[Pages H1872-H1876]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                OUTRAGEOUS GOVERNMENT-FUNDED INCENTIVES

  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Knott 
of North Carolina was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the 
majority leader.)


                             General Leave

  Mr. KNOTT. 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 (Mr. Haridopolos). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from North Carolina?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. KNOTT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today alongside four of my esteemed 
colleagues to both highlight and condemn the misuse of taxpayer dollars 
funneled to illegal immigrants.
  An outrageous pattern of perverse and intentional incentives reveal 
deliberate efforts to worsen the border crisis and to allow tens of 
millions of illegal aliens to invade our Nation at direct cost to the 
American taxpayer.
  The Biden-Harris administration cycled through repeated falsehoods: 
claiming the border was secure, claiming they did not have what was 
needed to stop this invasion, claiming that they were helpless and 
needed Congress to take the lead. Meanwhile, that same administration 
lined the pockets of leftwing NGOs to shower illegal immigrants with 
incentives in the form of open-ended access to your tax dollars.
  Earlier this year, reports surfaced from the watchdog group, Open The 
Books, exposing Biden's Department of Health and Human Services for 
awarding shockingly large amounts of grants and dollars to nonprofits 
focused on aiding illegal immigrants, amounting to as high as 20 
million people who illegally crossed into our country during Biden's 
term in office.
  Taxpayer-funded awards paid for illegal aliens' housing, healthcare, 
education, even music lessons, therapy. You name it, the taxpayer 
covered it.
  Using NGOs as a proxy, the Biden administration sent a clear message 
that our laws were not to be taken seriously, and living off of the 
American taxpayer was both acceptable and encouraged. The same people 
fueling this elaborate scheme also pushed a false narrative that 
supporting illegal activity somehow gives them a moral high ground. 
This, of course, is false.
  Mr. Speaker, I am here to tell the American people that they are 
right to expect secure borders. They are right to demand law and order. 
They are right to be outraged that hundreds of billions of their 
dollars have gone to illegal aliens and politically connected NGOs who 
facilitated this recent invasion.
  President Trump's swift actions to halt illegal crossings and to 
deport illegal aliens in his first 100 days has made one thing 
painfully clear: The Biden-Harris administration was never working to 
fix our immigration system. They actively and deliberately worked to 
undermine it.
  The Center for Immigration Studies found illegal immigrants annually 
take--and this is a conservative estimate--nearly $120 billion directly 
from public services, to include public schools, public welfare, and 
healthcare. Every American across the country should expect more from 
their government.
  Joining me today are a few of my colleagues. I yield first to the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Moore), my fellow North Carolinian 
and a fierce border security advocate. Congressman Moore has been a 
leading voice in the fight to reform FEMA and to ensure its funds go 
toward helping American citizens rather than to illegal immigrants, 
especially those recovering from Hurricane Helene.
  Mr. MOORE of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, just a couple things about 
Congressman Knott, for folks who don't know, before he was a Member of 
Congress here, he was actually a very well-esteemed prosecutor in the 
U.S. Attorney's office. Congressman Knott has shared many stories where 
he was personally having to prosecute a lot of these violent gang 
members, these MS-13 gang members. For some reason, some of our 
colleagues want to go down and hug a thug or something and see these 
folks down in Central America.
  Mr. Knott was helping prosecute these folks, and I know the 
prosecutors were very frustrated at the time with what they were seeing 
with these open borders. I appreciate, one, what he did before he came 
to Congress; two, what he is doing now; and, three, hosting this 
opportunity today to bring attention of this to the American people.

                              {time}  1430

  Mr. Speaker, today, I rise on behalf of the people of North Carolina, 
particularly western North Carolina. I represent hardworking Americans 
playing by the rules, doing everything they can right--paying their 
taxes, raising their kids, and taking care of their neighbors whose 
lives were impacted substantially by Hurricane Helene that hit last 
year. It tore through our region. It destroyed roads. It destroyed 
homes. It took lives. It changed so many things.
  I will say the good news is the resilience of North Carolinians, not 
only in government, not only in local government, but also in 
volunteers and the faith community. I see my good friend, Congressman 
Harris, over there. The churches stepped up in such a tremendous way to 
help folks out in a serious time of need to do what they needed to do.
  We also saw where the Federal Government, in a lot of ways, failed to 
do the job. Under the past administration, we saw where FEMA wasn't 
doing the job. I am proud to say that under this new administration, 
FEMA is getting the job done. Many folks who didn't live there saw 
pictures of the mass destruction that was in western North Carolina and 
the lack of response in so many ways.
  Just to kind of put some points on that with some numbers, according 
to the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, FEMA could 
not account for $7.4 million out of an audit sample of $12.9 million. 
These sound like small numbers, but that is an audit sample. Think 
about that. That is 58 percent of those funds were either unsupported 
or not properly documented.
  There was an example where one contractor billed $9 million for labor 
and could only support or back up $1.5 million of it. Another was 
reimbursed twice for the same $40,000. Some grantees couldn't even 
prove they delivered services. FEMA had approved it all.
  Then you compare things, Mr. Speaker, where folks were needing help, 
and they were getting the runaround and getting the delay. Again, I 
stress to folks that that has changed since January of this year. We 
are seeing FEMA getting the job done in a lot of ways. I will talk 
about what FEMA did with some of this other money in just a moment.
  Here is another example of some mismanagement by the previous 
administration. Remember the so-called American Rescue Plan. Democrats 
passed a

[[Page H1873]]

bill of $1.9 trillion on a party-line vote. Less than 9 percent of that 
money, by the way, went to combat COVID. Tucked inside that bill was 
$110 million to FEMA. We would think that is a great thing, right?
  Here is the problem. It wasn't for disaster recovery. It was to fund 
something they were calling humanitarian assistance. What that was, was 
to help illegal immigrants at the border. That was just the start.
  Mr. Speaker, they followed it with another $150 million in March 2022 
and then $800 million more in December of that year. FEMA was 
effectively converted into a border response welfare agency and 
rebranded as the Shelter and Services Program. It paid for migrant 
housing, transportation, and services in sanctuary cities, while 
American disaster victims waited months just to hear back about their 
applications. It is absolutely shameful.
  My constituents were patching their roofs and clearing debris by 
hand. FEMA was busy footing the bill for nice hotel stays in New York 
for folks who weren't even supposed to be in the country. This was a 
willful effort by the other side to just enable this border crisis.
  I have to say that Congressman Knott pointed out how the border is 
finally secure, and it didn't require a change in law. It simply 
required a President who would follow the law.
  What do we have going on now that things have changed? My colleagues 
on the other side of the aisle, respectfully, are not showing up in 
towns that were damaged by the storm, asking questions of FEMA, and 
looking to go see what is happening. Who has shown up? Secretary Noem 
has shown up. President Trump has shown up.
  Instead, some of my colleagues--and I don't know why--have decided 
they want to go to El Salvador and rub elbows and maybe grab a 
margarita with some former MS-13 gang members. It looks like it is a 
delegation to meet face-to-face with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a known 
member of MS-13.
  That gang is responsible for countless murders, assaults, and human 
trafficking. Instead of demanding justice, Democrats took selfies. For 
example, I know Congressman Knott had to prosecute MS-13 when he was 
prosecuting in the Eastern District of North Carolina.
  We don't need any more hug-a-thug diplomacy. We need a Federal 
Government that puts the American people first, puts their safety 
first, their livelihoods first, and their families first.
  My friends, we are still feeling the consequences of this failed 
border policy in North Carolina. Just last week, this picture to my 
right, the FBI in Charlotte--and I want to give a shout-out to the FBI 
agents based out of Charlotte. They arrested an illegal immigrant who 
had already been deported.
  That is a picture of him right there. He was charged with the 
kidnapping of a mother and her 1-year-old child in Garner, North 
Carolina. That is in Congressman Knott's district right there. They 
kidnapped her. They tied up her husband, took the woman and the child 
at gunpoint, demanded a ransom of $1 million, and then dumped them in 
the woods.
  By the grace of God and the swift action of the FBI, Garner police, 
and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, they were 
rescued.
  That crime never should have happened. Estrada-Hernandez should never 
have been in this country in the first place. Do you know what, Mr. 
Speaker? He would not have been if it weren't for the Biden 
administration's open-border policy and refusal to simply follow the 
law.
  Mr. Speaker, this is not compassion. This is not justice. This is 
chaos, engineered and endorsed by some on the other side. I do hope 
those on the other side who disagree with this will start stepping up 
and pushing back with what is happening there.

  I will say this, too. Thankfully, under President Trump's leadership, 
we are cleaning house. The Department of Government Efficiency has 
exposed FEMA's failures in the past administration. Secretary Noem is 
working to get this agency back on mission, and Congress is moving to 
eliminate the Shelter and Services Program and return those funds to 
real disaster recovery where they belong.
  To the families who are still recovering from Hurricane Helene and to 
those who were told there was no money left while FEMA lost track of 
millions, I hear you. Help is on the way.
  This, my friends, is what it means to put Americans first, to restore 
common sense, and to lead with integrity.
  Mr. KNOTT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congressman from North Carolina 
(Mr. Moore).
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Haridopolos), 
my good friend from the Eighth Congressional District, otherwise known 
as the Space Coast.
  Congressman Haridopolos and I have had many conversations about the 
cost of illegal immigration on programs that are designed to help and 
support vulnerable Americans, especially Medicaid.
  Congressman Haridopolos has extensive experience in the Medicaid 
space, and he knows that it must be guarded to protect those who rely 
upon it here in the United States. It is not an international charity, 
and it is especially not for the illegal immigrants here in this 
country. I will ask him to elaborate on his experience with this issue.
  Mr. HARIDOPOLOS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Knott for yielding 
and for holding this hearing.
  Mr. Speaker, these are the kind of conversations the American public 
needs to hear. They need to understand the impact that illegal 
immigration is having on our country and how it undercuts the rule of 
law and really undercuts those people who truly want to play by the 
rules and enter the United States in a legal fashion.
  It is frustrating when we can bring so many bright, conscientious 
people who want to come into the United States, yet they are deprived 
of these opportunities because of the long line that exists because of 
the challenges we have with illegal immigration.
  I very much appreciate the Congressman leading the charge on this and 
bringing in some of us who have experience with Medicaid to talk about 
the impacts that it has on our individual States.
  As we know, Medicaid is designed to help our most vulnerable 
citizens--seniors, veterans, kids, low-income families, and especially 
the disabled. Today, that lifeline is being strained by illegal 
immigration and open-door policies.
  While Democrats and sanctuary States deny the problem, the data is 
clear. Let's be clear that every dollar spent on illegal immigration is 
a dollar taken from a senior, a veteran, a child, and a family 
struggling to pay the bills.
  For the past 4 years, the pattern has been very clear. Migrants cross 
the border and surrender to authorities. They repeat carefully 
rehearsed lines, provided by NGOs, to meet the bare minimum threshold 
for asylum. They are released into the country and set a court date 
years in the future. They will begin to actually receive healthcare 
benefits at the expense of taxpayers, who have already been hard hit by 
higher prices for basic things like gas, food, and rent.
  The burden is real. From 2017 to 2023, the Federal and State 
Governments spent $27 billion on emergency Medicaid for noncitizens, 
according to the CBO. Also, according to the CBO, around $18 billion 
came directly from Federal taxpayers, and I mean every single American.
  Under the Biden-Harris years, Medicaid spending on illegal immigrants 
surged 124 percent higher than under President Trump. In 2021 alone, $7 
billion was spent on emergency care for illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, 
Democrats in Washington and blue States are demanding we actually pay 
even more.
  To put this into perspective, as the Congressman from North Carolina 
(Mr. Knott) mentioned, I am from the State of Florida. We actually 
audited how much we spent on Medicaid emergency care last year. It was 
$660 million for hospital care for illegal immigrants, according to the 
Agency for Health Care Administration in Florida. That was $660 million 
that was intended to be spent on healthcare for American citizens, or 
to maybe move the dollars around for education or roads, or to help our 
environment.
  Instead, $660 million was spent on people who came here illegally. 
That is a substantial amount of money, and we

[[Page H1874]]

will never get it back. Again, it rewards bad behavior.

  How the system works is very frustrating. Mr. Speaker, if you pay 
taxes in America, you are paying for illegal immigrants to get 
healthcare, whether you like it or not. Federal law requires Medicaid 
to cover emergency healthcare, period. That is just the law. If they go 
to the emergency room and that person qualifies, the American public 
pays for it. States, of course, pick up the costs initially, but the 
Federal Government reimburses somewhere between 59 and 73 percent of 
those costs to the States.
  American taxpayer dollars are being spent on this program, whether we 
like it or not.
  Reimbursement quietly channels billions of Federal dollars into care 
for illegal immigration through State Medicaid programs. States like 
California and New York are actually the most abusive of this law. 
These sanctuary States choose to allow illegal immigrants to receive 
State Medicaid programs and then send the bill to Washington, D.C., for 
all taxpayers to pay for it. It is not like they are being generous 
with just their taxpayer dollars. It is spread across the entire system 
in the United States.
  States like California and New York manipulate provider taxes and use 
creative accounting to maximize Federal reimbursement, thus shifting 
more of the burden to taxpayers across the country.
  Here is the gall of it all. New York even promotes free medical care 
for illegal immigrants with official State flyers, encouraging them to 
use emergency services. That is pretty rich.
  I mean, think about it. They are saying they are just using their 
State tax dollars. That is not the truth. They are promoting, with 
taxpayer dollars, this push to have, again, other people pick up the 
costs.
  This is not some federalism deal where it is handled by one State. 
This is, again, real life in that someone else will pay the bill. Thus, 
they are being generous with other people's money.
  To counter this myth that the Democrats are trying to push, that 
illegal immigration does not cost taxpayer dollars--it is just not 
true. This is why I want people to look closely at what Medicaid is.
  Again, every Republican that I talk to--and I go across the country 
to talk about this issue--wants to provide Medicaid for seniors in 
nursing homes. We want to provide it for pregnant women. We want to 
provide it for kids. We want to provide it for the disabled. Mr. 
Speaker, when that relationship is upset by having people here 
illegally, you are actually potentially putting Medicaid programs at 
risk.
  For those who really want to study the issue, there is a water 
balloon effect here. Medicaid really doesn't reimburse doctors for 
their care. It causes private healthcare costs to go up. Imagine the 
ire that so many people have.
  Mr. Speaker, if you talk to a family of four and talk to the parents, 
they are going to say, for a family of four, they pay like $1,500 to 
$2,000 a month for private healthcare. Yet, a person who comes into the 
country illegally pays zero in healthcare because they get Medicaid 
services where there is not even a copay.
  That is the ironic part about this. They break the law and are 
rewarded for it. That undercuts the American Dream.
  People start thinking logically: Why do I play by the rules? Maybe I 
will manipulate a form so that I qualify for Medicaid, and they might 
never check it again. Mr. Speaker, that is happening today.

                              {time}  1445

  People are even objecting to the idea that we check to see if the 
person still truly qualifies for Medicaid; that is theft from other 
taxpayers.
  So as the CBO confirmed, $18 billion in Federal spending was put on 
emergency care, and these are just the facts that play out.
  Again, let's have the honest conversation. If the other side wants to 
fund it, then say it; but don't say it is not happening or bury it 
under the typical bureaucratic or political doublespeak. These are the 
conversations we need to have.
  Just so you know, Mr. Speaker, in the policy that we are looking at 
today where we are going to let's say reconsider the budget, they are 
going to spend $45 billion for basically jails for illegal immigrants 
who come across, because if we don't have that jail space or the 
detention centers as they are looking at asylum, then they go into the 
country. That means they might not have a court case for a few years.
  Let's just think logically here, Mr. Speaker, there are 10 million 
people.
  How many judges, lawyers, public defenders, bailiffs, and other folks 
do you need to actually have 10 million court cases in their version of 
due process?
  As our lead prosecutor today, Mr. Knott, will tell us: The law is 
simple. If you came here illegally, then the only thing you are allowed 
is a ticket out of here.
  Let's be honest about immigration. This is about the rule of law. I 
want to bring in a lot of folks. I want to have an immigration system 
that works and they actually sign up, they get online, and we find out 
who these folks are. Just like they check us on an airline, they check 
them at the border.
  Instead, this previous administration literally said: Here is the 
script. Tell them this, you will get the court case in years to come, 
and you can go into the interior of the country.
  That is a double standard.
  I applaud Congressman Knott for taking this opportunity to talk about 
this in a real way and my friends from North Carolina talk about how it 
impacts every one of us. It is taking from the system, causing people 
to pay more for insurance, and undercutting the rule of law.
  That is why we had an election last year, and the voice was good. The 
President said that he would stop this crazy idea because we are 
already $1 trillion in debt year by year and $37 trillion in debt 
overall.
  This is common sense, and the President has finally stood up for 
those people who have been left behind the last 4 years.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Knott very much for taking on 
this real issue. It is the kind of discussion we need to have. If the 
other side feels that we have not been telling the whole story, then 
come up and have the debate. We would love to see it.
  Mr. KNOTT. Mr. Speaker, I am ready for that debate any day, and I am 
ready for that discussion any day.
  Again, the Republicans believe that American tax dollars should serve 
American citizens and not those who are here illegally.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the Eighth Congressional 
District of the great State of North Carolina (Mr. Harris).
  Congressman Harris pointed out back in February that an NGO in North 
Carolina was actively working to hinder law enforcement, aid illegal 
immigrants, and further worsen the crisis engulfing our communities 
both in North Carolina and all over our country. A pastor of more than 
30 years, Congressman Harris is proof that allowing this humanitarian 
crisis to continue is not compassionate and that enforcing our laws is 
not hateful.
  Mr. HARRIS of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Knott 
for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure today to be able to share in this time 
together. I am grateful to Congressman Haridopolos for sharing, also 
for Congressman Moore whom we heard from earlier. I am honored to be a 
part of this, and I am very thankful for the vision and the passion 
that Congressman Knott has shown in pulling together this Special 
Order.
  When a burglar breaks into your house, Mr. Speaker, you don't set a 
place for them at the dinner table. That principle seems pretty 
obvious. However, for some reason, radical progressives just can't 
understand it.
  For the past 4 years, radical, progressive Democrats have openly 
welcomed criminal aliens into American communities.
  Lest we forget, here are just a few of the violent guests the left 
has invited into our country:
  Felix Rojas, an illegal alien who was deported multiple times, was 
charged just last week for raping a corpse on a Manhattan subway.
  In my home State of North Carolina, two illegal aliens whom 
Congressman Moore alluded to earlier, Paola Duran Duran and Miguel 
Duran Duran, were arrested for breaking into a home and kidnapping a 
mother and her 11-month-old daughter.

[[Page H1875]]

  Just outside Washington, D.C., an illegal alien, Hyrum Rodriguez, was 
arrested by ICE after a local court dropped his charges.
  What was the crime that he was charged with?
  It was abducting a 4-year-old.
  These heinous criminals are only a small number of those welcomed 
into our country by Joe Biden and who were arrested in just the past 
few days by the Trump administration.
  Mr. Speaker, you can only imagine what is happening in our country on 
a grander scale. While under President Trump's leadership, illegal 
border crossings are down 95 percent from last year, yet we are still 
suffering from the impacts of the open-border policies of the last 4 
years.
  The left did not just facilitate an open-border invasion, they have 
made the American taxpayer pay for it, and we are still paying for it.
  Under former President Biden's open-borders agenda, it is estimated 
that at least 10 million illegal aliens entered our country, and on top 
of the massive financial cost of the crimes they commit and the jobs 
they take away from Americans, a huge chunk of them have been accessing 
government benefits like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

  Mr. Speaker, this is unacceptable. Americans are hard workers. That 
is why we have the best country in the world. They don't work 
backbreaking jobs their whole careers for their taxpayer dollars to 
subsidize the lives of the very invaders who have subverted their 
sovereignty.
  The left loves to fact-check, so why don't we take a moment and hear 
some cold, hard facts:
  Fact number one, under the Biden administration, more than 1 million 
illegal aliens received Medicaid benefits.
  Fact number two, in fiscal year 2024 alone, over 2 million illegal 
aliens were given Social Security numbers.
  Fact number three, a 2023 study showed that the net cost of illegal 
aliens to the American taxpayer was at least $150 billion annually.
  Fact number four, States are still having to bear the financial 
burden of Biden's border crisis. Texas taxpayers have to shell out 
$8.88 billion a year to pay for the illegal aliens who invaded their 
State. For Californians, it is almost $22 billion.
  By the way, fact number five, in some States, in a complete affront 
to citizens, illegal aliens can get mortgages, bank loans, insurance, 
driver's licenses, in-State college tuition, and free healthcare. For 
illegal aliens, the U.S. has been an all-you-can-eat buffet. However, 
the American taxpayer and innocent women like Laken Riley, Jocelyn 
Nungaray, and Rachel Morin have paid the full price of the left's open-
border agenda.
  It is time to turn off the faucet permanently. American taxpayers 
shouldn't have to fund their own demise, paying for government programs 
that actually encourage an invasion.
  President Trump has shown us the path forward. Border crossings are 
down. As I mentioned earlier, criminal aliens and gang members are 
being deported left and right. In other words, the forgotten American 
is first once again.
  Nevertheless, there is still much work to be done, especially in this 
119th Congress. Under President Biden, Americans' hard-earned taxpayer 
dollars in the Federal budget were used as a slush fund for the radical 
left to facilitate a border invasion of millions of illegal aliens, 
export their woke ideologies across the globe with wasteful pet 
projects, and weaponize the government against anyone who disagreed 
with their policies.
  However, President Trump's budget proposal, when signed into law, 
will be a crucial step in taking our country back from the left. It 
will defund the wasteful government programs subsidizing illegal aliens 
and provide President Trump with the very tools to solidify his 
sensible border security initiatives.
  For example, President Trump's budget would eliminate the shelter and 
services program that facilitated swarms of illegal aliens into 
American communities and save taxpayers $650 million at the same time. 
It will also stop funneling $428 million to migrant education programs 
that are taking away from struggling American students.
  Those are just a glimpse of the countless wasteful projects for which 
the American citizens should not be footing the bill. It is up to 
Congress now to come together and advance both the President's budget 
and the reconciliation package across the finish line.
  Mr. Speaker, we owe nothing less to the American people who are tired 
of being placed behind illegal aliens. When illegal aliens are given 
benefits like Medicaid and Social Security by the thousands, then they 
will keep coming into our country, burdening the American taxpayer, and 
exacerbating the crime in our cities.
  This is why it is so important that this Congress act now with a 
budget reconciliation, to give President Trump the tools he needs to 
keep both the wallet and the soul of America safe.
  Burglars are in the house, and they don't just want a seat at the 
dinner table. They want the entire spread.
  It is time for us to use this historic opportunity to correct our 
course.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Knott for his vision and his 
leadership.
  Mr. KNOTT. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Harris for his remarks.
  At least 1 million illegals are on Medicaid. I would submit that I 
have heard not one syllable from the Democratic Party from 5 years ago 
when Joe Biden took power until today protesting that fact. The 
Republican Party wants to protect Medicaid and get the 1 million-plus 
illegals on it out of the country and off of the program.
  Mr. Speaker, I mentioned earlier that some of the ridiculous benefits 
that taxpayers have unknowingly funded for illegal aliens include 
something as unique as music lessons. When digging into this issue, 
Congressman Kennedy and I were both outraged and simply shocked at the 
brazen and flagrant waste of funds on these perverse incentives.
  I know Congressman Kennedy to be a fierce advocate for conservative 
principles both for his district in Utah and for the country at large.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the Third Congressional 
District of Utah (Mr. Kennedy).
  Mr. KENNEDY of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Knott for 
shining much-needed light on this issue and for the opportunity today 
to speak about some of the consequences of the Biden-Harris 
administration's irresponsible actions over the past 4 years and how 
Congress and the Trump administration are working to claw our way back 
to sanity for the United States of America.
  We have lived through the most devastating border crisis in modern 
American history. Let's be honest. It wasn't a natural disaster, and it 
wasn't an accident. It was the direct result of bad choices made by the 
Biden-Harris administration.
  This wasn't mere mismanagement. It was facilitation, it was 
incentivization, and it was done at the expense of our laws, our 
national security, and our people.
  During their time in office, President Biden and Vice President 
Harris dismantled nearly every meaningful safeguard at the southern 
border. Their administration presided over a record surge in illegal 
immigration, over 700,000 illegal aliens were apprehended at the border 
from October through December of 2023 alone. That was more than any 
full year during the Obama Presidency when President Obama famously 
stated that over 1,000 illegal border crossings a day would be 
considered a crisis.
  The Biden-Harris Harris administration frequently allowed in 6,000 a 
day.
  Unfortunately, instead of restoring our control and protecting our 
sovereignty, they did the unthinkable. They rewarded the lawbreakers. 
Rather than empower border enforcement, the Biden-Harris administration 
threw open the Federal checkbook, funneling billions of taxpayer 
dollars to private nonprofits like Family Endeavors Incorporated, 
Southwest Key Programs, and Global Refuge. These NGOs didn't just 
shelter illegal aliens. They pampered them.
  Those contracts paid for luxury hotel rooms, room service, 24-hour 
snacks, laundry, bilingual television, recreation, cultural events, and 
individual tutoring for mathematics and social studies. Most 
shockingly, it paid for

[[Page H1876]]

pet therapy, music therapy, and horticultural therapy for illegal alien 
children.
  In 2021 alone, Endeavors paid Christy Merrell, a music therapist, 
$533,000 for her services. In addition to this nonsense, the nonprofit 
conducted 1,656 people-plant interactions and 287 pet therapy sessions 
between April 2021 and March 2023.
  This wasn't emergency aid. It was five-star treatment funded by 
hardworking American families, families that are struggling to pay 
their own rent and put food on their own table, much less providing 
themselves with music, plant, and pet therapy.
  I know many taxpaying American families who would love to be able to 
provide their children with one-on-one academic tutoring but simply 
cannot afford it.
  This all begs the question: Why are we investing in illegal families 
while stripping financial resources from our own citizens to do so?
  In one case, Endeavors Incorporated, a Texas-based NGO, received a 
$1.3 billion contract from the Federal Government in a single year. 
Meanwhile their top executives are paid over $600,000 annually, and the 
group spends more than $700,000 on lobbyists all to keep the money 
flowing.

                              {time}  1500

  Contrast that with the conditions our military servicemembers faced 
during the same time: moldy barracks, sewage overflows, and rodent 
infestations to highlight a few. In 2022, a mere $56 million was spent 
on housing maintenance for military families, less than one-twentieth 
of what was spent for illegal aliens.
  Who did the Biden-Harris administration care about? It certainly 
wasn't our men and women in uniform.
  Unfortunately, the extreme misuse of funds wasn't their only slight 
to the American public. The Biden-Harris administration relaxed vetting 
standards for those who claimed to sponsor alien children. DNA testing 
was scrapped, and background checks were watered down. There were no 
public records checks required for other adults living in a sponsor's 
home, and tragic consequences followed.
  In one case, a 24-year-old Honduran man posed as a 17-year-old child 
and was placed with a sponsor in Florida who he later murdered. Sadly, 
that was not a one-off failure. This type of senseless violence became 
a regular news story.
  While Americans were working multiple jobs to afford rent and 
groceries, the Biden-Harris administration was funding a billion-dollar 
pipeline for unaccompanied aliens, and empowering NGOs that had no 
incentive to solve the crisis, only to profit from it.
  They called it compassion, however, in reality, it was corruption, 
recklessness, and disregard for the rule of law.
  The good news is this: Their time in office is over. However, the 
ramifications of their decisions persist. While our southern border is 
certainly more secure now, we have hundreds of thousands of illegal 
alien cases that will overwhelm our legal system for years. The 
nonprofit industry they supercharged is still bloated, and the American 
people are still waiting for real accountability.
  Now is the time to fix what they broke. We must defund corrupt NGOs, 
restore vetting and enforcement, and put the American people first 
again. We owe it to our citizens. We owe it to our troops, and we owe 
it to the integrity of this Nation. The crisis wasn't spontaneous. It 
was built, funded, and incentivized. Let's make sure it is never 
repeated.
  Mr. KNOTT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, you have heard today from our colleagues and myself 
about the outrageous government-funded incentives and plans to keep 
illegal aliens not only flowing into this country but also to stay in 
this country. This scheme goes beyond waste. It represents, candidly, a 
betrayal of the American people and the American taxpayers, who have 
suffered mightily in this country because of the illegal immigration 
crisis.
  In closing, I simply ask the following of the American citizens who 
rely on Medicare or Medicaid: Should we allow illegal immigrants to 
dilute the quality of your benefits and run up costs in emergency rooms 
who are precluded from turning illegal immigrants away?
  I say, along with my colleagues: Absolutely not. No tax dollars 
should be allocated to covering healthcare costs for any person who is 
in this country illegally.
  To the American parents, whether rural or urban, who are struggling 
to feed your children, I ask: Should illegal immigrants receive tax-
funded meals day in, day out to eat on your dime?
  Again, I heartily say: Absolutely not.
  To the children at risk of falling behind in lagging schools all over 
this country, I ask: Should we continue to allow millions upon millions 
to arrive here illegally and crowd out your classrooms?
  I would say, again: Under no circumstances should we give public 
education dollars to any person or any family who is here illegally.
  To the Social Security recipient I ask: Should we take on more debt 
and endanger your access to continued benefits just to keep our borders 
open?
  With no hesitation, I again say: Absolutely not. We must protect the 
tax dollars of American citizens.
  To the veterans who are battling homelessness or addiction or the 
western North Carolinians who are left without shelter following 
Hurricane Helene, I ask: Should your tax dollars go to housing illegal 
aliens, to transporting illegal aliens while you continually suffer?
  Again, I say definitively: Under no circumstances is this 
appropriate.
  I urge all of my colleagues in Congress to join me in reversing this 
perverse incentive structure by sending a clear message that the United 
States laws are to be respected. Put candidly, if you are here 
illegally, leave. If you return here illegally, you will be punished.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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