Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act--Motion to Proceed--
Floor Speech
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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, we gathered just a couple of hours ago to receive the impeachment articles on Alejandro Mayorkas, who is the Secretary of Homeland Security. How interesting that, as we look at going through this impeachment, we have Senator Schumer, who is the majority leader, who has decided he wants to change his tune when it comes to dealing with impeachment.
Now, in 2019, right before the Democrats started in on President Trump and an impeachment trial for President Trump, Leader Schumer stood right here in this Chamber, and he said:
We have a responsibility to let all the facts come out.
We [have] to remember our constitutional duty to act as judges and jurors in a potential trial.
Now, those were his comments at that point in time. He was all for an impeachment trial, and it is our constitutional duty. You can look at article I, section 2 and section 3. Section 2 lays out the responsibility of the House in impeachment. Section 3 pertains to the Senate and how we are to proceed with a trial of impeachment.
But, as I said, Leader Schumer has decided that he wants to change his tune, and all of a sudden, he is not wanting this even though we actually have a public officeholder who deserves to stand for an impeachment trial, and that is Secretary Mayorkas. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, if you will, and now that it is about a Democrat, Leader Schumer wants to change the rules and say no. He is even willing to take unprecedented actions that this Chamber has never taken when it comes to the issue of impeachment.
I believe this should incense every single American. I know it incenses the people of Tennessee because what we have learned in the last 3 years about Secretary Mayorkas--even though his title is ``Secretary of Homeland Security,'' he does not believe in securing the homeland, and he has refused to fulfill his duty of securing the homeland.
I know that Secretary Mayorkas is doing the bidding of Joe Biden and the Biden administration. He is just doing what they tell him he has to do. That in and of itself tells you a lot about what this administration thinks about the security and sovereignty of this country. Here is why: On the Biden-Mayorkas watch, you have more than 9.4 million illegal aliens coming into this country. That is in less than 3 years--9.4 million.
We know that there are between 1.7 and 2.5 million ``got-aways.'' Some of those ``got-aways'' are included in that 9.4 million number, and others are not because they didn't see them as they were coming through and couldn't get to them. They found things they left on the roadside or in the woods, in the brush, later on.
Out of this 10 million or so who have illegally come into the country--by the way, just to help everyone have the right context, that number of 10 million is greater than the population of 38 of our States--38. That is how many people are coming in who are illegally entering the country.
Out of this number, you have thousands who are from countries of interest. That would be places like Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Iran. And look at China. Look at what is happening there. You also have 300 known terrorists. As we heard in the impeachment articles today, under President Trump, you had no more than a dozen total over 4 years who were coming into the country. What do you have under Joe Biden? You have over 300 suspected terrorists. Even last week, we had an issue where DOJ and DHS and FBI and the other Agencies were admitting they had lost track of a terrorist from Afghanistan, and he was free-roaming the country for a year.
In addition to the terrorists and the people from countries of interest, fentanyl is coming across our borders. It is being smuggled in by the cartels. Fentanyl is the leading cause of death of Americans age 18 to 45. Fentanyl is a drug that--China has the precursor chemicals, and they are manufacturing this in labs that they have set up with, oh, by the way, the cartels in Mexico, and the cartels are the distribution hub for fentanyl. I talk to parents regularly who have a child who has lost a life or become addicted because of fentanyl.
In addition to all the fentanyl, you have the human trafficking. What is really so sad to me when you look at human trafficking--and for the cartels, human trafficking is a business. It has grown from a business that was $500 million a year in this country in 2018, and today it is a $13 billion-a-year business.
If you don't think the cartels are big business, if you don't think they are global entities, look at this. Globally, human trafficking is a $150 billion-a-year business. Where do these people want to come? Right here. They want to come into our country.
On top of this, there are more than 400,000 migrant children. Many of them have been recycled and abused by the cartels. Yes, indeed, the cartels are so into this human trafficking now that they have devised a scheme. It is child abuse. They take a little child. They write their name and the phone number to contact on that child's back. They put that child with a cartel member they are trying to get into the country. They pose as a family for the purpose of claiming asylum. Once the cartel member is across the border, what does he do? He lets the child go--lets the child go--and the child is sent back to Mexico.
So we add to all of these issues with the terrorists, with the people from countries of interest, with the drugs, with the human trafficking, with the sex trafficking, you look at what is happening to these children. Tens of thousands of these 400,000 children have been forced into really horrific, exploitative situations, including child labor and sex trafficking.
Across the country, you have dangerous, illegal alien criminals--they are called criminal aliens--who should never have been able to come into this country in the first place. They have harmed and they have murdered innocent Americans.
So all of these reasons as to why we should move forward with this impeachment, and on top of it you add that Secretary Mayorkas has repeatedly lied to Congress about our border being secure. He likes to say he has done everything to prevent this, but we know he has done everything to allow it and to allow the flow to continue.
Last year, DHS, his Agency, deported less than 5 percent of all migrant encounters at the border. In 2022, only 10 percent of all criminal illegal aliens in the United States were arrested.
While a border wall would do so much to help end the border crisis, Secretary Mayorkas stated:
From day one, this Administration has made clear that a border wall is not the answer.
His words. From day one, they have made clear that a border wall is not the answer. Well, let me tell you something: Walls work. Throughout history, walls have worked. The evidence is overwhelming.
Secretary Mayorkas has refused to uphold his constitutional duty of securing the homeland, and the American people are suffering the consequences.
Five years ago, Leader Schumer was all too happy to lead a partisan, baseless impeachment trial against President Trump. Yet, today, when faced with a Secretary who is unfit for office, Leader Schumer is trying to prevent a Senate trial and dismiss the House's Articles of Impeachment.
(Mr. WYDEN assumed the Chair.)
Never before has the Senate dismissed impeachment charges without holding a trial.
When I talk to Tennesseans, they talk about their frustration with Washington, DC, and their frustration with two tiers of justice. It seems there is a tier for the Democrats and the elites and illegals and another for Republicans and President Trump and people who are conservative.
It is important that Secretary Mayorkas be held to account. For 3 years, he has done President Biden's bidding by opening the border to millions of illegal aliens. If this Chamber upholds its constitutional duty to hold a trial, I will vote to convict Secretary Mayorkas and remove him from office.
While the Biden administration is working to make illegal immigration legal, border States such as Texas are stepping up to do what this administration will not do, and that is to secure the border.
Over recess, I spent time in El Paso, TX, to see firsthand how Governor Abbott and authorities in the Lone Star State are working to keep communities safe. Now, it is a part of the efforts in Texas to deter illegal immigration, and Texas is taking this seriously to make certain that they secure property there along the Rio Grande.
What they have done is to place buoys in the river, shipping containers on the embankment, razor wire behind that, and fences behind that. They did this along the Rio Grande there in El Paso to prevent illegal aliens from coming in through El Paso.
Texas has bolstered its barriers, and what you are seeing now is that the illegal aliens are traveling farther to the west. They are going to New Mexico. They are going to Arizona. They are going to California. Why? Because they are looking for somewhere easier that they can get into the country illegally.
(Mr. WELCH assumed the Chair.)
Bear in mind, the coyotes, they are working hard for all of these groups and for the cartels, and nobody enters without paying a coyote.
Now, when you look at what Texas is doing, taking this into their own hands--and you have got the State, you have got local counties--they are spending billions at the State level and millions in these counties. And as a result, illegal immigration in Texas dropped by 54 percent between December and January. And in the Del Rio Sector, which includes Eagle Pass, illegal entries fell by 76 percent.
This shows you border walls work. The Border Patrol has been telling us for decades: We need a barrier; we need better technology where we cannot have a barrier; and we need more officers and agents. So while the Biden administration pretends otherwise, knowing that walls work should not be a surprise. Border walls from ancient Athens to the Great Wall of China, they protected cities. They protected nations for thousands of years. Border barriers are used on nearly every continent on Earth to protect countries from illegal entry, from drug smuggling, and from terrorism.
But instead of supporting Texas and its successful efforts to deter illegal immigration, this administration and this Secretary of Homeland Security, they think it is a good thing to go sue Texas and try to make them remove their border barriers. While Texas has accomplished a lot in securing their border, protecting families, and saving American lives, President Biden's attack on our border security has placed a tremendous burden on our border States and communities. Indeed, every town has turned into a border town, every State a border State all across this country because of what is happening with the drug trafficking, with human trafficking, with sex trafficking, with crime in communities.
While I was in Eagle Pass, I sat down with some ranchers and farmers who have had their property destroyed, stolen, broken into by illegal aliens crossing into our country from Mexico. In one instance, two migrants broke into a rancher's home while his 16-year-old daughter was studying at home alone.
Texas law enforcement also warned about the ways cartels are using new technology to aid their smuggling operations, including by using Chinese-owned TikTok to recruit Americans into their human trafficking rings. At the same time, cartels are flying drones into the United States to scope out the location of border agents and redirect their smuggling routes.
More than anything else, authorities in Texas told me that they need more border wall construction, better technology, and more agents.
So if Secretary Mayorkas and President Biden refuse to help them, Congress has to step in. That is why I introduced legislation called the CONTAINER Act, which would empower border States such as Texas to place temporary barriers on Federal land to protect their communities.
No State or locality should face lawsuits from the Federal Government for trying to secure our border and to protect the sovereignty of the United States of America.
I also introduced the CLEAR Act, which would reaffirm the authority of State and local governments to enforce Federal immigration laws by apprehending, detaining, and then transferring illegal aliens to Federal custody. Among its important measures, this legislation would require the Department of Homeland Security to provide grants to State and local governments to help them enforce immigration law and construct detention facilities. It would also require DHS to take illegal aliens into custody within 48 hours after receiving a request from a State or locality and provide the Justice Department with essential information about illegal aliens who have overstayed their period of stay in this country.
After my visit to Eagle Pass, I know these pieces of legislation would do so much to support our border security along these border States, and I am hopeful that this President and his Department of Homeland Security will have a change of heart and will move forward with securing our southern border, just as this Chamber should move forward with an impeachment trial on Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
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