09/25/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/25/2024 15:14
WASHINGTON-The Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs today held a hearing on "The Border Crisis: The Cost of Chaos " to examine the price Americans are paying for the Biden-Harris Administration's open borders policies and failure to secure the southwest border.
Key Takeaways:
The Biden-Harris Administration has facilitated the worst border crisis in American history.
The Biden-Harris border crisis has created a public safety and national security crisis.
The Biden-Harris border crisis has economic consequences for Americans.
The Biden-Harris Administration should implement deterrent-focused policies to end its self-inflicted border crisis.
Member Highlights:
Subcommittee Chairman Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) discussed how the Biden-Harris border crisis has real economic costs for American taxpayers and workers.
Rep. Grothman: "President Biden and Vice President Harris have allowed in seven million illegal immigrants since they first took office. Does this abrupt introduction of seven million illegal immigrants strain public services and represent a fiscal challenge?"
Dr. Camarota: "Yes, and it's not because illegal immigrants are lazy and don't want to work, or because they are on welfare. People in a modern economy, including native-born [Americans,] who don't have a lot of education, and that represents the vast majority of illegal immigrants, don't make much money in this economy and don't pay many taxes even if they have work authorization, and they tend to use a lot of services, especially when they have U.S. born children."
[…]
Rep. Grothman: "Are [illegal immigrants] taking jobs that would otherwise go to American workers?"
Dr. Camarota: "By increasing the supply of workers, they certainly make employers happy, but that tends to have a downward pressure on wages making jobs less attractive. And the real crisis in the U.S. labor market is all these people of working age who aren't working or looking for work … It's a six-decade increase. It's a social disaster."
Representative Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) discussed how the Biden-Harris border crisis has created a national security crisis.
Mr. Clem: "Less than a tenth of a mile from there border there were several IEDs and RPGs [found]. More than likely that is for cartel infighting, such as taking over land and using it to embolden their operations. Being that close to the U.S. border that is a threat to everyone in the region. It doesn't take much for someone to put an IED or RPG at the border and injure a CBP agent. Border security is national security."
[…]
Rep. Gosar: "When you were chief, how many people were on the terrorist watch list?
Mr. Clem: "I actually led the nation in 2022 with 40 people that were apprehended that came across the Terrorist Screening Database."
Rep. Gosar: "And those are the ones you just knew about, right?"
Mr. Clem: "Those are the ones we just knew about, yes sir."
Representative Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) explained how the historic Biden-Harris border crisis is unsustainable.
Rep. Biggs: "Jeh Johnson, Obama's DHS Secretary, said if you have more than 1,000 migrants a day, you have a crisis. Mr. Clem, is that a crisis? You've been there."
Mr. Clem: "In 2020, it was approximately 8,800 arrests in Yuma. In 2021, it went up to 114,000. And then in 2022, it went up to 312,000. We went over a thousand a day in just Yuma alone."
Rep. Biggs: "If you are standing on top of Mt. Everest and you come down a thousand feet, it may look like you've descended a lot but you ain't descended to normal. And we are nowhere near normal. And that's the lie about the statistics that the Democrats are rallying around."
Read More
Grothman Opens Hearing on the Cost of the Biden-Harris Border Crisis
Click HERE to watch the hearing