ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 25 (Thursday, February 6, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 25 (Thursday, February 6, 2025)] [House] [Pages H538-H543] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kennedy of Utah). Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Haridopolos) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. General Leave Mr. HARIDOPOLOS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the topic of this Special Order. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Florida? There was no objection. Mr. HARIDOPOLOS. Mr. Speaker, lives destroyed, trust violated, and hearts broken, this is the story of illegal immigration. Young girls and boys have been sold into sexual slavery. Hundreds of thousands have been killed by fentanyl. Hundreds of known terrorists have entered our Nation. Schools, hospitals, and towns have been overrun by numbers of illegal aliens and the high cost of taxpayers. Criminals entered and preyed on our citizens. Sadly, many committed murder and rape. Yet, we learned just over 2 weeks ago that this is a problem that could be quickly solved, and that is what is happening today with the election and actions of our new President. This crisis can be quickly solved with commonsense and decisive action. Today, I am joined by other freshmen Members of this Congress who are problem-solvers, people who have made it work at the local level at businesses across our country, and they understand how to get things done just like our President has been doing for the last 2\1/2\ weeks. The first of our speakers today comes from the experienced Missouri Legislature, serving in both the house and senate. He has great accomplishments as both an attorney and a doctor. He represents a central part of Missouri just west of St. Louis, and he is a person who back in 2008 knew this problem was coming to a head. He sponsored and passed legislation to make sure we did not have sanctuary cities. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Onder), the Congressman from the Third District. Mr. ONDER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Florida for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address an issue important to all Americans, not just Americans living on our border. Illegal immigration directly impacts our society, our safety, our security, and the future of our Nation. Dangers posed by illegal immigration are many. The consequences of policies from the Biden administration are many and severe. Deaths from murder, poisonings from fentanyl, and victimization of the innocent by human traffickers could all have been solved if only the Biden-Harris administration and the Democrat Congress were willing to secure our borders. [[Page H539]] I want to begin by sharing a case that sadly demonstrates the dire consequences of our porous border and weak immigration enforcement. In my district, in St. Charles County, Missouri, two innocent women were sexually assaulted by an illegal alien of Middle Eastern descent who overstayed his tourist visa. Instead of returning home like he was supposed to and as our law required, he flouted the law and stayed illegally. Ultimately, he victimized two innocent American women. The trauma inflicted upon these women and upon many others like them is immeasurable. If we are to prevent this from happening again, we must remember that the pain is a direct result of the open border policies that have failed to prioritize the safety of Americans. Mr. Speaker, this is not an isolated incident. This is a pattern and an epidemic of lawlessness that has swept across our country. Criminals, foreign nationals, and even terrorists have attempted to exploit our immigration policy failures. Over the past 4 years, we have rightfully turned our attention to the southern border. We also have illegal immigrants taking advantage of lax enforcement and overstaying visas without consequence. The story of this individual in St. Charles County is part of a pattern with these overstays being a large source of our illegal alien population. For that reason, I will soon be introducing the Timely Departure Act. This important legislation would require certain visa recipients to post a cash bond which they would forfeit should they overstay their visas. Under this law, overstayers who overstay would be unable to obtain lawful immigration status for at least 4 years, and they would be unable to submit an asylum claim or withholding of removal claim after their scheduled departure date. Visitor, business, and pleasure visas are important to our economy, but they are being abused. Before the Biden administration's change to the asylum policy, visa overstays were a leading contributor to illegal immigration. As of 2023, visa overstays accounted for 42 percent of the illegal population. This legislation is necessary to enforce visa exit dates, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the Timely Departure Act. Mr. Speaker, our immigration system, which was once designed to be a source of legal immigration and lawful entry, has become nothing more than a wide-open door and a red carpet. This must end. This is why President Trump and House Republicans have to act forcefully to protect Americans. Another border security issue is the abuse of our asylum process. Over the past couple of years, especially as Texas has taken action to secure its border, fewer illegal aliens have been entering our country by sneaking by border crossings like Eagle Pass or Brownsville. More and more illegal aliens are presenting themselves to immigration authorities and claiming asylum. Most of these asylum cases are bogus. The Biden administration has not detained these aliens but, rather, released them into the country with some far-off asylum hearing date to which they never show. We found time and time again that these so- called refugees are violent criminals. Under our America First border policies, this abuse of the asylum process is going to end. President Trump's actions at the border, his executive orders, and his diplomacy with Colombia, Mexico, and Canada show that he means what he says. He means business. In Congress, we will assist with legislation like the Laken Riley Act, and we will provide funding for the border wall, border guards, and the legal resources to clean out the many bogus asylum claims. A message to all the countries who are part of the problem is the era of the U.S. playing the fool ends now. They should not empty their prisons or coddle drug and human trafficking cartels at our expense or they will face consequences. Another equally important issue is that the open border policies of the Biden-Harris administration have led to an epidemic of fentanyl poisonings across our country. Fentanyl, which is smuggled across our southern border, is responsible for 100,000 American deaths in the last year alone. We have become a global dumping ground for the world's deadliest drugs with Mexican cartels making and smuggling fentanyl and methamphetamine into the United States, drugs made from Chinese precursor chemicals. We will secure our border. We will build the wall. Yes, we will target drug cartels as international terrorists. Occasionally, we hear apologists for the open border policies of the Biden administration argue that somehow mass illegal immigration is good for our economy or that some illegal aliens pay taxes. It is nice that illegal aliens sometimes pay taxes, but these individuals fail to account for the full cost of illegal immigration. The strain on our economy has been profound. Taxpayer dollars have been spent to fund social services, healthcare, and education for illegal aliens. That is money that could be better spent on securing the future, money that we do not have with our debt of $36 trillion, not to mention the economic and social costs of the victims of crime caused by illegal aliens or the lives cut short by fentanyl poisoning or the immeasurable and lifelong trauma of the victims of human trafficking. Police officers, teachers, and healthcare providers are working harder than ever to accommodate an influx of people who have no legal right to be here. Democrats have told us to accept this as the new normal. House Republicans and President Trump are here to tell our communities this ends now. Mr. Speaker, this crisis is not just a border issue. It is a national security issue. It is a public safety issue. It is a public health issue. It is an economic issue. We must take swift action to protect our country, our communities, and our people. Mr. Speaker, the Biden administration's open border policies have failed, and it is time for a change. In collaboration with Donald Trump, it is time to make America safe again. Mr. HARIDOPOLOS. Mr. Speaker, next we have Congressman Tony Wied from the great State of Wisconsin. He represents the northeastern portion of Wisconsin, the Eighth Congressional District. He comes with the real-world experience of being a businessowner, as he and his wife have developed an amazing business in their neck of the woods. He serves on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Committee on Agriculture, as well as the Committee on Small Business. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Wied). {time} 1730 Mr. WIED. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleagues to address an issue that has plagued our Nation over the last 4 years and to let the American people know that the House GOP is working alongside President Trump to secure our border and make the safety of American citizens our number one priority. When President Trump left office 4 years ago, our border was secure, and significant progress was bein