June 4, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 93 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page H4298]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1915
                          CRISIS AT THE BORDER

  (Mr. CLOUD asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CLOUD. Mr. Speaker, this last week, I once again got the 
opportunity to visit the Texas-Mexico border for an updated look at the 
situation, and I can confirm that this is certainly not a manufactured 
crisis. Our border resources are completely overwhelmed.
  For those of us from Texas, we have understood the situation for 
quite some time, and what we saw was an overworked, vastly underfunded 
Border Patrol trying to deal with an overwhelming flood of migrants and 
dangerous criminal cartels.
  Cartels smuggler fees for illicit activity in the Rio Grande Valley 
Sector are estimated to be about $80 million each week. Our Border 
Patrol's budget in that sector is around $30 million per year. There is 
no way for our good men and women in the border services to compete 
with this kind of mismatch.
  The situation is unsustainable. The phrase we heard repeatedly from 
Border Patrol agents is: ``There is no end in sight.'' And, indeed, the 
numbers that we expect to be released soon will probably show over 
130,000 migrants have crossed just in May.
  What is already a crisis will only get worse unless we act. This is, 
indeed, a very real crisis, a humanitarian crisis, a criminal crisis, 
and a national security crisis. This needs our attention now.

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