Secure the Border Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, when I received my current district in redistricting, I was pleased that it was a border district, all along the Mexican border from the Tijuana area all the way through the rest of the county.

It isn't a border area today. There is no border. If there is no border with Mexico, then there is no border with America.

Every day, people pass through. Some are found. Some are not found. Some are stopped for a period of time, but few are turned away. They are not turned away because we simply have a policy of letting everyone in.

I also represent a major agricultural district with ranching and farming, and guess what? With all those millions of people who this administration has deliberately allowed to come in without having been invited, without prescreening, without an application, we still have a shortage because of the policies of simply catch and release with parole.

I will tell you what else my district is dealing with. We are dealing with enough fentanyl seized last year--117,000 pounds. If divided equally, it would kill every person in America in one dose.

Just last week, the California Highway Patrol seized $21 million worth of fentanyl well into the United States on its way to L.A. That would be enough fentanyl to kill every San Diegan. That is what we are dealing with because we have no border.

My Democrat friends, Mr. Speaker, will tell you about how it is not good, that it is not good enough, that we need to have comprehensive reform.

Like you, Mr. Speaker, I have pushed for comprehensive reform, but comprehensive reform is not simply to normalize what is going on. Comprehensive reform has to be a balance of enforcement and fair immigration rules.

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