End the Border Catastrophe Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York for giving me the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in a strong opposition to this sideshow. Consideration of H.R. 3602 today is a cynical move meant to appease Republicans who refuse to provide aid to fight autocrats and terrorists unless they get to deport migrant kids first. These extreme MAGA Republicans care more about scoring political points than finding solutions and refuse to consider the bipartisan Senate border security and immigration enforcement bill.

They are having a hissy fit after the Senate threw out their unconstitutional Articles of Impeachment against the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. They care only about electing Donald Trump, and they are happy to rip up the Constitution, create chaos at the border and prop up Vladimir Putin to do it. This is why they are insisting on rehashing this terrible bill, which has zero chance of passing the House, let alone the Senate

H.R. 3602 shifts all border processing to ports of entry without providing any additional resources. The bill doesn't fund a single new officer at ports of entry where more than 90 percent of fentanyl is interdicted. Our ports of entry are already short over 4,000 officers.

When the Committee on Homeland Security considered a version of this bill last year, Democrats tried to add an additional 1,700 officers, but Republicans refused. Furthermore, this xenophobic bill would strip DHS funding from any community or religious organization that helped migrants. It is so overly broad that organizations that place water in remote areas of the desert or provide a pregnant mother a safe place to sleep would be ineligible for DHS funding. This bill is so overreaching, that it would force the American Red Cross----

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me extra time. This bill is so overreaching that it would force the American Red Cross to verify every person's immigration status before providing lifesaving services following a natural disaster. This is just inhumane.

Furthermore, H.R. 3602 is so poorly drafted that it would bar many U.S. citizens from boarding commercial flights. This bill sets requirements for forms of identification that can only be used through airport security, but the list doesn't include a driver's license from Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico; Guam; or other U.S. territories.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is too extreme. It is just brought here today to appease certain elements of the party. Remote Republicans must put an end to this chaos and dysfunction, and get back to serious legislating. Vote ``no'' on this unworkable bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source