Upper Cumberland Times

WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Representative John Rose (TN-06) spoke on the House Floor Wednesday to highlight the ongoing humanitarian crisis at the U.S. southern border, and to express his concerns surrounding U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas.

The full remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below:    

Madam Speaker, since taking the majority in the House in January, Republicans have been consistently holding hearings to conduct oversight and demand accountability of the Biden Administration when it comes to the humanitarian crisis at our southern border.

For years now, sensible Republicans have done everything they can to offer solutions to this humanitarian crisis in an effort to halt illegal immigration but have been met with opposition by those on the other side of the aisle that prefer the open-border policies of this president and his administration. Unfortunately, despite these repeated attempts to bring this administration to the table to enact sensible immigration reform, which the American people support, President Biden has done the opposite.

In fact, in President Biden’s first 100 days in office, he took 94 executive actions on immigration—perhaps none as costly as halting the construction of the southern border wall. He also ended the ‘Remain in Mexico’ program, which had proven to be a successful deterrent at the border.  

Now, the good people at the Customs and Border Protection, who are working hard under strenuous circumstances to protect our borders, have seized over 17,000 pounds of fentanyl in Fiscal Year 2023, including a 14% increase in the month of April compared to the prior month. In addition to these alarming figures, so far in Fiscal Year 2023, 96 people were stopped attempting to cross the southern border whose names could be found on the terror watch list. To put this into perspective, during the entire last fiscal year there were only 98 arrests, and that was more than in fiscal years 2017 through 2021 combined!

Madam Speaker, it is clear to the American people that President Biden’s Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security is directly responsible for this abhorrent failure. That’s why, much to my regret, I have no choice but to continue my call for impeaching Secretary Mayorkas and hope the Biden Administration will go ahead and replace him with someone willing to actually take on the task of securing our border. At the very least, the appropriate House committees must begin considering and debating impeachment articles.

Madam Speaker, one of the most rewarding opportunities I am afforded as a Member of Congress is getting to welcome new citizens of the United States who have recently been naturalized. At each naturalization ceremony, I always take the time to point out to the attendees the perseverance and dedication it takes to become a U.S. citizen the legal and right way. It goes without saying, these folks will forever be able to hold their head high, knowing that they respected our laws even before they became a citizen.

I will also add that because of my familiarity with this process and seeing what so many have to endure to come here legally, I have one more reason out of many to fight against illegal immigration. That’s why I will continuously demand the Biden Administration and Secretary Mayorkas uphold our immigration laws and engage in House Republicans’ oversight efforts until the American people can be confident the administration is following the rules Congress sets.

I ask all Members of Congress to join me in demanding accountability from President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas, and with that, I yield back. 

You can watch the full speech here.

Original source can be found here.