about people who are on our streets, as guests of our country, and they are committing violence against the people of our country, let's remember we have a duty to remove them, deport them, and do it immediately and swiftly.

Let's flip the page real quick. I have a couple more. Let's look beyond just Minnesota. Remember that when you have dangerous people in places like Minnesota and lawless States like California and New York, where you have sanctuary cities, then there are dangerous people throughout our country, too.

This is just the worst of the worst from yesterday, just yesterday.

In Virginia, a 20-year-old citizen of Guatemala was convicted for possessing obscene material of a minor and filming child porn.

In my home State of Texas, a criminal illegal alien from Mexico was convicted for aggravated assault of a family member in Harris County.

In New York, a criminal illegal alien from Jamaica was convicted for burglary.

A criminal illegal alien from Mexico was convicted for burglary.

A criminal illegal alien from El Salvador was convicted for false imprisonment and battery.

That was just yesterday. Let's look real quick at the worst of the worst from 2025 generally, not just yesterday.

In Louisiana, we have a sexual predator, an illegal alien from Honduras, whose criminal history includes active warrants for 394 counts of pornography involving juveniles and two counts of sexual abuse of an animal.

In Kansas, a violent criminal illegal alien from Mexico was sentenced to 20 years in prison for one count of forcible assault on a Federal officer after he violently punched an ICE officer and attempted to strangle the officer with his own badge cord.

In Virginia, an Afghan national who entered the United States under Joe Biden's ``Operation Allies Welcome,'' provided support to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and his father is a commander of a militia group in Afghanistan.

In Nebraska, an illegal alien from Honduras and a leader of MS-13, also known as Fantasma, was wanted in his home country for a quadruple homicide. After being charged with firearms charges in Honduras, he allegedly bribed his way out of jail and illegally entered the United States.

In Houston, the criminal history of an illegal alien from El Salvador included convictions for sexual assault of a child under 17, multiple DUIs, child fondling, and illegally reentering the United States previously. When ICE conducted an enforcement operation in November to arrest him, he brutally beat an ICE officer with a metal coffee cup. He caused a severe laceration of the officer's mouth and burns to the officer's face.

Where are my Democratic colleagues' concern about the ICE officer who put his life on the line and gets mauled and has a laceration across his face because he is trying to stop murderers, rapists, and child pornographers from being on American streets?

In my home State of Texas, Jose Alfredo Uzeta, a criminal illegal alien from Mexico, operated a dental clinic and performed dental procedures on patients, despite not having a license for more than 20 years. His clinic was uncovered after one of his former patients reported he was convicted of a dentistry act violation and indecent assault.

Another criminal illegal alien and his family members ran a sex trafficking operation where they would approach women and girls, some as young as 14, and lure them to the United States under promises of jobs.

That is all these people right here. That is these people right here.

We have a criminal illegal alien from Vietnam who has been convicted 25 times for crimes including possession of a controlled substance; second-degree robbery; cruelty toward the elderly; arson property; taking vehicle without consent; and theft.

I could go on and on. Those are the people who ICE is trying to get off of our streets.

Here is the question. This is how I want to open up a conversation with my good friend from Pennsylvania, Scott Perry--a great American and somebody I am proud to serve with here in this Congress and proud to serve with in the House Freedom Caucus.

I will yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania in colloquy about how he views whose side we are on. That is what I want to know: Whose side are we on?

Are we on the side of American citizens--Americans, including some immigrants and immigrant families, like beautiful Jocelyn Nungaray--are we on their side or Officer Mendoza? Or are we on the side of violent criminals whom ICE is trying to remove from our streets?

It sure seems like my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are on their side. They are on the bad guys' side. There really are white hats and black hats, and you have to choose. They are on the bad guys' side.

They are not standing with ICE, not standing with law enforcement, not standing up to defend the law enforcement officers who are putting their lives on the line to keep these guys off of our streets so that these Americans aren't killed.

I just wonder if my friend from Pennsylvania has a similar view that it ought to be easy to choose sides, and if my friend from Pennsylvania, like me, chooses to side with Border Patrol and ICE and law enforcement and local law enforcement to protect Americans against violent thugs and criminals on our streets?

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania for the purpose of a colloquy.

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Mr. ROY. Gang members. Tren de Aragua gang members who took her under a bridge in Houston, Texas, for the last moments of her life, raping her and killing her, and her beautiful mother today is standing up and saying: Enough. Enough.

We should enforce our laws. We should stand with law enforcement against the thugs and the gang members who are killing Americans, including Jocelyn, Officer Mendoza, Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, and Kayla Hamilton.

Why do I know their names? It is because I met their families, and I have talked to them, and they are human beings. They were Americans who were living their lives and going to college and going to school and serving their country, and they are dead because people decided, for political purposes, that they wanted to flood our streets with gang members from Venezuela and criminals instead of protecting Americans.

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Mr. ROY. That is right.

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Mr. ROY. And what we are talking about, again, at the risk of repetition: A Somali illegal alien convicted of homicide, a Salvadoran illegal alien convicted of three counts of homicide, a Mexican illegal alien convicted of homicide, a Sudanese illegal alien convicted of homicide, a Laotian illegal alien convicted of two counts of homicide, and I could go through all 18 again.

These are violent individuals. These were all on the streets of Minnesota. Minnesota ICE was on the streets trying to track down these people, and the radical left, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, want to side with these guys.

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Mr. ROY. Yes.

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Mr. ROY. Yes.

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Mr. ROY. I have not heard one, but I have heard--and I read 30 of them before. How about Boston Mayor Michelle Wu comparing ICE officers to a Neo-Nazi group.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson accusing ICE of being ``secret police'' who are ``terrorizing our communities'' and a lawless, racist force.

New York City's Zohran Mamdani said: ICE enforcement is ``an attack on us all.''

New Jersey State Senator Britnee Timberlake threatened that ICE officers `` . . . will find themselves in the same position as those who carried out the illegal acts in Nazi Germany. . . . ''

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Mr. ROY. Minneapolis City Council member Robin Wonsley claimed ICE is carrying out ``terrorist attacks.'' I could go on and on. They have been calling on people to go out and attack ICE.

By the way, the man that was engaged in that incident in Minnesota-- and they will review all of that--he was dragged by a previous protester down the street by a car.

I read a minute ago about the ICE officer who was lacerated across his face when one of these thugs attacked him with a steel coffee mug. I talked about another guy that had this cord wrapped around his neck, and they tried to get him. One of these guys did that to an ICE officer.

Where is the concern for our law enforcement? My grandfather was the chief of police of a small town in West Texas back in the 1940s. Where is the concern for them? My great-great-grandfather was a Texas Ranger. I was proud to be in the U.S. Attorney's Office, proud to be the first assistant attorney general, and proud to work with law enforcement.

Does every member of law enforcement always get it right? No. They are human beings. Do we have ways to go through and punish, rectify, review, and ensure due process and that rights are protected? Yes. Should we? Yes.

I want to remind people these are not American citizens. These are guests in our home who are abusing that invitation--or noninvitation to the extent that they were legally here--invitation to the extent they overstayed a visa, invitation to the extent they were abusing a visa that they were issued. For whatever reason that they are here, they are violating that trust and engaging in illegal activity and carrying out the sickest and most heinous crimes.

It cannot be allowed to proceed, and we cannot allow people to side against our law enforcement that are trying to keep our streets safe so that we don't lose Rachel Morin, and we don't lose Laken Riley, and we don't lose Kayla Hamilton, and we don't lose Officer Mendoza, and we don't lose Jocelyn Nungaray.

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Mr. ROY. Totally objectively--I have been to this floor, I come to this floor a lot, and I watch the House floor--I do not remember a single incident, a single time in my 7 years of being in the United States House of Representatives, not once have I seen it. In fairness, I might have missed one. Maybe somebody will find it in the Record. I have been down here countless times when it is an attack on law enforcement, countless times when it is an attack on President Trump and this administration.

I think this really matters. I am going to ask you another question that I think is important. Why are these people here? Why are these gang and thug members here? Why? Was it President Trump?

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Mr. ROY. Did President Trump put them on our streets?

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Mr. ROY. And, today, we have a flow of basically statistically zero at our border.

Do you remember when we were in this House Chamber, do you remember when we were debating legislation last year, and we were debating bills, and what did they say? They said: Well, we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform in order to solve the problem and secure the border, when it was Joe Biden as the President and Alejandro Mayorkas as the Secretary of Homeland Security. Now it turns out, somehow magically, without that being signed into law, magically President Trump is able to stop the flow at the border.

Do you think that is an accident?

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Mr. ROY. Correct. A day. We had as many as 15,000 in a day, okay, and now we are getting far fewer than 10,000 in a month.

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Mr. ROY. And was it not, in fact, true that under President Biden and under Alejandro Mayorkas' regime at the Department of Homeland Security, was it not true that these individuals--and you saw me reading off, by the way, a lot of the years when they had deportation orders, 2022 or previously. Was it not true that these individuals that were released into the United States were either released under parole. In an abuse of law that allows for isolated cases of parole, they released thousands en bloc.

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Mr. ROY. Hundreds of thousands en bloc under parole, an abuse of the law, an illegal act, abuse of asylum to release people in our country, and then wide-open borders where people were flooding across the river.

Did that in totality, coupled with people overstaying their visas, coupled with, frankly, a far more liberal immigration system than we should have, result in all of these individuals being on the streets? None of my constituents asked for that.

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Mr. ROY. None of my constituents wanted illegal aliens who were violent and committing crimes on the streets of our country. President Trump is stopping it. Tom Homan is stopping it. Stephen Miller, Secretary Noem, all of the great men and women in Border Patrol and ICE, they are stopping it.

Now, my question is: Why? Why do our colleagues on the other side of the aisle not want to stop it? Could it be for political reasons? Could it be that they want non-Americans to be in the United States to try to transform America and to politically motivate and to politically put Democrats in power? Could that be?

I don't want to be so cynical as to speculate here on the House floor, but what other motives would there be to allow dangerous individuals to pour into our communities and carry out what has been carried out?

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Mr. ROY. The impact of illegal aliens being in our country or, frankly, those that were wrongly put in our country through parole, asylum, overstaying their visas, or expansive abuse of legal immigration, has a consequence, right?

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Mr. ROY. It has a consequence in the form of lost lives. It has a consequence in the form of hospitals that are overflowing with individuals, particularly in Texas, but around the country, jail cells that are overflowing, and schools that are overflowing. All of that is a consequence in terms of costs and continued problems.

Just last week, two illegal aliens suspected of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua were charged with allegedly weaponizing their vehicle against a Border Patrol agent in Portland. Both suspects originally crossed the southern border under Biden and were released into the interior. The driver wound up with a rap sheet, including DUI, while the passenger is linked to a shooting and a prostitution ring in Portland. That is what is happening.

Now, why do I mention that here? Because we just said that President Trump was able to use current law and current authority to secure the border and stop the flow. He is currently using current law, current authority, to remove illegal aliens, including the 1.5 million people here under an order of removal.

I want to remind everybody of that. We just blow past that little detail. There are 1.5 million people running around this country who have an order of removal from a judge. They have gone through all the processes. They have had all the fricking lawyers that are paid by the NGOs to try to keep them out of court and keep them in the country, and 1.5 million of them have an order of deportation, of removal.

What do we do about it? This is what I want to say. We, Congress, owe it to the President and to the great men and women of Border Patrol and ICE, to our constituents, and to future Americans, who could be endangered by a future administration with open borders, to codify that which President Trump has been carrying out to defend our country.

We owe it to all of them to pass a new and updated version of H.R. 2 that we passed in the previous Congress. We stood on this floor as conservatives and united this Conference behind a singular mission of passing laws to prevent the abuses that were being carried out by Biden and Mayorkas.

I promise you--remember, we had a President Trump in 2020. We had a secure border in January 2021, with low numbers of border crossings and enforcement of the law. What happened? Biden took over; Mayorkas took over; and we had an explosion. Then, we had dead Americans and dangerous, lawless people on our streets.

We, Congress, have a duty to lay it all on the line and to make sure that, this year, under this Congress, with the Republican majority in the House and a Republican majority in the Senate, we deliver to the President's desk the equivalent of H.R. 2 from the previous Congress, which would codify the changes to parole, codify the changes to asylum, codify the changes in catch and release, codify the permanent and continued development of the wall, all the tools necessary to stop the flow at the border that the current administration has put into action. We should demand it. We should change the law so that no future Biden and Mayorkas can endanger the American people.

Does the gentleman from Pennsylvania agree?

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Mr. ROY. Right.

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Mr. ROY. Zero. Now, if we are lucky--if we are lucky--we might get a handful if pushed to the brink. Remember, we got four or five of them to vote for, I think, the SAVE Act.

Let's bring that up for a second. Should we not--in addition to guaranteeing that we secure the border and codify the great work of President Trump to prevent the death and destruction of the American people, should we not also guarantee the integrity of our elections by passing yet again the SAVE Act, pushing our Senate colleagues to pass the SAVE Act, and send it to the President's desk, which would simply guarantee that only American citizens vote in American elections?

It is that simple. Shouldn't be controversial. Shouldn't be a really difficult concept. We have passed it in the House. The Senate is blocking it. The question is whether Republicans have the nerve to put it on must-pass legislation, to fight for it, to break the filibuster in the Senate, to move the bill and get it to the President's desk, along with some other good changes, like voter ID and other things we should do.

Does the gentleman agree that we should, in addition to codifying H.R. 2, secure American elections with these requirements under the SAVE Act to save America, as President Trump rightly said, as President Trump told us in our Conference meeting a week and a half ago, to get it to his desk? Do you agree?

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Mr. ROY. I have one final question, one final point. In addition to protecting Americans with H.R. 2 to codify the President's actions, in addition to ensuring that American elections are secure and that you can trust the integrity of elections by passing the SAVE Act, voter ID, and what is necessary to guarantee the sanctity of our elections, should we not also consider something like the PAUSE Act to pause and take a break on immigration when, in fact, we legally have 1.1 million green cards, 1 million guest workers, and north of 1 million foreign students each year?

We have more immigrants than every other country in the world combined. We have a foreign-born population of 51.9 million, almost 16 percent, a record high. This is the important part. We have social welfare and social safety nets that are being used by noncitizens that are blowing out the rolls and driving up the cost of all of these goods.

My point here is that we have had massive amounts of immigration over our history. All of us love the actual melting pot that America represents, but here is the key issue: You actually have to be willing to assimilate for it to be a melting pot. It is not a melting pot if you are coming here and waving a Palestinian flag or waving the flag of Honduras or Guatemala instead of saying I am coming here to be American, to embrace Western civilization, and to embrace the greatest country the world has ever known that has bled around the world not for conquest but to liberate people, that has died for people around the globe to make it a safer and secure place.

People want to come here to be a part of that, God bless them, but the people who come here who want to change it, who want to turn it into an Islamic state, who want to undermine it and who want advance sharia law, who want to bring their flags of their country here instead of adopting and becoming an American--shouldn't we not take a total review of our immigration system, from top to bottom, in addition to codifying security of our border and ensuring the integrity of our election, that only citizens vote and that only citizens are counted for purposes of representation and how we apportion our Members of Congress?

All of these things that I am talking about are common sense to ensure a simple principle that American citizens are able to run this country.

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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Pennsylvania for joining me tonight. I appreciate his commentary, I appreciate his leadership, and I appreciate his service in the United States military. I appreciate his service to his constituents, and I appreciate his great family.

It is a sacrifice for all of us. It is tough when you have young kids, Madam Speaker. Our kids are about the same age. We leave them at home, and we come here, but we are doing it because we want to save this country for our kids and our grandkids. That is why I am in public service.

I know when I had a diagnosis of cancer about 14 years ago, Hodgkin's lymphoma, I didn't know if I would be around days or weeks, and 14 years later, I am sure some of my colleagues, maybe they are happy to see me, maybe they are not.

I know that when I leave my kids, I know God gave me some more breath and some more time on this planet to try to make sure that we save this, the last great hope for mankind as President Reagan called it.

Madam Speaker, I will close with this, and I will turn it over, so my friend from North Carolina can take the floor.

We are here to represent the American people. The American people did not send us here as Representatives to give away our country. They did not send us here as Representatives to allow our friends on the other side of the aisle to empower dangerous tax cuts, thugs, gang members, and people who are killing Americans. They did not send us here for that.

Every time we vote on appropriations bills and every time we are putting forward legislation, we ought to be thinking about these Americans who lost their lives at the hands of these non-Americans. We ought to be thankful we have a President who recognizes that these non- Americans needn't be on our streets, that we should be siding with ICE and Border Patrol, and that we should be defending the men and women in our law enforcement across the country so we can protect these Americans. So that we can choose to side with the American citizens, not the non-Americans who are dangerous, and we can side with law enforcement to protect these.

We can act. This is my message to my Republican colleagues: We have a choice this year. We can retreat and get into the mode of elections. Or we can lead, we can work, and we can roll our sleeves up and right now codify the rules, the laws, and the actions of the President to secure our border and ensure that no future President can abuse them.

We can do that right now. We can pass H.R. 2. We can send it to the Senate. We can force the Senate to act if we just have the will to do it.

We can send the SAVE Act again. We can add voter ID. We can send it to the Senate. We can dare them to break the filibuster by forcing a talking filibuster instead of the fake filibuster of a forced 60-vote threshold.

Make them work. Make 51 Senators sit on the floor and have a quorum. Make them speak. Make them do their job so that we can defend our country and defend our people. Pass the SAVE Act, pass voter ID, and secure American elections. Secure our border permanently instead of just having it depend on the current President. Reform our immigration system. Pause it. We have done it before. Pause it, review it, and stop people from overstaying their visas. Fix the system.

Make sure we are not importing people who are adherent to sharia law and want to undermine Western civilization and create mayhem and be against our way of life.

Choose the path of leadership. Come here as a Congress and bind together. Don't sit around complaining about having a two- or three- or four-seat majority.

Lead, act, and go.

That is why we are here. That is why that flag exists. Madam Speaker, put your trust in God, and put the armor of God around you. Stand up and lead for this country.

If we do it, then the American people will send us back here in a bigger majority.

If we do it, then President Trump will be able to accomplish even more in the next 2 years than in these 2 years.

If we act now, then we can actually save this country.

If we act now, then we can secure the border.

If we act now, then we can secure our elections.

If we act now, then we can guarantee an immigration system that no longer imports people into our country who want to undermine it.

We can provide healthcare freedom, and we can balance the budget if we act and we lead. Right now, let's secure our country. We can do it this year. That is our calling.

We are not here to get re-elected. We are here to deliver for the American people.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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