January 23, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 14 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session
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BORDER SECURITY; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 14
(House of Representatives - January 23, 2019)
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[Pages H1166-H1169] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] BORDER SECURITY The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2019, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Griffith) for 30 minutes. Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor tonight to discuss a trip that was recently made to our southern border in Arizona with the sovereign state of Mexico. Mr. Biggs headed that party up, and at this time, Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs). Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here and to speak and report to the American people about what we saw and learned on the Arizona-Mexico border over the weekend. We spent Sunday and Monday putting a lot of miles on cars, traveling within 30 miles of the border all the way from the New Mexico line through about two-thirds of the State of Arizona. It becomes kind of interesting because, quite frankly, there are so many people who do not appreciate the breadth and the wide open space of that country. Let me just take a few minutes and tell you that we had nine Members of Congress there. We met with Border Patrol agents, Customs agents, Border Patrol management. We met with ranchers, residents along the border. We met with numerous people, all who have an interest in the immediate impacts of illegal border crossings. One ranch that we happened to visit in Arizona, right on the border, you could look out and you could see the vastness of what our Border Patrol agents are dealing with. You could literally see many miles into Mexico. The Sierra Madres are coming down from their height, leveling down, and then you have two other additional mountain ranges that come on the Arizona side, right through it, kind of tapering into the Chiracahua Mountains, beautiful mountains. You can see the vastness of this open space, and it is many hundreds of miles, and even thousands of miles square. We have two or three Border Patrol agents there and no fence, really, to speak of. So we talked with some of the ranchers who live along there and their experience. We walked through some of the hills and on the paths that illegal aliens and drug traffickers pass through and walk. We talked with some of them. One gentleman explained to us that he has had four home invasions-- four home invasions--more than 15 burglaries, and, every day, trespassers on his property. Imagine that as your lifestyle, knowing that you will have home invasions, knowing that you are going to have people trespassing on your property consistently. We moved over to the wall in Douglas, Arizona. It sits on the border with Agua Prieta. We took pictures. We talked with Border Patrol agents. And then we could see where that border wall, how long that goes. It is bollard fencing, which is slatted steel fencing that goes anywhere from 10 to 15, 18 feet high. But it was so ineffective in some places that they have started putting concertina razor wire to keep people down. In a minute, I will tell you how that doesn't really work. And then they put up a third or second barrier there in some parts of Douglas, but not enough money. It just kind of runs out. And you can see how far that border wall goes in Douglas, and it is the bollard fencing. We then kept moving in Cochise County in Arizona, and we ended up, we were able to talk to some local law enforcement and some of the Angel Parents. But I want to talk about something that I thought was most intriguing and interesting. As we were sitting there in that restaurant with some of our staff, our Members of Congress, some local law enforcement, some of the Angel Families, we had a resident just come up out of the blue, and she thanked the local law enforcement for the efforts being made to protect the citizens of that county. {time} 1700 She said: You know, I have had a home invasion. I have had repeated burglaries. I have had trespassing on my property, on my ranch. We get people come in, they turn on water, they want a drink of water, and they just let the water run. They never turn it off. They trash my property. She was telling me this. I asked her to address our group. She did. Impromptu, she told of her experience, out of the blue. She didn't know who we were. I thought that was remarkable. It was completely unstaged. We had the Angel Parents, Mary Ann Mendoza talk about her son, Brandon, who was a Mesa police officer. Brandon was killed by a driver who had previously been arrested and deported. He was driving along the wrong way on the freeway and runs into Brandon and kills him. Steve Ronnebeck spoke. Steve had a son, Grant, early twenties, very outgoing, gregarious young man, working at the QT, which is a convenience store. One night, Mr. Altamirano, who had been convicted and deported previously--in fact, he was convicted for burglary. That was a plea deal down from the two counts of kidnapping and rape of a woman who was victimized by Mr. Altamirano. He had been deported. He comes back, goes in to buy a pack of cigarettes. Grant is counting out the change. Mr. Altamirano does not like how slow it seems to be taking, pulls a gun out, and pointblank shoots him in the face, killing Grant Ronnebeck. What a tragedy that is. So they are not alone. I have talked with Angel Families from throughout the country. You say: Well, okay. You are in a border State. That might happen in a border State. This goes throughout the country. These types of tragedies have happened throughout the country. It is unfortunate and it is sad, but it is preventable in large measure. We got a briefing at a Border Patrol station in southern Arizona. They are not too far below their full complement. They are about 80, maybe 75 percent of their full complement of agents. This is a big area, though, and they run three shifts. By the time you [[Page H1167]] take care of time off, vacation days, sick days, by the time you take everything into account, you have seven people watching and monitoring the cameras that do not cover even all of the area for which this station is responsible. You have seven Border Patrol agents trying to interdict, literally, over hundreds of miles, hundreds of miles largely fenced with a four- strand barbed wire fence. It isn't like you have even have T poles as your fencing poles or even a more rigid pole. It is basically branches of trees. That is what you have along that particular section of the border. It doesn't take much to get across. So we went to Sasabe, which is a very small port of entry, and they have 1\1/2\ miles of bollard fencing either side of that. Then this is something that is really hard to explain, but they have, again, the four-strand barbed wire fence that rolls on out until, I know, where it goes into single-strand barbed wire fencing. I have been there, I have seen it. But on this trip, we just watched the four-strand barbed wire fence. When you get there, how does it tie in to the bollard fencing: with a piece of rope that is tied to a slipknot. And you think fences don't work? Of course they work. The bollard fence works. You can stand there right at the end of the bollard fence and look out into Mexico, and the several paths that you see moving north toward their border all come up to where that rope and that slipknot that is holding the four-strand barbed wire fence comes into the bollard fence, and they all come right to there. Why? Because you lift up the rope, pull it down. You can actually put it back on and then continue on up the hill. But there is a convenience store in that little town near that Border Patrol stocked with MREs. And guess who needs MREs: cartel scouts who are in the hills and mountains of southern Arizona and near that little town. They sell bullets, not in the box. When I have ever bought bullets, ammunition for my guns, they are in little boxes--not here. You can get them in little baggies, you know, little plastic bags you buy to put your sandwich in. This is what you have. So is it any wonder that in the Tucson sector, 40 percent of the drugs that have been seized in the last couple years are in that sector? You have a drug problem. We have tens of thousands of people killed each year because of opioid abuse. The vast majority of that is coming across the southern border. And of that that is interdicted, you have a significant plurality that is coming right through that Tucson sector. So we then had a chance to meet with some Border Patrol agents, talk to them about what is going on. It was marvelous. They gave us some ideas. I want to talk a little bit about something that we really don't focus on. Mr. Speaker, I am going to save that, though, because I see the gentleman from Arizona. Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Gosar). Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman said, we had a tour this weekend in which eight other Members plus Andy and I had actually gone on this 2- day border tour. We spoke with the Border Patrol agents, ranchers, and law enforcement officials; and during our tour, we heard, firsthand, the destruction and the dangers that came with open borders and loopholes in our immigration laws. Ranchers told their stories about the day-to-day reality of illegal aliens using their land as drug and human trafficking routes. They walked us through how these criminal organizations used their open borders and their land to make billions. Now, let's look at the statistics. In 2017, more than 49,000 Americans died from heroin and opioid- related overdoses. And we are just startin to see the intrusion of the synthetic fentanyl for which you don't get second chances. It is so toxic, that even a dose as small as a grain of salt given to somebody can kill them. Ninety percent of the heroin in our country comes from the southern border. This weekend, I stood on the soil that thousands of illegal aliens walk to smuggle these deadly drugs into our country. We also spoke with Border Patrol, who shared their stories detailing changes that have occurred, particularly in the last 10 years. They noted that one of the biggest changes they are seeing is the shift in the illegal aliens' attitude. Instead of fleeing, they are fighting. Illegal aliens have become emboldened by the advocation of open borders the Democrats have promoted. Now, over the last 5 years, we have seen a 2,000 percent increase in the asylum claims. We have seen a 50 percent rise in family units coming to our southern border. Ninety-eight percent of those family units will stay in our country. Think about this. They will be turned in to our country; they will never come back to a court order, staying in our country. So it is very important to hear that 98 percent of these family units will stay in our country. This isn't just lawmakers in Washington saying they have a crisis at our southern border; this is people who live the reality of this every day. These are the ranchers and individuals whose livelihood has been taken from them because open border advocates have chosen to protect illegal aliens instead of the citizens they represent. Republicans have taken action and provided a solution; Democrats have not. Ignoring this crisis diminishes the Americans and migrants who have fallen victims to the crimes committed by illegal aliens or are harmed because of illegal drugs flowing across the border. Our job is to protect our own citizens, our country. The President's proposal echos the very need Border Patrol agents tell us firsthand they need: We need a wall, and we need it now. Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs) for a question. Mr. Speaker, in listening to the gentleman's remarks, of course I was there and saw this rope as well, but I think the folks back home need to be aware of this rope. We are not talking about some massive rope. We are talking about--what?--an inch, half-inch, quarter-inch rope? Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker and the gentleman, I would tell you, it looked to me like it was about a quarter-inch rope. It was not much more than what you would call about a clothesline width, but it was about a quarter to a half inch. Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, in fact, was it not accurate that you could actually roll back part of the barbed wire fence once you took the rope off and you could have multiple people coming through at any given moment? Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, that is correct. Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, the reason that illegal immigrants or drug cartels would like it that way is that they can roll that back and, wearing their carpeted shoes which prevent tracking, they can then come in there, put it back, and that way the border agents who are working that area won't have any idea that somebody has actually come through there because they can't really tell. There is a well-worn track, but you won't know when somebody has come through. Mr. Speaker, I ask the gentleman if that is his impression as well. Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, yes, that was my impression. You also can't tell how many people are coming through. It may be one or two. It may be 20 or 40. Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, in fact, there, they had a road as well, which our border agents told us was very helpful. When you have a wall, you have a road next to it to help catch those folks who are trying to come through. But they had a device up, also, made of heavy metal and concrete to prevent the drug traffickers from using vehicles at that point and bringing their stuff in and just loading it onto a vehicle. Mr. Speaker, I ask the gentleman if that isn't correct. Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, that is exactly right. In fact, that road kind of ended where the bollard fence ended. And then you had the Normandy fence that was sitting there, but then right next to it, you had that track for people to come walking through that barbed wire fence. [[Page H1168]] Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, continuing in this colloquy with my friend from Arizona, I ask if he would agree that when we heard from the border agents that the wall--this bollard fencing, wall, however you want to describe it--is important, but things like having roads where you can get in are also important, because we heard numerous stories. I would like for the gentleman to maybe tell one, about how the agents may be able to see through electronic devices that somebody has crossed the border, but then it may take them hours to get there. I remember several specific stories, but I just wondered if Mr. Biggs remembered any stories like that. Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, yes. I would tell the gentleman that when I talked about, literally, nearly 1,000 or more square miles that seven agents are covering, if the camera is there, they have seen these people. By the time they get there--it takes 2, 2\1/2\ hours because it is rugged terrain--nobody is there anymore; because the sensors, the cameras are there, and nobody is there anymore, and they are moving on. That is because they are trying to get to their destination, which may be Tucson, it may be Phoenix, and from there, all points throughout the country for these drugs to be distributed. But, yes, indeed, this happens over and over and over on a daily basis. Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I would say that we heard this repeatedly, and what we heard is that we need the wall to help channel this flow of illegal immigrants. We need the wall to make sure that we have some idea of what is going on. We need the electronic surveillance. So this is not a one-size-fits-all kind of situation, but we need the electronic surveillance to help when we are monitoring the wall. We need additional folks on horseback. We need additional canine units. We heard from one agent that we need, at the Customs department, density equipment so they can test to see if a tire is supposed to be a certain density. If it is twice as dense as it is supposed to be, they know that something is being hidden in that tire, some contraband, most likely drugs, and so this is important. {time} 1715 Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs) for additional questions. I would like to continue our colloquy. I don't know if his colleague, also from Arizona, Mr. Gosar, would like to join in that colloquy as well. I would say to the gentleman, Mr. Biggs of Arizona, did he also find it interesting that almost everybody who we talked to, and certainly all of the border guards and all of the ranchers right on the border, specifically said a wall would be helpful; but there were other things that needed to be done as well? Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, yes. It was one of the Angel Moms, Mary Ann Mendoza, who said it well. She said: A wall won't stop everyone, but no wall will stop no one. They wanted a wall. There was not one person that I met, and that we met, that didn't advocate for a wall. But they also understood that you need to have the infrastructure, that is to say, roads. You need to have cameras and sensors. You need to actually have more boots on the ground: better vehicles that can get there, and, where necessary, horses. Don't forget that they were using dogs, for instance, to sniff out currency. We have a shortage of dogs at the ports of entry and in the interior between the ports of entry. They need lighter weight. We talked to one agent who said that when he is out there wearing his full bulletproof vest and the whole harness, if it is 110 degrees ambient temperature--which, by the way, most of our summer is going to be well above 100--he said that quickly rises and you are at 145 to 160 degrees as a Border Patrol agent. So, yes, we need a lot. But the one thing that is foundational to all of this, to try to get the border under control, is fencing. Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Gosar). Would the gentleman tell me some of the stories related to fencing or additional equipment and how those fences will channel people; where it makes it easier to keep track of who is crossing that border? Did he have any stories that he might like to speak of? Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Speaker, oh, absolutely. The ranchers told us over and over again. One of the ranchers was working on one of his backhoes on his property. He turned to look and a well-armed illegal is sitting there with an automatic weapon. Over and over again we see this, time and time again. We have the Border Patrol telling us, over and over again, that what they see is they will see a mass of undocumenteds that are family units or undocumented children. They have to take their resources and attach them to those people, allowing the drug cartels to swiftly move in another point of reference. It is big country, as the gentleman from Virginia got to see. There is lots of space, that goes north and south that have the advantages of cover. In fact, if I am not mistaken, the gentleman can actually tell the story of our last stop in Nogales and what happened right in front of us over the border. Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I will tell that story, because what happened is very interesting. The Border Patrol was there and an individual did cross the fence. Sometimes people say: Well, the people can climb over the fence. They can, but it slows them down and allows the border agents, using cameras and being there live on the scene, to intercept those people. And, sure enough, there we are, standing--I think we kind of acted as blockers. This fellow comes over the fence and drops down. The border agents are moving fast, and there we are standing where the natural escape route would be. While we didn't do anything heroic, and we had to watch the border security agents do their job very professionally, they got the gentleman into custody fairly quickly, it was because there was a wall, agents, and a whole team of equipment working together: the cameras, the wall, and the agents working together. If you don't have a wall there, they are never seeing that guy; they are never catching that guy, because he had to rise up and be seen in order to cross the border wall/fence. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Budd). Mr. BUDD. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding, and I also thank my friend from Arizona for inviting us to his home State to meet with several Members from Arizona. What an eye-opener. This is something that I have supported--the building of the wall, increasing our border security--standing strong with the President for that. But to see it in person was quite an eye-opener, and I really want to thank my friend for doing that. After spending several days in Arizona, with Customs and Border Patrol, touring areas of this southern border, I can say with more assurance than ever that we are in desperate need of a wall. In certain areas, all that separates us from another sovereign nation is a barbed wire fence. Living on a cattle farm in North Carolina, if a fence on our farm was in the same condition as that, we would be spending all night to replace it because we would be losing cows left and right. Our ranchers down there in Arizona are losing their cows into Mexico. The cows from the ranches in Mexico are coming down. You don't realize--we don't think about it much--but there are ranchers on the Mexican side that actually want a wall. They say: Please, build the wall. We don't think about hearing it that much, but we do because they don't want the cartels coming into their ranch and cutting their fences. There are a lot of problems. While I was there, over and over, I heard, again and again, about the need to have a wall to shrink the amount of mileage that our Border Patrol agents need to cover. When technology detects an illegal, it takes them about 2 hours by car to get there, give or take, and then about 2 hours on foot, and then from there it is a completely different game. A wall will act as a complement to our brave border agents, and it limits the amount of terrain, which is vast--it will limit the amount that they have to cover. The situation facing the ranchers is bleak, as I mentioned before. I spoke to one woman, whose brother was killed by an illegal alien during a home invasion. We hear all the time about home [[Page H1169]] invasions. Many of these Angel Families have been left with lost loved ones. Other families have had property damage or stolen vehicles. A simple F-150 pickup truck, that we would normally just park and take our keys with us, they have got chains wrapped around the whole vehicle to keep it from being stolen by the illegals. We spoke with two other Angel Families, and their stories are heartbreaking and, unfortunately, not anomalies. Throughout the trip, we heard over and over again how the drug cartels will use illegal immigrants as decoys in order to overwhelm Customs and Border Patrol agents at the checkpoint, leaving the border unmanned so that they can move their drugs across. Each immigrant, who is caught trying to illegally enter our country, takes about 2 to 4 hours to process. The cartels have done the math. They have sent waves and waves of people to tie up our Border Patrol so that they can, in essence, send their cartel and drug mules across in another area. This weekend, President Trump put forth a plan that would reopen the government, but the plan was rejected by Democrats before it was even released. I call on my Democratic colleagues to come to the table and negotiate in good faith. In the past, Democrats have been more than open to securing our borders: in some cases, voting for $50 billion and $40 billion, respectively. The $5 billion that Trump is asking for pales in comparison. Before us is a national security crisis, a drug crisis, and a humanitarian crisis. A wall will help in a much broader effort to get operational control of our border and keep our country safe. Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin). Mr. BABIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Arizona for this Special Order and for the opportunity to speak. Mr. Speaker, last weekend, a handful of colleagues and I toured the southern border between Arizona and Mexico, meeting with Border Patrol agents, ranchers, law enforcement, and Angel Families, who have lost loved ones to illegals. Mr. Speaker, I can say, more confidently than ever, that we need stronger border security. This is not--I repeat, not--a manufactured crisis on the border, as we are hearing the opposite side of the aisle say. This crisis at the border is getting worse, but the solution is the same: we must secure our borders in order to regain control of our broken immigration system. The brave men and women who put their lives on the line every day to protect our country are doing so without the full support of the Federal Government, and that is unacceptable and tragic. It certainly is not a manufactured crisis. We need to build a border wall, construct roads and infrastructure, improve our technological resources, and restore pay to Border Patrol agents that was stripped out under the Obama administration. I hear our Democratic opponents say across the aisle that walls are immoral and ineffective. A wall is not immoral. It is absolutely necessary. Certainly, a wall will not prevent all illegals from coming over, but no wall keeps no one out. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to put their money where their mouth is and actually go and visit our southern border. This is what our opponents say across the aisle is border security. We saw it. We were there. I want the American people to see this, and my constituents to see this. Our Democrat colleagues need to go down to the border and see this. Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his remarks. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs) for the conclusion on this great trip. Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate everyone who went to the border with us. We will be doing it again. I will invite my Democratic colleagues to come with us as well. It is eye-opening. Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. ____________________
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