Termination of National Emergency Declared By the President on February 2019

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MILLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because we must secure our border. We are in the midst of a national security and humanitarian crisis on our southern border which must be addressed.

Earlier this month, Congress secured important and necessary funding to protect over 55 miles of our most dangerous border where it has been so desperately needed. We have also provided funding for over 600 new border officers.

This was a good step in the right direction, but as we see again today, our colleagues from across the aisle remain unwilling to address our intensifying border crisis. With the national emergency declaration, President Trump is taking the steps our country needs to stay safe and secure.

Yes, this is an emergency. Cartels, human traffickers, and drug smugglers take advantage of our weak border for their own gain, and it must be stopped.

We need to stop traffickers from bringing young girls and women into our country where they are sold into prostitution and slavery. As a mother and a grandmother, this breaks my heart.

We need to stop violent gangs like MS-13 from entering our cities and bringing their violence and evil onto our streets.

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Mrs. MILLER. Mr. Speaker, we need to stop violent gangs like MS-13 from entering our cities and bringing their violence and evil onto our streets. We need to stop the drug smugglers from devastating our communities and flooding our towns with opioids, like heroin and fentanyl.

My home State of West Virginia has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic and especially from illegal drugs smuggled across the border. Just several weeks ago, Customs and Border Protection seized enough fentanyl to kill every person in West Virginia 32 times over. Imagine how much more is still slipping through the unsecured areas.

Our country cannot afford inaction any longer. We need to build this wall.

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