Secure the Border Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. DesJARLAIS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman, my colleague from Tennessee.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2. If you watch TV and listen to the administration and Secretary Mayorkas, they would tell you that the border is secure and that the border is not open. In other words, they are telling you to believe what they say and not what you see.

Anybody who looks at the border can see the crisis that is there.

They can look in their communities and see the tragedy that is unfolding with fentanyl.

They can look to the sanctuary cities where all the mayors love to say: ``We will take anyone. Send your immigrants to our cities.'' Now, they are screaming: ``No more.'' As soon as they got a taste of what the border States are feeling and dealing with every day, they wanted no part of it.

The toll that this is causing our country is hard to grasp. Look no further than our SNAP program. Everyone wants to expand SNAP and make sure no one goes hungry. I agree that anyone in need should get food, but we cannot get an answer to how many people who are here illegally are on the SNAP program. We have been trying for a year. We have asked Secretary Mayorkas via letter, and we have asked Secretary Vilsack via letter how many people who are here illegally or undocumented are on SNAP.

We know that 45 percent of non-documented households receive SNAP, and only 21 percent of U.S. citizens receive SNAP. When I bring this up in committee, I am told it is very hard to get SNAP benefits if you are in the country illegally, but there are several exceptions--more than 11.

Two of the main exceptions are: One, if you are under 18, you automatically qualify. We all know how many children are coming across the border. They are receiving SNAP benefits. The other is if you are seeking asylum. Well, who is coming here that is not seeking asylum?

I heard the gentleman mention that anyone can claim asylum, but what we are seeing here is not true asylum seeking. It is what they are told to say because they know that is the clearest pathway into the country.

People are just simply being released in record numbers. Mr. Speaker, 5 million to 6 million people have come into our country illegally.

Do you know who hates illegal immigration more than any of us? People who did it right. We have the most generous immigration system in the world. Almost a million per year can come here legally. We are letting millions in illegally, and the people who do it right resent that.

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Mr. DesJARLAIS. Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this measure because we are a country of laws, and it is not right to allow your first measure in entering this country to be something illegal. It flies in the face of all the people who did it correctly.

Thank God we have a chairman like Chairman Green who is addressing this issue. It should be a bipartisan issue. Everyone is feeling it. It is time that we act.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Republicans for bringing this forward. It is important, and I strongly support it.

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