John Rice Carter: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Madam Speaker, it is a proven fact that lawlessness breeds lawlessness, and, sadly, I believe…”

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Madam Speaker, it is a proven fact that lawlessness breeds lawlessness, and, sadly, I believe this assertion sums up the issue that is confronting us today. Thanks in large part to the President's political decision not to enforce our immigration laws, a chaotic situation has erupted into a national security crisis and a law enforcement nightmare along the border. We all know the facts: An estimated 90,000 unaccompanied alien children will cross into south Texas' Rio Grande Valley by the end of this fiscal year. Another 145,000 children are estimated to flood the border in fiscal year 2015. And these staggering figures do not include the tens of thousands of families who will also surge across our border over the same period of time. As a result of this influx, our brave Border Patrol agents, CBP officers, and ICE agents are spending countless hours in caring for children rather than focusing on their primary enforcement missions. This would be tragic if it weren't so preventable. Madam Speaker, we do not have an open border policy in this country, and as we tragically learned on 9/11, border security and the integrity of our immigration system truly matter to our Nation's security and the rule of law. So, today, we offer a strong but initial step to provide both the right tools and the right authorities to address and deter this seemingly unending influx of illegal aliens.…”