Pima Council on Aging Salutes Centenarians

Floor Speech

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Mr. CISCOMANI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 37th Salute to Centenarians recently hosted by the Tucson Medical Center in Pima County. It is the largest gathering of all centenarians in the United States.

Honorees include retired generals, race car drivers, actors, and my friend Walter Ram, a World War II veteran. I am so grateful to represent them in Congress.

Arizona's Sixth District has more than 143 centenarians, making this the largest centenarian gathering in the United States.

I will continue to fight for our seniors in Congress. Recently, I introduced, with Don Davis from North Carolina, the Oversight of Medicare Billing Code Cost Act, which will increase transparency with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. We must do everything in our power to protect Medicare and Medicaid for our seniors.

I am so proud to be representing great people like this in the district and will continue to fight for our seniors like this group of great centenarians. Congratulating Deputy Chief Lawrence Boutte

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Mr. CISCOMANI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Deputy Chief Lawrence, known by his friends as Butch, Boutte on his retirement from the Sierra Vista Police Department in March.

With a law enforcement career spanning 26 years, Butch was committed to serving his community both on and off the force. His knowledge and leadership skills helped to shape the Sierra Vista police station.

Even before his career with the police department, Butch was no stranger to public service. He served in the Army for 4 years in military intelligence as an electronic warfare interceptor/locator.

Last year, Butch joined 11 other Arizonans in being recognized by the Canyon Vista Medical Center and the Legacy Foundation of Southeast Arizona in their Veterans Wall Ceremony.

As he enjoys a well-deserved retirement, he leaves behind an incredible legacy in Sierra Vista.

Laura and I join the entire community of Sierra Vista, Cochise County, and Arizona's Sixth District in thanking the deputy chief for his service. Men and women like him, who dedicate their lives to the safety of their neighbors, represent the very best of us. Our Border is Broken

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Mr. CISCOMANI. Mr. Speaker, let me be clear: Our border is broken and has been for a long time.

For 3 years, Americans across the Nation, and especially in border communities like mine, are suffering the consequences of this historic crisis every single day.

The ineffective open-border policies implemented by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have made our country less safe at a time when the world is most dangerous.

Disturbingly, new documents subpoenaed by the Homeland Security Committee uncover the egregious lengths Secretary Mayorkas goes to to ensure inadmissible migrants are let into the United States. The committee found that DHS used over 50 airports, including in my home State of Arizona, to help illegally process more than 400,000 inadmissible migrants into the country through their unlawful mass parole program.

Implementing this program was not done for the benefit of the public or for urgent humanitarian need. It was done as an unlawful sleight of hand by Secretary Mayorkas to hide the true scale of the crisis he created from the American people.

The Immigration and Nationality Act clearly states that parole may only be granted on a case-by-case basis for significant public benefit or urgent humanitarian need.

These flights are none of these things. Granting mass parole to hundreds of thousands of inadmissible migrants in this district is in direct violation of the law and is yet another in a long list of failures by the DHS Secretary that has been derelict in his duties.

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