Secure the Border Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his effort on this legislation. So many have worked hard on this.

I have been listening to my colleagues across the aisle and all the gaslighting. I am reminded of the secondary output produced by many of the dairy cows in rural Arizona.

While my colleagues across the aisle are ignoring this problem, right now, record numbers of people are coming across this border.

Do you know what? In Matamoros, right there at the Rio Grande, you have the immigration authorities of Mexico coordinating with CBP on controlled crossings of the river.

Why is that? Because title 42 has gone away today. It is going to go away tonight. The cartels control our border. We have had testimony. The Chief of CBP has said that.

When I heard some of the stuff I heard here, I said that I wonder if any of them even know where the border is. Come on down to the border. I will show you what it is like.

Do you know what CBP officials told local officials in Arizona about title 42? I am quoting here: ``You are screwed.''

You won't do anything to solve the border problem. This bill solves much of the border problem. I get a kick out of someone here who just made a reference to how bad things were and how we didn't do anything.

Yuma sector, 2020, apprehensions for the entire fiscal year were 8,800. Do you know what it is today, this fiscal year? Over 350,000. Do you know what it was last year? Over 300,000.

Why is that? Because what the CBP doesn't say, hey, let's do the Democrat plan. They say, can you at least let us enforce the law? This administration says no.

Thus, we have a crisis on the border. It is more than a crisis. It is cataclysmic.

In the Darien Gap in Panama, the numbers crossing, it is a 500 percent increase. The number is between 700,000 to a million people just waiting, coming on up, waiting for title 42 to go away.

Do you know what ``expedited removal'' means? It means expedited release into the country. It means community release.

Why is that? Because of the weak asylum enforcement laws that we have today. When you come up, if we are taking you back to the border, we are going to get you across the border, and you say, ``I want asylum.'' It doesn't matter what your history is or anything. We are going to get you out of here and release you, community release.

Community release means, right now, you are getting released. That is what is happening. Shame on you.

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