The border crisis is one of the biggest problems facing the United States. It took Joe Biden, who became president in January 2021, three years to recognize that the border is not safe and promise changes to calm the situation. His management has been highly criticized by citizens, the Republican Party and even by members of his own party.
The latest to judge the president's work was House Speaker Mike Johnson, who accused the government of "inviting chaos and disorder within our land" and of ceding "the homeland to cartels and traffickers." From the floor of the House of Representatives, the speaker analyzed the Biden administration's management and listed the consequences that the border crisis has brought upon the country, such as hurting war veterans who had to leave nursing homes, as well as students who had to take classes online because their schools were given over to accommodate illegal migrants. He also highlighted the entry of fentanyl of a massive scale, which kills thousands of citizens, as well as the entry of terrorists.
🚨NEW - House Speaker Mike Johnson delivers first floor speech on border catastrophe, accusing President Biden of intentionally creating a "clear and present danger to our national security."
"Since I was elected Speaker less than 100 days ago, more than 700,000 illegals have… pic.twitter.com/ZLpuz9pPGz
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) February 1, 2024
700,000 illegal immigrants 'welcomed' since he became speaker
Johnson began his speech with data. "Since the time I was elected speaker less than 100 days ago, more than 700,000 illegals have been welcomed into our country illegally by the Biden administration," the speaker said, later adding that "there have been more than 7 million encounters with illegal aliens just at our southern border alone."
"The Biden Administration is actively incentivizing illegals to come to the United States. We have laid out the welcome mat. We told everybody around the world, 'Come on, come on, you know what? The US taxpayer will take care of you,'" Johnson said. "To make matters worse, we've learned that the Biden administration is now simply just releasing 85% of the illegals who come across that border right into the country. For reference, by the way, in 2013, the Obama administration detained 82% of illegal aliens. How do we go from detaining 82% to releasing 85%?"
64 measures to 'promote the mass release of illegals and dangerous persons'
Johnson commented on the 64 actions that the Biden administration carried out to address the border issue. According to the speaker, these actions were taken to "undermine our border security and to promote the mass release of illegals and dangerous persons into our country."
One of the first initiatives established by the president that Johnson referred to was suspending the construction of the border wall, which Biden enacted as soon as he landed in the White House:
The very first day President Biden walked into the Oval Office, he revoked Executive Order 9844. Do you know what that did? It ended the construction of the border wall that Congress had already paid for. Everybody has seen the images of the materials out there rotting in the sun. Why? Because Joe Biden decided unilaterally that he didn't want a wall.
The end of Title 42
The speaker also alluded to the end of Title 42, a measure that Biden did not renew which helped fight criminal groups on the other side of the border. He also highlighted how these criminals profit from human trafficking:
In February 2021, the administration stopped applying Title 42 expulsions to children and incentivize by doing that incentivize families to send unaccompanied children through Mexico under the watch of cartels and traffickers. Since then, the administration admits to losing track of more than 80,000 unaccompanied children somewhere in the U.S. We don't know where they are. Have they been put into trafficking rings? We know that some of these kids are being trafficked for free labor and being forced to do things that are too appalling for us to articulate on this floor. In the Del Rio sector alone in Eagle Pass, Texas, the cartels are making an estimated $3.5 million dollars a day trafficking human beings into our country. Do the math.
'Our streets are being flooded with fentanyl'
One of the serious consequences of the migration crisis is increased drug trafficking, specifically the entry of fentanyl. This opioid's addictive nature is evident, as is its lethality. Johnson said:
Our streets are being flooded with fentanyl. Hundreds of thousands of children and adults are being poisoned and losing their lives. Vulnerable children and women are being exploited and trafficked by cartels. We do know that fentanyl is pouring into our communities like an open sewer. Right now, the leading cause of death of death in America for Americans aged 18 to 46 is fentanyl poisoning.
How many terrorists came in undetected?
It is unquestionable that, due to the absence of measures to counteract the immigration crisis, people recognized as terrorists are taking the opportunity to access American soil through the southern border. The speaker of the House of Representatives expressed his concern about the unknown number of terrorists who have managed to enter undetected or unidentified:
More than 300 individuals who are on our terror watchlist have been apprehended on the southern border. The frightening question is, how many have entered undetected? We don't know how many terrorists are inside our borders. But in fiscal year 2023, border patrol encountered illegals from 170 different countries, including hundreds from Iran and Syria, thousands from Russia, and tens of thousands have come in from China. Tell me that's not dangerous? Law enforcement and intelligence leaders are warning us that we may very well suffer a preventable terrorist attack here in the homeland if we don't immediately secure that border and remove these dangerous terrorists from inside our borders.
The ineffectiveness of CBP One
A year ago, the Biden administration boosted downloads of CBP One, an application intended for foreigners who want to enter the United States. Johnson suggested that this software is useful for immigrants to easily access U.S. territory, including those who want to do so illegally:
In January 2023, the Biden administration expanded the use of the Customs and Border Patrol One App so illegal aliens could just make appointments and then be released immediately right into America's interior. Guess what? 95% of all illegals who simply scheduled appointments through the app were released right into the United States. That's right. All you have to do is just download the app because they all have smartphones, make an appointment, and the President of the United States will release you into a network of NGOs who will put you on a plane to the destination of your choice. Without identification, by the way.
