Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend, Congresswoman Fischbach, for yielding me time. I urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question so we can take up my bill, H.R. 1897, the REACT Act. My bill would require the Department of Homeland Security to test all migrants illegally crossing our border who they plan to release into our communities for COVID-19. Yesterday, I traveled to El Paso, Texas, to meet with the men and women of the United States Customs and Border Protection. I saw firsthand the crisis they are facing and believe it is our job as Congress to do everything in our power to address it. CBP is currently encountering more than 3,000 migrants on average per day, which is rapidly approaching levels seen at the height of the 2019 crisis. To put this in perspective, President Obama's Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, stated during his tenure that 1,000 apprehensions a day was considered a bad day. We are at more than three times that now, and on top of it, we continue to face a global pandemic. In February, CBP encountered over 100,000 migrants on the southwest border trying to illegally enter our country. This does not include those migrants who may have gotten away or evaded detection, some of whom may be positive for COVID-19. The Department of Homeland Security announced today that we are on track to encounter the highest number of migrants along the southwest border in the last 20 years.…”