Rep. Rose: “Vice President Kamala Harris’ Tenure as Border Czar Has Been a Complete and Absolute Failure”

WASHINGTON, DC-U.S. Representative John Rose (TN-06) took to the House Floor on Wednesday to highlight the ongoing Southern Border crisis and to urge fellow Members of Congress to support legislation to curb illegal immigration.

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

Mister Speaker, Vice President Kamala Harris' tenure as Border Czar has been a complete and absolute failure. For the folks who claim she was never in charge of the border - I'll read President Biden's words from March 2021. He specifically assigned V-P Harris with the task of quote "stemming the migration to our southern border."

I understand the White House would like to rewrite that bit of history, but a simple Google search will show that it isn't just House Republicans calling her the Border Czar. She was widely referred to as such by the mainstream media at the time.

Since her appointment, Harris has gone to the border only once. Even worse, she never spoke to either of the past two Chiefs of Border Patrol. While the Vice President was failing to meet her new responsibility, our Commander-in-Chief was busy undoing the successful border policies of President Trump.

Here's where that's gotten us. More than 10 million people have tried to cross unto the U.S. illegally in less than four years. More than 52,000 illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds have tried to enter our nation illegally. That's just the ones we know about. Keep in mind, more than two million people managed to evade Border Patrol under this administration. That's more gotaways under Biden-Harris than in the previous decade combined.

This is a direct result of open border policies and a refusal to uphold the immigration laws already on the books.

In July alone, there was a daily average of 3,300 encounters at the border. Former President Obama's DHS Secretary noted a few years ago that any more than 1,000 encounters a day overwhelms the system. Mister Speaker, the border crisis is far from over and it continues to threaten our national security.

In the last two years, Border Patrol officials have seized an average of 2,000 lbs. of fentanyl every month coming across the border - enough to kill 458 million people. But the real question is how much fentanyl did they fail to seize that is currently killing our citizens?

More than 350 people who are on the terror watch list have been stopped trying to cross the Southern Border. A recent report revealed that 99 of them were released into the country after being arrested. It was also widely reported this summer that more than 50 illegal immigrants - with ties to ISIS - were on the loose after being released from custody. All of this on Vice President Kamala Harris' watch.

This week, House Republicans will bring to the Floor two pieces of critical legislation. The first, a bill to ensure that any illegal immigrant who is convicted of a sex offense or crimes involving stalking, child abuse, and neglect, is deported. The second, a piece of legislation that aims to end the free hotels, healthcare, and cash given to the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants being housed in our nation's major cities.

It's well past time to stop incentivizing illegal immigration. It's time to support what the American people overwhelming support: immigration done the legal way.

With that, I yield back.

You can watch the full speech here.

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