Ted Budd: “Thank you, as a friend and Congresswoman from Missouri, for yielding and holding such an important and timely Special…”

“Thank you, as a friend and Congresswoman from Missouri, for yielding and holding such an important and timely Special Order. Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, President Trump went to the American people and rightfully made the case for the border security proposal he has submitted to Congress, and it is a proposal that I fully support. This plan, which was developed by border security and law enforcement professionals, takes necessary steps to secure our border, protect our communities, and it ends the plague of crimes that were committed by illegal aliens against American citizens. The truth is America is at a decision point. It is time to decide what kind of country, exactly, we want to be: a country founded on the rule of law or on lawlessness. We have seen States across the country declare themselves a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, willing to put the lives of U.S. citizens at risk for political purposes. We have lawmakers here in this Chamber who are intent on eliminating our Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, ICE, which is tasked with enforcing our immigration laws. We know that the vast majority of immigrants are great people, and it would be foolish to even think otherwise. In fact, legal immigration-- that is legal, with an L--historically has been beneficial economically, socially, and culturally to the United States, and I have no doubt that we are going to continue to invite and welcome legal immigrants with open arms to our country every day.…”