Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2024
Floor Speech
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Ms. ESCOBAR. Mr. Chair, my amendment strikes section 224 of the bill, which mandates that ICE prioritize detention before considering any other options, such as alternatives to detention.
This mandate is absurd, and for a party claiming to champion fiscal responsibility, it makes no sense to mandate detention, which is the most expensive option available.
We know from previous alternatives to detention, like the case management program run by DHS in 2016, that providing case management services for migrant families costs the Department roughly $39 per day. Compare that to the cost of detaining those same families, which is roughly $300 per day.
The mandate makes no sense, even on the most practical level. The United States simply does not have the capacity to detain every single asylum seeker who arrives at our Nation's front door, nor should it.
Furthermore, section 244 of the bill hamstrings DHS' operational flexibility to effectively manage their resources depending on the Department's needs at a given time. This could cause a ripple effect of management issues for several agencies within DHS, including ICE and CBP, which would further exacerbate the challenges we see in border communities like mine.
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Ms. ESCOBAR. Mr. Chair, if my colleagues were truly being honest with each other, they would admit the proposed Homeland Security appropriations bill is unworkable and truly will not solve the challenges that we face.
For this reason, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to committee.
Mr. Chair, this bill pulls money from critical DHS functions and improvements, including investing in our ports of entry, the CBP One app, and even endangers public safety by defunding CBP's recently updated vehicle pursuit policy.
In short, this bill is filled with unworkable, empty promises Republicans feed their base instead of putting forth real solutions.
I have tremendous respect for my colleague, the gentleman from Ohio, and I would implore him to work with us on a bipartisan solution that is truly workable.
I was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border. I live there today. I raised my two children there in that beautiful community.
No one wants safety, security, and order more than those of us who live there and have invested our lives in those communities. We know that relying on borders, as my colleague, Representative Cuellar, has pointed out, is not the answer.
They don't deter or manage, and they don't make migrants go away. All it does is feed cartels so that they can find other routes for migrants. We share a commitment to wanting to end that.
We can find a solution and a bipartisan pathway. My colleague, Maria Salazar, and I have come together to find compromise, to seek true solutions that uphold our values and actually solve the problems at hand, and I invite my Republican colleagues to join us.
There is no doubt that this is a very broken system that puts significant pressure and strain on communities like mine, on NGOs, on local governments, on our Federal personnel, and, of course, the incredible inhumanity that migrants endure in order to seek an opportunity to live and work in our country.
This broken system is a consequence of Congress' inaction. It has been 37 years since Congress has reformed and passed a comprehensive immigration law. There is no better time than the present to do that together, in a bipartisan way.
Depending on unworkable solutions, expecting that Mexico will accept every migrant, believing we can jail every human being that comes to our border is unrealistic, and it is not a true solution.
If the House rules permitted, I would have offered a motion to recommit with an important amendment to this bill.
My amendment would cut the billions of dollars being allocated to the outdated and expensive border wall and reallocate it to the programs and services necessary to address a deadly and urgent matter--the fentanyl smuggling detection and interdiction that is needed at our ports of entry.
The most effective way to ensure that fentanyl smugglers are caught and held accountable is to send resources where fentanyl is entering the country--our ports of entry.
Over 90 percent of fentanyl is seized at these land ports and interior checkpoints, and it is overwhelmingly smuggled by U.S. citizens crossing the border legally.
Mr. Chair, I include in the Record the text of my amendment.
Ms. Escobar moves to recommit the bill H.R. 4367 to the Committee on Appropriations with the following amendment:
Page 13, line 19, after the dollar amount, insert ``(increased by $310,274,000)''.
Page 14, line 20, after the first dollar amount, insert ``(reduced by $658,400,000)''.
Page 14, line 20, after the second dollar amount, insert ``(increased by $317,000,000)''.
Page 14, line 22, after the dollar amount, insert ``(reduced by $975,400,000)''.
Page 15, line 9, after the dollar amount, insert ``(increased by $258,750,000)''.
Page 16, line 21, after the first dollar amount, insert ``(increase by $15,000,000)''.
Page 16, line 21, after the second dollar amount, insert ``(increased by $15,000,000)''.
Page 18, line 16, after the first dollar amount, insert ``(increased by $9,676,000)''.
Page 19, line 10, after the dollar amount, insert ``(increased by $50,000,000)''.
Page 27, line 9, after the dollar amount, insert ``(reduced by $658,400,000)''.
Page 27, line 11, after the dollar amount, insert ``(reduced by $1,052,000,000)''.
Page 27, line 15, after the dollar amount, insert ``(increased by $317,000,000)''.
Page 27, line 17, after the dollar amount, insert ``(increased by $76,600,000)''.
Page 56, line 1, after the dollar amount, insert ``(increased by $14,700,000)''.
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Ms. ESCOBAR. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Ms. ESCOBAR. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.
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