Xavier Becerra: “let me begin by first acknowledging the work of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goode) for his efforts to recognize the…”

“let me begin by first acknowledging the work of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goode) for his efforts to recognize the true national security interests that we have and the domestic security interests that I believe the gentleman is trying to raise through this amendment. But, Mr. Chairman, the President did not request this amendment. The Department of Defense did not request this amendment. The Department of Justice, which houses the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Border Patrol, did not request this amendment. The Department of the Treasury, which houses our Customs Service, did not request this amendment. The governors and the States that control our National Guard did not request this amendment. So why are we doing this amendment? This is the House of Representatives. This is not the war room or the White House situation room. We should let those who know best how to deploy our military services, our men and women in uniform, to make those decisions. We are not day to day the best judges of how to deploy our troops, but that is what this amendment goes to. Let us remember something here. If we have civilian law enforcement work and oversight and deployment that must take place, we have civilian law enforcement to do that work, our Border Patrol, our Customs agents, our National Guard. They should be doing that work along the border. Right now the President has the authority if there is an emergency to deploy our troops.…”