Ted Poe: “I am one of those who comes from the State of Texas, and like many in this House, I have been down on the Texas-Mexico…”

“I am one of those who comes from the State of Texas, and like many in this House, I have been down on the Texas-Mexico border. I was there last weekend. You have to be there to know what is going on. I went up and down the Rio Grande River with law enforcement officers from the State of Texas. We see the people on the Mexican side--and I think the Mexican Government is complicit--just waiting for us to pass, and then they start coming across. And the other side talks about it just being one group of people-- children. Well, that is just not true, because the people who are being apprehended are not just children. A lot of them are teenagers. A lot of them are older. The chief of Border Patrol of the McAllen sector said there are 144 nations that came across the border this year represented. Just a week ago before I got there, there were three Ukrainians. Why, Mr. Speaker? Why is everybody coming to America through south Texas? Because they believe wherever they start out, whether it is kids in Honduras looking for a better life, or terrorists, or Ukrainians, or someone else, they believe that this President, this administration, said: You get to America, we are going to let you stay. We have all kinds of different legal reasons. Some of it is called DACA, and there are other reasons. But the bottom line is you are going to get to stay in America, and Americans will take care of your needs. That is what they believe.…”