Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-5) delivered a fiery House Floor speech Wednesday on border security, saying that ongoing negotiations over funding for a physical barrier on the United States’ southern border is a matter of life or death for “thousands of Americans each year.”
Brooks’ speech quoted extensively from a letter recently sent by President Donald Trump to Congress that highlights federal crime data and the danger, deaths and injury caused to Americans by illegal aliens and America’s “porous” southern border.
An overview of federal crime data provided by Brooks’ office showed that roughly 117,500 illegal aliens are arrested for crimes committed on American soil each year. This includes approximately 2,000 homicides, 50,000 physical assaults and 15,000 sex crimes by illegal aliens each year.
Brooks’ office also noted that approximately 15,000 Americans die each year from heroin drug overdoses, with 90 percent of all heroin reaching America via its “porous” southern border. The heroin is often transported by drug cartels and illegal aliens acting as their “mules.”
You can view Brooks’ speech here.
Transcript as follows:
Madam Speaker, on January 4, 2019, President Trump sent Congress a letter about America’s border crisis. That letter states, in part:
“It is the sovereign right of every nation to establish an immigration program in its national interest – lawfully admitting those who have followed the rules, while denying entry to those who break the rules or fail to meet the requirements established in law.
A nation that fails to control its borders cannot fulfill its most basic obligations to its citizens – physical safety, economic security, essential public services, and the uniform protection of our laws.
The Southern Border is a very dangerous place – in fact, Border Patrol agents routinely encounter some of the most dangerous criminals, cartels, and traffickers anywhere in the world.
Effective border security must dramatically reduce the entry of illegal immigrants, criminals and drugs; it must keep out terrorists, public safety threats, and those otherwise inadmissible under U.S. law; and it must ensure that those who do enter without legal permission can be promptly and safely returned home.
[C]urrent funding levels, resources, and authorities are woefully inadequate to meet the scope of the problem. We are no longer in a status quo situation at the Southern Border but in a crisis situation. Status quo funding is not enough.
*In fiscal year (FY) 2018, 17,000 adults at the border with existing criminal records were arrested by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and border agents.
*In FY 2017 and FY 2018, ICE officers arrested approximately 235,000 aliens on various criminal charges or convictions within the interior of the United States – including roughly 100,000 for assault, 30,000 for sex crimes, and 4,000 for homicides.”
For emphasis, over the past two years, illegal aliens have averaged 50,000 physical assaults, 15,000 sex crimes, and 2,000 killings per year . . . all in America!
Returning to President Trump’s letter, “*300 Americans are killed every week from heroin – 90% of which floods across our Southern Border.”
Stated differently, our porous southern border and illegal aliens contribute to the deaths of another 15,000 Americans per year from just one drug: heroin! According to the Center for Disease Control, there are another 55,000 dead Americans from overdoses from other poisonous drugs, many of which, like heroin, steal across our porous southern border.
President Trump continues in his letter, “Illegal immigration is NOT progressive – by every measure, it is unfair, unjust, uncompassionate, and cruel. Many people are killed. It hurts both those who make the journey and so many communities bearing the cost in lives, safety, and dollars.
Absolutely critical to border security and national security is a wall or a physical barrier that prevents entry in the first place. Members of both parties – including then Senators Obama and Clinton, current Senator Schumer, and many other members of the House and Senate – all voted for a hard, physical barrier. Walls work. That’s why rich, powerful, and successful people build them around their homes. All Americans deserve the same protection. In Israel, it is 99% effective.”
Madam Speaker, open borders advocates force Washington to either shut down the government or do nothing, nothing, to prevent the deaths of thousands of Americans each year that result from our porous southern border and illegal alien criminal activity. This is a bad choice.
To the contrary, we should both end the government shutdown and secure our borders by building a wall and changing our immigration laws to protect the lives of American men, women, and children.
Madam Speaker, I ask for unanimous consent that President Trump’s letter to Congress be included in the Congressional Record.
Madam Speaker, I yield back.
Brooks speech came after Trump delivered a speech from the Oval Office to the nation on border security Tuesday night. The president referred to the situation as “a growing humanitarian and security crisis.”
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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