The Illegal Alien Invasion At Our Southern Border

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLYDE. Mr. Speaker, tonight, I will be joined by a number of my colleagues to talk about the illegal alien invasion at our southern border and how it is victimizing our citizens.

Last month, a grievous event tragically reminded the American people that every State is a border State.

On February 22, Laken Riley, pictured here, a 22-year-old nursing student was murdered by an illegal alien in Athens, Georgia, on the campus of the University of Georgia.

Laken's murderer was an illegal alien who should never, ever, ever have even been here. He illegally entered El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was then released into the country via President Biden's significantly expanded parole program, an expansion that is illegitimate.

He then took a young, beautiful life, Laken's life, in a brutal and violent way. Laken's father, John, described her as an amazing daughter, sister, friend, who was selfless and considerate of others, with a laugh that was infectious and lit up a room.

He also highlighted her faith to me and noted that her love for the Lord guided her steps and shaped the way she lived her life.

Mr. Speaker, Laken should be alive today, running, laughing with her friends, studying for nursing school, and spending time with her parents and siblings, but she is not, and this tragedy was completely avoidable.

Her murderer is a dangerous criminal alien who took advantage of weak and bad Biden administration border policies. This horrific story has truly shaken our State and our entire Nation, and for good reason.

Laken's young life and bright future were cut short at the hands of an illegal alien. Her murder was 100 percent preventable because her murderer should never have ever been in our country. Yet radical, dangerous policies failed both her and her family.

Athens-Clarke County, the county where I have my business, the county where I have lived for 30 years, the county where as a Navy officer I taught when the Navy Supply Course School was in Athens-Clarke County.

This county is one of four sanctuary cities in the Peach State. This sanctuary jurisdiction undoubtedly incentivized illegal immigration, putting families, small businesses, and students in greater danger. Yet Athens' Democrat mayor shamelessly claimed that there is no connection between crime and immigration.

This is a flat-out lie, but it is a lie the mayor would rather tell than admit the truth: that his own policies played a role in Laken's murder.

But the buck doesn't stop with the failed leadership in Athens-Clarke County. This goes all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

As a candidate, Joe Biden instructed illegals to ``surge to the border.'' As President, he has ignored immigration law, destroyed our border security, and incentivized illegal immigration.

Notably, Secretary Mayorkas has unabashedly carried out the President's marching orders, willfully establishing a wide-open border agenda that has violated our laws and emboldened dangerous criminals like Laken Riley's murderer to illegally enter the United States.

Once aliens from across the world accept Biden's invitation, they are immediately released into our communities. In fact, Laken's murderer was released into the country due to the President's abuse of parole authority, which the Biden administration has weaponized to funnel millions of illegal aliens into the United States.

For 3 years now, these open-border policies have been in effect. The result has been the Biden administration's intentional illegal invasion. According to recent estimates, nearly 7.3 million illegal aliens have entered the country under the Biden administration's watch, a number greater than the individual population of 36 States. That is a stunning and unsustainable figure.

Clearly, we need to do more than secure the southern border. It is imperative that we also deport every solitary illegal alien who accepted the Biden administration's invitation to enter and reside in our Nation unlawfully.

If we do not deport them, more Americans will suffer the tragic consequences of President Biden's open-border policies.

The list of victims extends far beyond Laken Riley. In fact, a 32- year-old illegal alien was recently arrested for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Virginia. Another illegal alien was recently charged with first- and second-degree murder for a shooting that killed a 2-year-old child and injured his mother in Maryland. In Louisiana, an illegal alien was recently arrested for a series of violent crimes, including raping a 14-year-old girl at knifepoint and stabbing a man multiple times while robbing him. In Massachusetts, an illegal Haitian immigrant was recently charged with raping a 15-year-old girl in a hotel that housed asylum seekers.

Now, let's go back a couple years. Honestly, what I just said happened just the last few weeks, and yet the Biden administration has done nothing.

Let's go back a year or so.

In July 2022, Kayla Hamilton, an American, was sexually assaulted and murdered in Maryland by a 16-year-old alien and MS-13 gang member from El Salvador who was allowed to enter the U.S. through the unaccompanied alien program.

This 16-year-old illegal alien was initially apprehended by Border Patrol in Texas on March 23, 2022, and then referred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

According to the alien, members of his family paid $4,000 to a guide who smuggled them to the southwest border. On May 3, 2022, the Office of Refugee Resettlement placed the alien with a sponsor, his alleged first cousin in Maryland.

As revealed in his case file, the alien had been arrested by police in El Salvador on January 21, 2020, for illicit association with the MS-13 gang. The illegal alien's case file also included information from law enforcement officials dated August 2022, noting that the alien had tattoos affiliated with gang activity.

So how did he get here? Through the Biden administration's abuse and weaponization of the immigrant parole program. This 16-year-old murderer should never, ever have been allowed in this country.

How many times do I need to say that? How many more Americans have to be murdered or raped or assaulted by an illegal alien for the President to act? How many more Americans have to be killed by fentanyl? How many more innocent Americans have to suffer?

Right now, the President has the executive authority, the power to do everything, yet he continues to do nothing because this is all by design. So it is up to Congress to stop this madness by using our leverage, the power of the purse, to force the White House to do the right thing for the American people, yet Republican leadership has failed to do so.

Two weeks ago, this body passed the first half of the swamp's omnibus. While this horrendous, backroom negotiated bill had many flaws, one thing stood out to me more than the rest: My policy rider to defund sanctuary jurisdictions like Athens-Clarke County where Laken Riley was murdered was removed from the bill. It was surrendered by our leadership.

Yet the bill passed under suspension with more Democrat votes supporting it than Republicans, but 132 Republicans still voted for it. They voted to keep funding sanctuary cities.

Americans are sick and tired of all talk and no action. Members continue messaging against the border crisis, then turn around and fund the Biden administration's policies that are creating this madness.

If we are going to truly secure the border and deport every illegal alien residing in our great Nation, then we have to fight. We need more Republicans willing to fight for the American people. I hope to see more of my colleagues join the fight when we consider the second piece of the swamp's omnibus, which includes funding for the Department of Homeland Security later this week.

Despite still not having the bill text, we have a pretty good idea that this massive government funding package fails to secure our southern border. Key border security provisions were surrendered, yet leadership is touting more resources, such as more detention beds for ICE as a win.

I disagree. Simply adding more resources without actually changing the Biden administration's open-border policies allows President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas to simply process and release more illegal aliens into the country. We don't need more Border Patrol agents that will simply be used as processing clerks.

Let me be clear: Any Republican who votes for the swamp's second spending package that doesn't secure our border owns the border crisis just as much as President Biden.

I am proud to have several of my colleagues here tonight to condemn President Biden's intentional illegal invasion as well as to discuss the power that Congress has to put a stop to this crisis.

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Mr. CLYDE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Arizona for those inspiring words. I agree with him absolutely, we need to bring up our border legislation every solitary week.

Now, I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Higgins).

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Mr. CLYDE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana. Those are strong words, and those are correct words.

Now I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy).

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Mr. CLYDE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Roy. I thank him for his work in the fight to secure our border.

I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good).

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Mr. CLYDE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his remarks, and I applaud his efforts to stop President Biden's illegal invasion. He is right. We need to attach H.R. 2, the border security bill, to this particular funding legislation.

I thank all of my colleagues who participated tonight in this Special Order. We can and we must do more in the fight to protect Americans from Joe Biden's open border policies.

The most powerful way we can do this is through the power of the purse. We have an opportunity to take a stand against the Biden administration's intentional illegal invasion through the funding fight, and I urge my colleagues to do so. Otherwise, more avoidable tragedies like Laken Riley's murder will continue to devastate our Nation, and we will create more victims of our citizens.

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