(WASHINGTON) – North Georgia Congressman Doug Collins who is the Judiciary Committee Ranking Member, made the following opening statement at Tuesday’s hearing on policy governing the southern border.
Below are the remarks as prepared:
“Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the opportunity today to discuss the human cost of current immigration law and what happens when, for decades, the law is ignored by Republican and Democratic administrations and abused by those seeking to enter the United States at almost any cost.
Together, these factors have undercut America’s sovereignty and the integrity of our generous immigration system. Unfortunately, actions can have sad, damaging consequences, and now caravans of thousands of Central Americans are endangering themselves and others as they pursue illegal entry to the U.S. Fraud and abuse now characterize our asylum system, which is supposed to protect the vulnerable from persecution. Adults are delivering children into the hands of human traffickers while gangs of aliens violently assault the Border Patrol agents simply trying to keep Americans and migrants safe.
The president once noted, ‘We have seen a significant rise in apprehensions and processing of children and individuals from Central America who are crossing into the United States in the Rio Grande Valley areas of the Southwest border. The individuals who embark upon this journey are subject to violent crime, abuse and extortion as they rely on dangerous human smuggling networks to transport them through Central America and Mexico.’
This was true when President Obama wrote it in a letter to Congress in June 2014, and it’s true today. That summer, President Obama asked Congress for $3.7 billion in “Emergency Supplemental Appropriations” to help address the border crisis, and Congress provided that funding.
What did the Obama Administration do with that money? They apprehended illegal border crossers — the same way the Trump Administration does today. They detained and processed the illegal entrants in the same facilities where the Trump Administration detains and processes them today. They provided the same humanitarian relief — diapers, food and Mylar blankets — the Trump Administration provides today.
Unfortunately, the $3.7 billion did little if anything to stop illegal border crossings because the perverse incentives to come to the U.S. illegally and to falsely apply for asylum remain too strong. To make the situation worse, a 2015 federal court ruling incorrectly interpreted the Flores Settlement Agreement. That ruling provided more incentive for aliens to come to the U.S. illegally since it taught adults that toting a child cross the border guarantees you’ll be released into America’s interior within a matter of days. The Obama Administration rightly appealed that ruling, but lost, leaving Congress the duty to act on what should be a bipartisan, humanitarian priority — correcting the errant Flores ruling.
So here we are. Five years later and misguided policies, inconsistent enforcement and limited resources have fueled the humanitarian border crisis. Family unit apprehensions are up 280 percent over the same time last year, and overall apprehensions by Border Patrol are up 81 percent. Agents routinely see groups of 300 or more aliens enter together illegally as Central American caravans filled with family units, unaccompanied minors and single adults have become the norm.
My colleagues across the aisle have offered no solutions to secure America’s border, protect children who are trafficked and abused on the journey north or honor legal immigrants by fighting the widespread abuse of the current system. Instead, my colleagues have advocated for mass legalization of illegal aliens, to abolish an entire law enforcement agency — Immigration and Customs Enforcement — and for legislation that would further hamstring any efforts to deter illegal entry and abuse of the immigration system, which existing laws require us to do.
Even today, their hostility to the rule of law is on display. My colleagues had the opportunity to hold their first immigration-related hearing on a topic that would curb incentives for illegal immigration, that would remove incentives for parents to endanger their own children by paying murderous cartels to smuggle the children across the U.S.-Mexico border. Instead, my colleagues decided their first immigration-related hearing would ignore every opportunity to protect Americans and our neighbors in favor of a political spectacle.
None of that is helpful. And none of it represents a serious attempt to protect our sovereign borders, our citizens, our neighbors to the south or the rule of law.
When he took office, President Trump applied the current law in a good faith effort to deter illegal border crossings. His January 25, 2017, Immigration Enforcement Executive Order directed the attorney general to prioritize “prosecutions of offenses having a nexus to the southern border.” The attorney general and the DHS Secretary then implemented the Zero Tolerance Policy under which DHS would refer any alien who entered the country illegally to DOJ for prosecution mandated by 8 U.S.C. 1325(a), and DOJ would prosecute those aliens.
The law states that any children with aliens who had illegally entered the U.S. are considered unaccompanied alien children, and these children were placed in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the Department of Health and Human Services because we all know that DOJ facilities — like the wilderness treks to illegal entry points — are no place for children.
We must be fair. In hindsight, it’s clear the system was not ready to handle the large number of children arriving at the border. Agencies involved here made mistakes. The Administration could have, and should have, done a better job reuniting families after adult prosecutions. Today we will hear from the agencies involved with the Zero Tolerance policy about what they’ve done to ensure, going forward, every child separated from their parent at the border is tracked and, if appropriate, reunited with that parent.
But we should also talk about how Congress can stop incentivizing illegal entry. We should hear from the witnesses — especially Border Patrol and ICE — what resources and legislative changes they believe are necessary to end the humanitarian crisis at our southern border and make our interior safer for citizens and legal immigrants.
We help no one by upholding the status quo. Our immigration system shouldn’t pave highways for human traffickers, drug smugglers or people who believe America’s laws don’t apply to them to enter our communities, but right now that’s exactly what it does.
I look forward to the witnesses’ testimony, and I yield back the balance of my time.”
