Political Quotes

“I thank my friend Mrs. Hartzler from Missouri for putting this evening together to help us make some important points about a very important issue facing our country. So I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me some time. I just wanted to relate a couple of instances. Madam Speaker, last June I had the opportunity to tour the same southern border area that President Trump toured just this past week. In fact, he was briefed by some of the same officials that I was, including Acting Chief Patrol Agent Raul Ortiz of the Rio Grande Valley sector. It was a very interesting conversation. Chief Ortiz said, so far in 2019, his sector has apprehended people from 41 countries around the world. On a single day, Chief Ortiz's sector apprehended 133 people from countries other than Mexico or countries in Central America. Madam Speaker, we absolutely have a crisis at the border. It is a humanitarian crisis. Even President Obama said as much back in 2014. President Trump now is, rightly, citing the growing numbers of families and unaccompanied minors crossing the border as a crisis, yet he is met with partisan criticism for saying so. The numbers will tell you the truth. Just last month, 20,000 migrant children were brought illegally to our country--20,000. Our border facilities just are not equipped to handle this influx of families and minor children. We are being overrun. Therefore, this results in a humanitarian crisis.…”