OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Secure the Southwest Border Act of 2014

Floor Speech

Date: July 31, 2014
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Minors and Children Immigration

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Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, let me thank the chairman of the Appropriations Committee for his hard work and Chairwoman Kay Granger for heading up this task force that I was honored to be a part of.

As the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and a former Federal prosecutor who has dealt with the border for many years, I have never seen a crisis quite like this one. This crisis demands action. It demands leadership, and it demands a solution to the problem.

Since the President enacted DACA in 2012, we have seen 60,000 unaccompanied children cross into the border, in the Rio Grande Valley sector of Texas alone, 250 per day.

We went down there to see these children. These children are the victims caught between the administration's policies and the coyotes and the traffickers who exploit them and make money, between $5,000 to $10,000 apiece.

Madam Speaker, this bill fixes that crisis. First and foremost, this changes the 2008 trafficking law as a message of deterrence. This crisis will not stop until we start sending them back, and all this does is it treats Central Americans the same way we treat Mexicans. It will provide for swift removal in a humane way back to their countries of origin.

It is unfortunate that the administration, while initially supportive, has now flip-flopped on that issue.

It also provides for the detention, removal, and repatriation of these children.

For me and my home State of Texas, importantly, it calls for the deployment of the National Guard to the southwest border to secure our border. My Governor, Governor Perry, has already activated the National Guard. But it is the Federal Government's responsibility, under the Constitution, to pick up that price tag, and that is precisely what this bill does.

Finally, Madam Speaker, I think, importantly, it directs the Southern Command, our military, to help secure the border between Guatemala and Mexico, which I believe, and I know the chairman of Appropriations as well believes, is a key to stopping the flow out of Central America.

Madam Speaker, the time to act is now.

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