House Republicans Press Conference on Trip to Southern Border Transcript April 7

Congressman Jim Jordan: (00:00)
Well, let me thank you all for joining us this afternoon. We just had a, I think a very productive round table discussion with some of some very important folks. And the head of Border Patrol Council. Mr. Judd said the surge currently at the border is unlike anything they have ever seen. Sheriff Louderback of Jackson County said, this is complete chaos that we are witnessing now. And that is certainly what we’ve seen over the last day and a half. When we were with border patrol agents yesterday, they told us that last month was the busiest month in the history of border patrol since they’ve been keeping records, since they’ve been keeping dab. Busiest month on record. 40% of manpower is currently used for processing illegal migrants.

Yesterday, we saw at the Donna facility, one pod, which is supposed to under current COVID protocols house at a maximum 33 children, and yet there were 527 kids in that pod alone. So when they say this is chaos and unlike anything we have ever seen, that is true. And it is all driven by policy, as we heard loud and clear from all four of the folks who spoke with us, the members of Congress today. The policy that said, “We will no longer keep the Remain in Mexico policy in place, as we evaluate the claims of people trying to get into our country.” The policy that says, “We’re not going to deport individuals.: And of course the announcement from the current administration saying that they will not continue construction on the wall.

That is why we see this amazing surge, this unbelievable surge, as Mr. Judd said before, unlike any we’ve ever seen in the history of border patrol, and it raised the obvious question. And Scott had said this in the round table, it raised the obvious question, is this intentional? Is this deliberate? Is the Biden administration deliberately impose these policy because this is what they want? And I don’t know what other conclusion you could reach, which is troubling. So the solution is pretty simple. Go back to the policies that were working in the previous administration. And that that message came through loud and clear over the last day and a half.

I’d like to turn to the top Republican on the Immigration Subcommittee of the full judiciary committee, the gentleman from California, Mr. McClintock.

Congressmen Tom McClintock: (02:32)
Well, thank you, Jim. Thank you for organizing this. Thank you all for being here. I must tell you, in all of my years in the Congress, this has been the most disturbing field tour that I’ve ever taken. Yesterday, we watched literally hundreds of illegal migrants crossing the border and turning themselves into the border patrol. Groups in the company of children who were under seven, had their basic biometric information taken down and then dispatched bus stations to continue into the United States. Unaccompanied minors, or those who claim to be under 18 are taken into custody by border patrol, they’re warehoused in CBP holding facilities. Those are the COVID incubators that you’ve been seeing in the pictures that have been smuggled out from these facilities, until they can be transferred to HHS. HHS then makes travel arrangements for them to be sent to their final destination, often a family member who’s already an illegal alien. All are being waved in. Only single adults in groups with older youths are being turned away. But that’s only because of Title 42, which is effective only during the COVID pandemic. Border patrol warns that when 42 goes away, our border is completely gone. And this is getting worse by the day. 100 family units illegally crossed the border of the week of the election. By the week of the inauguration, the number had increased to 1100 family units. It reached 15,000 the week ending March 24th. There were 100,000 total encounters with the border patrol in February. Folks, that is the population of the entire city of South Bend, Indiana. In March, that number grew to 170,000. That’s the entire population of Salem, Oregon. And that doesn’t include the 130,000 estimated got aways. That’s the entire population of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

HHS just issued a memo were told calling for 60,000 beds and facilities for unaccompanied minors. The average stay for a minor we are told is 24 days. That means they’re expecting nearly one million unaccompanied minors to enter illegally this year. We are feeding the Mexican crime cartels. The crime cartels are taking in roughly a half a billion dollars a month through this human trafficking made possible by the president’s policies. Illegal immigrants often arrive here deeply in their debt and in effect become indentured servants. The debts are enforced by threats against family members who remain. And the mass importation of the young migrants gives these crime cartels a steady stream of new human resources for the gangs.

That most chilling words that I have heard in this entire trip, it was spoken by a border patrol agent who reminded us, our border is your border. These illegal immigrants don’t stay in congregate in border towns. They’re on their way to communities all across the country. They’re guaranteed by the Biden administration not to be deported, even if they commit crimes. In fact under his executive orders, our entire countries now a sanctuary nation. The terrible impact this will have on public safety, local schools, local resources, housing supply, public schools, hospital emergency rooms, and the ability of working class Americans to earn a living, will be keenly felt in every community in our country, unless these policies change.

Among his first acts as president, Joe Biden, abandoned construction of the border wall, he announced illegal immigrants would not be deported, and he ended the Remain in Mexico policy for asylum seekers. This sent a powerful message across the third world. Gallup estimates there are 42 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean who want to come to the United States and now they can, and now they are.

Thank you, Tom. Congresswoman Spartz from Indiana.

Congresswoman Victoria Spartz: (06:32)
Thank you for being here. I can tell, this is my second trip to the borer in the last few weeks. And I can tell perverse incentive and lack of leadership from this administration create real serious crisis at the border and it’s really escalated it. And there is a lot of discussion, is it crisis or not. So let’s just talk about some numbers. 40% of our border patrol agents are busy processing people and changing diapers. It means that they cannot do their job protecting the borders. What does it mean? It means that Mexican cartels are controlling the border. It means that we have thousand people, just at this location per day, crossing the border that they see them on the video, but they cannot act to that. It means that they’re so overwhelmed that they had to release 12,000 families, 12,000 people in the country without going through processes that has to happen.

Is it not a crisis? We saw terrorists trying to cross the border recently, this is a national security and humanitarian crisis. Let’s look at some other numbers. We have cartels making almost half a billion in a month on human trafficking and making these people into slaves. We have a situation where six times increase in drug smuggling across the border. That is not a crisis? We have a situation where parents sent six and eight year old kids to cross the border. These kids are crying because of we created perverse incentives. If I would be sending my two teenage daughters in through the water and also led them to sit in pods they have instead of 33 people have over 500 people, I would be in jail as an American mother. So, that is not a crisis?

And this crisis not a Texas crisis. This crisis is coming to Indiana and all other States because we don’t have a border from Texas. And right now, we don’t have a thousand border, and it’s a huge problem. Also, it’s a financial expenditure for us. We cannot take care of our homeless veterans, but spending over $800 per day housing some of these families in hotels. And this administration says that this is not a change of policy, they’re either naive, or incompetent, because there has been change in policy. So I just tell you what about the solutions, or the long-term solutions that we have to have good legal immigration…

The long-term solutions that we have to have, good legal immigration system and legal infrastructure, but there are also some short-term solution that need to happen. This administration has to deal with asylum seekers and set up operations here to deal with them quickly, and this administration have to fix some of the border wall that started to be built because it created hazards. It’s a flood hazard and also safety hazards. And this administration need to think what kind of policy we’re going to have to let our border patrol to do their job for protecting the border, and they need to send HHS to help them and have the proper tools and finances for them because after Section 42 goes away, we’re really in trouble. So I hope you can have this conversation and we’re going to talk to our Democrat and Republican colleagues and to this administration, because it is not acceptable. Thank you.

Congremman Jordan: (09:54)
The gentleman from the great state of Utah, Congressman Owens.

Congressman Owens: (10:03)
Thank you. First of all, I’d like to thank in a big way our unsung heroes, the men and women on the borders, Americans who truly have been saving our country and our culture here. I have 15 grandchildren from 13 to six months. As I talk about this, I want you guys to think, think deep, about your kids, your grandkids. It’s interesting, we have these young people walking, hundreds and thousands of miles to get to a place their parents think is safe. We went through the processes today and I saw this seven year old girl, autistic. Couldn’t tell who the parents were. And I sat there as we’re talking with these great men and women, and I was glanced over every few minutes and she had tears in her eyes, just wouldn’t stop crying. She’s been here for 17 days, by the way. She still can’t stop crying. We saw the video of a nine year old young boy that was left abandoned in the desert. Heard about a young lady who now can not talk because of the trauma being gang raped. These are our children, my friends. Whether you’re American or Mexican or Guatemala, it doesn’t matter, these are our children. And we have an administration that does not have the backbone to come down here and give encouragement to these great men and women doing their job, they’re been overwhelmed right now. They don’t have the backbone to come see the misery that their policy giving things, boys and girls, babies, men and women who take that trip. Many will never make it.

There are people you and I will never ever meet the parents, never ever see again, because they’re going to die alone somewhere on this trek, as we talk about everything else, but the issues here. I don’t care if we’re Democrats or Republicans, we’re people who love our nation, we’re people love our culture, and this has been on purpose. To amass a mass invasion of cultures that’s not ours, that we don’t give these young boys and girls a chance to assimilate. They grow up and vote against every single thing we believe in. It’s on purpose. So I’m going to say to President Biden and Vice President Harris, get some backbone. Get some compassion. Come down to the border and see what mess you made down here that we’re trying to fight to save our nation.

And by the way, I don’t want to ever hear the word reparation again from these Democrats. Reparation is for slavery 200 years ago, we’re seeing slavery today. Human trafficking, my friends. Sex trafficking, my friends, today. And they turned their eyes away, closed their eyes as if there’s nothing happening. Let’s get on as a country. Let’s make sure this message goes out strong. And I don’t care what side of that we’re on. We love our kids. We love our nation. We love our culture. We’re not going to let the heart left destroy it by bringing misery to our nation. Thank you.

Congremman Jordan: (13:24)
Congressman Biggs from Arizona.

Congressman Biggs: (13:27)
Thank you, Congressman Jordan. I’m so pleased to be with my colleagues today, to be down on the border with them, visiting this part of the border. I’m pleased with the round table we just had and appreciate the ranchers, the law enforcement, the policy advisors, the border patrol agents, representatives that were participating in that round table, give us some advice. Let me tell you, I’ve been down to the border many, many times. I’ve been down to this border when it’s been under control, operational control, I would say. And then coming back here over the last day or so, and seeing something that’s horrific to see. It’s not humane. The policies of this administration are inhumane. This president must own the catastrophe he has created, this human suffering and misery that he has created.

Two weeks ago, he appointed Kamala Harris to be his point person on this issue. She’s crisscrossed the country taking holidays, she can’t be bothered to come visit the border to see what her administration’s policies have wrought. Let me tell you a story. Two quick stories, and I’ll tell you how you get out of this. Number one, small community in my state Hila Bend, which is the number two right now for immigrants to that Tucson sector. Small community, no social services whatsoever. They get a phone call, they’re going to bring 16 people into that community. That doesn’t sound like a lot to you, but here’s a community that has no hospital, no social service safety net whatsoever. They can’t even rent vans to transport them into Phoenix so they can get help. They have to use personal vehicles and get volunteers to drive these 16 peoples, which there were six family units, five from Venezuela, one from Chile. There’s no guarantee that’s not going to happen again. And if you think if you live in an interior community, it won’t happen to you, it will happen. People don’t stay on the border. They’re being released by the thousands every day into the United States interior. About a week and a half, two weeks ago, I was down in the Arizona border in place called Three Points near San Miguel. We saw there were 16 people on the other side of the border. The border patrol was trying to keep them in there because these are runners, these are drug runners. We didn’t see anything else that day, but that night, a group of 112 was apprehended, surrendered. In that group, the oldest person was 94 years old, 94. The youngest, four years old. No parents, no guardians, no siblings, no aunt and uncle, no cousins, no grandparents.

Somebody put that four year old into the hands of the ruthless, sex, drug and human traffickers that we call the cartels. The cartels are controlling our borders. No person crosses this river without the cartels knowing about it and approving of it. And the same is said on the nearly 2,300 miles of this border. There are some things that need to happen to bring this under control and get our nation back, quite frankly.

The first one is this president has got to stand up and say, “No. You cannot come into our country. We will send you back. You must come legally.” It is his voice that said during the campaign, he wanted to see a, “Surge on the border.” You must take that stand. Then the second thing he must do, he must re-institute the MPP program. He needs to get back to Mexico. That’s why the president of Mexico says, “This is Biden’s mess.” It is Biden’s mess. He needs to re-engage with the Northern triangle States and Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. And he needs to make sure that they’re engaged just like they were in the [inaudible 00:17:51] program. He needs to rescind the $1,400 per illegal alien incentive from the COVID package. And quite frankly, what he-

… Package, and quite frankly, what he could do that would be incredibly effective is to instruct the asylum or the immigration judges to not worry about the asylum backlog. There are hundreds of thousands of those people already in the country that are waiting for a court hearing, guess what? They’re not coming back to court, but we have people on the border today who are coming across because of the promise of asylum that this administration has given. You can establish those courts. They can grant due process and remove people who have fraudulent claims, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of 90% of people who make an asylum claim.

You do those things and you can do them quickly, this problem, this crisis, this catastrophe begins to go away in short order, very quickly. Because people respond to incentives. Cartel is maybe a crime organization, but it is a business organization and they respond to those incentives and you take them away and people will stay home and we can restore order on the border. Thank you.

Thank you, Andy. I’m going to let Sheriff Louderback from Jackson County say a few words.

Sheriff Louderback: (19:18)
Thank you, Congressman, Thank you to the men and women of the US Border Patrol. Thank you to the men and women of ICE, Immigration Customs Enforcement. Thank you to the Texas troopers that are here. Thank you to the Texas game wardens that are down here on the border. Thank you to all of the sheriff’s deputies and law enforcement in the state of Texas that are here facing a catastrophic crisis that we have in our counties on the border and in the interior of Texas that are spreading out through the United States. Thank you again for the services you all provide us here in this nation. The urgency of an administration to bring as many people as they can with no infrastructure in this country is unheard of. It’s un-American that we have to face such an issue here that is so preventable. I appreciate every one of y’all here today, but listen, take this message out here on something that was very preventable for us to do. We did not have to endure this kind of issue here and let’s get it stopped. Thank you.

Thank you, Sheriff. The head of Customs and Border Patrol Council, Brandon Judd. Come right up.

Brandon Judd: (20:37)
Good afternoon. I’m grateful to be here to speak on behalf of the men and women, the rank and file men and women of the United States Border Patrol. It’s my honor to represent them and to be their voice. I want to talk about legal. I’m sorry. This is in the issue of illegal immigration, not legal immigration. We have to have an open and honest conversation if we’re going to solve the problem, and that’s what we want. We want to solve the problem. We understand that as long as the catch and release, what has been dubbed as the catch and release program continues to go on, people are going to cross our borders illegally. If they know that they can cross our borders and that they’re going to be released into the United States, they are going to continue to come.

Brandon Judd: (21:20)
We have to stop that magnet. We have to remove that magnet from the pool. Had the opportunity to listen to real emotion today from Congressman Burgess, talking about children and how inhumane it is to put these to incentivize putting children into the hands of criminal cartels. He just talked about children walking hundreds, maybe even a thousand miles to get to this country, that is inhumane, and that is policy-driven. We can in fact, and those policies to ensure that we have a legal system, a legal immigration system. I’m grateful to be a citizen of the greatest country in the world. We are the most compassionate country that there is. We allow on average, more immigration, legal immigration into this country than any other country, but we have to be aware of the detrimental effects of illegal immigration. For that reason, I’m grateful that these Congressmen and Congresswomen came to the border to shine a spotlight on this issue that can in fact, be solved and with their help, it will be solved. Thank you.

Thank you. Brandon, thank you, and thank you to, as Burgess said, your entire team, all the border patrol agents and the great work they do. Scott Frazier is here with us today. Works for the Texas Farm Bureau and we’ll let him talk. Then Susan Kibbe, who represents the Property Rights Association, we’re going to let her come up as well. Come on up, Scott and Susan.

Scott Frazier: (22:56)
Let me say thank you all for the opportunity to be here today and with you guys. Thank you to all our public servants, first responders that are, they’re having to deal with this situation on a daily basis. Thank you to our members of Congress that are gathered here and others that have come down over the past few weeks to take a look at this issue. The biggest thing I probably want to share with the rest of the folks out there in the countryside is that that these folks crossing right now that are being released, vast majority aren’t going to stay in these neighborhoods locally along the border. They’re going to spread out to virtually every city in this country. Most of our public services are stretched pretty, pretty thin right now. A lot of these folks coming across, most of them aren’t highly, highly skilled, highly educated, they’re not going to be brain surgeons or something in the next few days in our hospitals, most of them are going to require social services of some kind as they spread out.

Scott Frazier: (23:47)
They’re going to test the folks and take away from folks in your neighborhoods and test your food banks. They’re going to going to try your hospitals, going to your education systems, your schools. That’s all something that we just really don’t need and there was no cause to have to do this right now. I really believe that we’re going to see this is going to hurt all of our social services, our social needs that we’ve been working on, had people in our areas and especially larger urban areas that have these needs and that they’re going to go unmet. We’re not meeting them now. Then we add a whole bunch more people that have all the same needs. It’s just going to magnify that problem. Again, thank you so much for the opportunity to come down. I don’t think this was in any way an accident. I think it was planned and we’re seeing it, the plan work forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Scott. Susan, come right up.

Susan Kibbe: (24:41)
Good afternoon. My name is Susan Kibbe. I’m the Executive Director of South Texans’ Property Rights Association that was formed back in 2006 because of border security and immigration reform issues that affect land owners here on the border and north in the checkpoint counties. I’d like to ask President Biden and his administration to take back control of the border. Take it back from criminal cartels. Let border patrol get back to the work that they were hired to do catching criminal aliens that are currently traversing private property as we speak. Thank you for being here today. I appreciate the opportunity from this delegation to allow me time to speak and share the landowner experience. Thank you.

Thank you, Susan. All right. We can take a few questions if you’d like. First hand up.

Speaker 1: (25:33)
Hi, Congressman [inaudible 00:25:36], were any Democratic Congressmen [crosstalk 00:25:41] …

We invited them.

Speaker 1: (25:42)
… Invited from the [crosstalk 00:25:42].

We invited the Democrats to come with us, but they chose, for whatever reason, chose not to, but it seems to be a pattern, frankly. The President has not been down and the Vice President who President Biden, I guess, has delegated to look into this issue is not been down either, so no. We asked them to come.

Speaker 1: (25:59)
As a follow-up, are you concerned that there seems to be this division between [inaudible 00:26:04] Democrats and are you guys going to talk? How is [inaudible 00:26:08]?

Well, as you know, the Judiciary Committee, that’s why we came. Judiciary Committee has primary jurisdiction over immigration law. We felt it was important to be here. I was here two years ago, same area. We felt it was important to come back down again and see it first-hand. We learned a great deal over the last couple of days. I mean the agents, without a doubt, the agent said this has been caused by policy changes that this new administration undertook specifically, getting rid of the NPP that remain in Mexico policy while people are being processed, assessed, and evaluated. That’s been the cause of it. Let’s hope we can work together because this is for the good of the country, as I think every speaker who was up here talked about.

Speaker 2: (26:45)
Just want to add, I actually just went with seven Democrat members to El Paso. Was the only Republican who went and I asked them to come as a Republican next time we’ll make another office, so hopefully they can join us next time because we have to work.

Well said. Yes, sir.

Speaker 3: (27:01)
As far as planned, many of you mentioned …

Speaker 3: (27:03)
[inaudible 00:27:00] As far as the plan, you mentioned this is an organized plan. What do you think that the end game is for this plan?

I don’t know, but just step back and evaluate the situation. Right now, as we all stand here, you can’t get into your Capitol to exercise your First Amendment liberties and petition your government. You can’t get into your Capitol, but anybody and everybody can get into your country. I don’t think that’s a good policy. We heard from the people who live it every day that that is a particularly bad policy. Not only for them trying to do their job, but for the people in all the turmoil and trouble and terrible things that happen to particularly kids, as Burgess talked about on this journey here. It is just chaos, as Sheriff indicated in our meeting earlier. It has to change. The answer is pretty simple. You got to go back to the policies that were working just a few months ago.

Burgess, jump in.

Burgess: (28:00)
We’re going to debate on what the end game is. Can I ask everyone out there just to think about this. These are children we’re talking about that are taking this trek. It’s going to be very difficult for many of them to survive. It’s going to be difficult for many of them to come to this country, not knowing the language, to assimilate. We’re talking about a generation of children that are at risk, my friends. Let’s focus on that.

Burgess: (28:24)
How can we make sure our kids, their kids, stay in a safe environment, and then when they come here, we’ll do it in a way that they can remain in a safe environment and grow and assimilate and be proud Americans. At this point, it’s chaos. We cannot let any party bring chaos to our nation. Just think about our kids. I think that’s the one thing we’ve come together on, and find a solution to this issue.

Speaker 3: (28:47)
Is there any new information on the Terrorist Watch List, individuals [inaudible 00:28:57]?

No, the two names [crosstalk 00:28:59] … The two names, I think there were many individuals, the names matched names on the Terrorist Watch List. That’s all we know. I can’t …

Speaker 3: (29:12)
Does it create new concerns for you? I mean, it’s always been a concern, hasn’t it? But does it solidify a concern for you?

Yes. Because I mean, as the agents told us, when 40% of your manpower is being spent processing individuals, that means less border patrol agents out there to safeguard the border and protect the border from potential terrorists. That appears to be … was the case in the folks in California.

Speaker 4: (29:34)
Thank you, Congressman Jordan. I would just add, so there were … back when Secretary Mayorkas spoke before the committee on Homeland Security, on March 13, just the day before that there were four names on the Terrorist Watch List that had been apprehended, and then these two. Today, I understand the Customs and Border Patrol has announced that they have apprehended a confirmed member MS-13 in the San Diego sector. You’re going to see it not as one anecdote, but as a recurring one.

Speaker 4: (30:08)
Of course the concern at all points in time is who are we not apprehending? If they, as we know when we’ve heard from Border Patrol, as we’ve been down here, that every day you see swells of people coming in to surrender to Border Patrol. They know that at the same time, those are decoy operations because others are coming in in another location. If we’ve apprehended, if we’ve been fortunate enough to apprehend now six, by my count, persons whose names were on the Terrorist Watch List, how many have we not apprehended, particularly if that’s where they’re devoting their effort. Those would be the high value people they want to get in.

Speaker 3: (30:49)
Congressman, can you share your thoughts on Biden administration announcing they’re going to consider finishing patches, openings in the wall.

Let’s hope it’s more than consider, because we know it works. Again, that’s another message we got loud and clear from the agents. They say walls work, because walls force the people who were coming to come to ports of entry, where you can actually process and look at things in a legal way in a way consistent with the rule of law. Let’s hope that is not just talk yesterday or the day before when they mentioned it, that they’re actually going to put that policy back in place. We can take a couple more.

Speaker 5: (31:22)
Can I just add real quick on that? The administration said that they were going to temporarily suspend construction of the border wall for 60 days while they re-evaluate the wall. It’s been far more than 60 days. Are they now just getting around to considering it?

Well said. [crosstalk 00:31:43] We’ll go one, two, then maybe we’ll stop. Yeah?

Speaker 6: (31:44)
Thank you. What do you expect Congress to realistically be able to do when the executive branch is setting the policy on this?

Well, what we can do is come down here and talk about it and talk about the real solutions, meet with the guys who are living it every day, who are right on the front lines. We can talk about it. We can try to persuade our Democrat colleagues in the United States Congress to do exercise some common sense and go back to policies that actually work. We’ll continue to do that. Let’s hope the Biden administration follows up on the announcement a couple of days ago that they’re considering going back to and finishing the wall and rebuilding the wall. Let’s just hope. But all we can do is talk about it. We’re going to continue to do that.

But the American people can speak up. Look, this is how our great system works. You talk to your member of Congress, your United States Senator, and you tell him, “This is not what we …” I mean, you think about it. You can’t get into your Capitol. Anybody and everybody can get into your country. When they come into your country, your tax dollars are used to facilitate all this that’s going on. In the case of San Diego schools, illegal migrant children are getting in-person education where were kids in the San Diego school system are not. I think a lot of Americans are going to say, “Boy, this is not what we bargained for.” Particularly when we know what happens to these people on the journey, as Congressman Owens has pointed out now a couple of times. Last one.

Speaker 7: (33:02)
Were you given an exact day when the migrant influx began?

No, but we were told that they started constructing the facility to rapidly move families with young children. They started that construction on January 23rd. So three days into the administration. Look, everyone knows this is driven by the policies that this new administration has embraced. We got to change those policies back to the ones that actually worked.

Thank you all. Sorry you had to stay out in the sun there when it’s warm, but thank you all very much.

Speaker 8: (33:32)
Thank you everybody. Thanks for coming. Thank you. Sorry for the heat.

Speaker 9: (34:06)
It’s just getting started.

House Republicans Press Conference on Trip to Southern Border Transcript April 7

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