Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding, who is a great friend of mine. I think the pictures you have up there speak a loud picture of the other side of the 21-day shutdown, of what is really going on. Yesterday and…
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding, who is a great friend of mine.
I think the pictures you have up there speak a loud picture of the other side of the 21-day shutdown, of what is really going on.
Yesterday and today, we have heard a lot from our Democratic colleagues about what 20 days was, what 21 days was. And, yes, there are people who have been furloughed; and, yes, it is tragic for them if they can't pay their bills. But we know this is a temporary inconvenience.
We passed a bill today, in this Chamber, that will be signed into law that these people will be made whole. So it is a temporary inconvenience, and we don't like it. Neither side likes this.
But when you look at the cause of this, when we go back to the cause of this--and we saw that meeting in the White House with Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and President Trump. After that, there was a press conference where she said not one penny will go to a wall.
As you have illustrated so eloquently, how many times have President--or Senator Obama at the time, Senator Feinstein, Senator Schumer, and Ms. Pelosi supported a wall, border security, and the hypocrisy that it is okay then but it is not okay now because they want to label it ``Trump's wall.''
What this President is trying to do is fulfill all of our obligations to the Constitution, to uphold the Constitution from foreign and domestic enemies.
Border security is something we all do, border security at our homes. I imagine 90 percent of Americans lock their doors at night because of security to protect their families. Mayors and police chiefs of towns protect their citizens. That is their job.
No, not at all. They do it because they want to protect the people whom they have been tasked to do. That is all we are asking for here is border security.
So 21 days ago the government shut down, a partial shutdown: 76 to 80 percent of the government is funded. There is a small portion that is not funded.
And again, I feel bad for the people who have been furloughed, but today, the legislation passed, as I said, where they are going to be made whole.
Since 21 days ago, the government has been shut down, making this the longest--or we are tying the previous record for the longest shutdown in U.S. history?
Why has it been this long? Because the Democrats refuse to come to the table and negotiate a solution.
When you have two sides, where one is willing to work and compromise and the other one says not one penny, you are not even at a starting point to compromise. Instead, they would rather bring up messaging bills that don't fund the vital programs. Also, that they can say: We didn't support President Trump's border security.
This is hatred at the highest level, yet they talk about tolerance and all this other stuff. They have such a disdain for this President. And again, all he is trying to do is secure this Nation.
Well, let's take a look at the last 21 days; on the other side, as you have brought up here, 21 days.
On average, 2,000 inadmissible migrants arrive at our southern border daily. This means that in the last 21 days, without a secure border, approximately 42,000 migrants have sought illegal entry at our border without going through the proper channels.
If they come through the proper channels, as you said, we allow over a million people in this country, to immigrate here. We have proper channels for people to come through. But over 42,000 immigrants have sought illegal entry at our border without going through the proper channels.
Additionally, in December, 27,518 family unit aliens were apprehended for crossing the border illegally. If those numbers remain consistent, that means over 18,000 family unit aliens have been apprehended for illegal crossings in the last 21 days.
In fiscal year 2018, 2,028 illegal aliens arrested had homicide charges already. If this number remains consistent, that is 115 homicide charges for illegal aliens in the last 21 days.
Further, on an average, 300 Americans die per week from heroin. Ninety percent of all the heroin in the U.S., and marijuana and cocaine, 90 percent of that comes from our southern border.
Secure the border, Ms. Pelosi.
That means that in the last 21 days, if we have 300 dying a week--21 days is 3 weeks--that means at least 900 Americans have died because of heroin illegally crossing our border.
Secure the border, Ms. Pelosi.
This doesn't even include the amount of fentanyl that crossed our southern border in 2017, which the amount that has come in is enough to kill every single American via overdoses.
If you talk to the Democrats, they will tell you that $5.7 billion is too
much to pay for protection at our southern border. But what they won't tell you is how much more it costs the Federal Government and Americans by not securing our borders.
And again, we want to be sensitive to the people who have been furloughed. As I said, and I know I am going to take some heat for this, it is a temporary inconvenience. But for these people that you have on this picture, for the countless other people we can talk about--Kate Steinle in San Francisco, Mollie Tibbetts, Peter Hacking-- all were killed by illegal Mexicans who have come into this country, and I find this very egregious.
Peter Hacking, a father of nine, a blended family, had been married to his wife approximately a year. He and two of his children were killed by a Mexican that came into this country illegally. That person that killed these people, a person who should not have been in this country, got 2 years in prison. It is a sham that the Democrats want to use politics to say this is not about security of this Nation. Ask those people.
For the people who have been furloughed, it is a temporary inconvenience. They are going to be made whole. But for these people, it is a permanent damage, not just to their families, but to their communities and to this Nation.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me, and I will be here if he needs me to weigh back in.
Absolutely. And we are going to continue this on--it will be 22 days, 23 days, hopefully, not long, but we are going to highlight what is going on. The compassionate thing is--and as you brought up, this is not anti-immigration. This is not anti-Mexican.
I made reference to three people that were killed by people from Mexico who were here illegally. That doesn't mean all Mexicans are bad.
I have worked with a lot. I come from an agricultural background. They are hardworking people, just like Americans are. This is something that if we don't have rule of law, you can't have a law-abiding society.
I want to address one other point, if you will allow me.
President Trump has taken a lot of heat about Mexico paying for the wall. I talked to the President about this when he was a candidate, and I think that is an issue that we do need to talk about.
When you look at the facts, Mexico, since 2008, has received $3.2 billion, with a B, in foreign aid. That comes to about $320 million a year in foreign aid.
I am a proponent of foreign aid. They had also started the Merida Initiative
in 2008. Since that period of time, $1.6 billion has been invested into that program. That is strictly counterdrugs. It has been $1.6 billion since 2008, and I ask you: Is the drug problem today better in America or worse?
Mr. Speaker, it is worse. So my proposal is that we, as a body, start looking at rerouting that money. If 90 percent of those drugs are coming through legal ports on our southwest border, in addition to the open, porous border, would it not make more sense to secure our borders, whether it is more screening at the legal entries, but let's also take care of the illegal ones.
And so in reality, that money that was earmarked for Mexico in foreign aid and drug initiatives, I propose that we reroute that and let's do those things that we know we can do. That will stop the amount of deaths, the 300 deaths a week that are happening from fentanyl, or heroin, and then the cocaine and the marijuana coming in. A border wall and beefed up border security will do that.
And I ask Ms. Pelosi to please negotiate and get off the moral high horse that you are caving into the President. This is not a partisan issue. This is an American issue, and it deals with our constitutional responsibility.
I thank Representative Gohmert for his leadership on this.