- 5/14/2025
Last week, Rep. Tim Moore (R-NC), Rep. Mike Haridopolos (R-FL), Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC), Rep. Mike Kennedy (R-UT), and Rep. Brad Knott (R-NC) spoke on the House floor about illegal immigrants.
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00:00January 3, 2025, the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Knott, is recognized for 60 minutes as the
00:06designee of the majority party. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all members
00:11may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous
00:18material on the topic of this special order. Without objection. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise
00:23today alongside four of my esteemed colleagues to both highlight and condemn the misuse of
00:29taxpayer dollars funneled to illegal immigrants. An outrageous pattern of perverse and intentional
00:36incentives revealed deliberate efforts to worsen the border crisis and to allow tens of millions
00:43of illegal aliens to invade our nation at direct cost to the American taxpayer. The Biden-Harris
00:51administration cycled through repeated falsehoods, claiming the border was secure, claiming they did
00:57not have what was needed to stop this invasion, claiming that they were helpless and needed
01:02Congress to take the lead. Meanwhile, that same administration lined the pockets of left-wing
01:09NGOs to shower illegal immigrants with incentives in the form of open-ended access to your tax
01:16dollars. Earlier this year, reports surfaced from the Watchdog Group opened the books exposing
01:24Biden's Department of Health and Human Services for awarding shockingly large amounts of grants and
01:31dollars to nonprofits focused on aiding illegal immigrants, amounting to as high as 20 million
01:37people who illegally crossed into our country during Biden's term in office. Taxpayer funded awards paid for
01:45illegal aliens, housing, health care, education, even music lessons, therapy. You name it, you, the taxpayer,
01:55covered it. Using NGOs as a proxy, the Biden administration sent a clear message that our laws were not to be
02:02taken seriously, and living off of the American taxpayer was both acceptable and encouraged. The same people
02:10fueling this elaborate scheme also pushed a false narrative that supporting illegal activity somehow
02:17gives them a moral high ground. This, of course, is false. I am here to tell the American people that you are
02:26right to expect secure borders. You are right to demand law and order. You are right to be outraged that
02:35hundreds of billions of your dollars have gone to illegal aliens and politically connected NGOs who
02:42facilitated this recent invasion. President Trump's swift actions to halt illegal crossings and to deport
02:51illegal aliens in his first 100 days has made one thing painfully clear. The Biden-Harris administration was
02:58never working to fix our immigration system. They actively and deliberately worked to undermine it.
03:07The Center for Immigration Studies found illegal immigrants annually take, and this is a conservative
03:13estimate, annually take nearly 120 billion dollars directly from public services to include public schools,
03:24public welfare, and health care. Every American across the country should expect more from their government.
03:33Joining me today are a few of my colleagues, and first I would like to introduce Congressman Tim Moore,
03:40my fellow North Carolinian and a fierce border security advocate. Congressman Moore has been a leading
03:46voice in the fight to reform FEMA and to ensure its funds go towards helping American citizens,
03:53rather than to illegal immigrants, especially those recovering from Hurricane Helene. Mr. Speaker,
04:01I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina's 14th District.
04:07Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Congressman Knott. And just a couple things about Congressman Knott for
04:12folks who don't know. Before he was a member of Congress here, he was actually a very well-esteemed
04:18prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office, where I know, Congressman Knott, many stories you shared where
04:24you were personally having to prosecute a lot of these violent gang members, these MS-13 gang members
04:30that for some reason some of our comrades want to go down and hug a thug or something and see these folks
04:35down in Central America. You were helping prosecute these folks, and I know you all were very frustrated
04:41at the times with what you were seeing with these open borders, and so I appreciate you, one, what you did
04:46before you came to Congress, two, what you're doing now, and three today, hosting this opportunity to
04:51bring attention to this to the American people. Mr. Speaker, today I rise on behalf of the people of
04:57North Carolina, particularly Western North Carolina I represent, hardworking Americans, playing by the
05:01rules, doing everything they can, right, paying their taxes, raising their kids, taking care of their
05:07neighbors, whose lives, many of which were impacted substantially by Hurricane Helene that hit last
05:12year. It tore through our region, it destroyed roads, it destroyed homes, it took life, it just,
05:18it changed so many things. But I will say the good news is the resilience of North Carolinians,
05:24and not only government, not only local government, but volunteers, the faith community. I see my good
05:31friend Congressman Harris over there, the churches who stepped up in such a tremendous way to help folks
05:36out in such a serious time of need to do what they needed to do. But we also saw where the federal
05:43government, in a lot of ways, failed to do the job. We saw where, under the past administration,
05:49FEMA wasn't doing the job. I'm proud to say that now, under this new administration, FEMA is getting
05:53the job done. Many folks in here saw pictures that didn't live there of the mass destruction that was
06:00in western North Carolina, and the lack of response in so many ways. Just to kind of put some points
06:07on that with some numbers, according to the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General,
06:12FEMA could not account for $7.4 million out of a $12.9 million audit sample. Now those sound like small
06:20numbers, but that's an audit sample. But think about that. That's 58% of those funds that were either
06:26unsupported or not properly documented. There was an example where one contractor billed $9 million
06:34for labor and could only support or back up $1.5 million of it. Another was reimbursed twice for
06:39the same $40,000 expense, and some grantees couldn't even prove they delivered services. FEMA had approved
06:45it all. Then you'd compare things where folks were needing help and they were getting the runaround,
06:50getting the delay. And again, I stress to folks, that has changed since January this year.
06:56We're seeing FEMA getting the job done in a lot of ways. And I'll talk about what FEMA did with some
07:03of this other money in just a moment. But another example of some mismanagement in the previous
07:07administration, remember the so-called American Rescue Plan. Democrats passed a $1.9 trillion bill
07:15on a party-line vote. Less than 9% of that money, by the way, went to combat COVID. But tucked inside,
07:22tucked inside that bill was $110 million to FEMA. We would think that's a great thing, right? Well,
07:28here's the problem. It wasn't for disaster recovery. It was to fund something they were
07:33calling humanitarian assistance. And what that was, that was to help illegal immigrants at the border.
07:38That was just the start. Mr. Speaker, they filed it with another $150 million in March of 2022,
07:45then $800 million more in December that year. FEMA was effectively converted into a border response
07:52welfare agency, rebranded as the Shelter and Services Program, paying for migrant housing,
07:58transportation, and services in sanctuary cities, while American disaster victims
08:03waited months just to hear back about their applications. Absolutely shameful.
08:08My constituents were patching their roofs, clearing debris by hand. FEMA was off here,
08:14busy footing the bill for nice hotel stays in New York for folks that weren't even supposed to be in
08:18the country. This was a willful effort by the other side to just enable this border crisis. And I got to
08:27say, Congressman Knott pointed out how the border is finally secure, and it didn't require a change in
08:34law. It simply required a president who would follow the law. So now what do we have going on
08:38that things have changed? Well, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, respectfully, are not
08:43showing up in towns that were damaged by the storm, asking questions of FEMA, looking to go see
08:49what's happened. You know who has shown up? Secretary Nome has shown up. President Trump has shown up.
08:55Instead, no, some of my colleagues, and I don't know why, have decided they want to go to El Salvador,
09:00to El Salvador, and rub elbows, and maybe grab a margarita with some former MS-13 gang members.
09:06You know, it looks like it's a delegation face-to-face meeting with Kimar Abrego Garcia,
09:12an old member of MS-13. And that gang is responsible for countless murders, assaults,
09:18and human trafficking. Instead of demanding justice, Democrats took selfies. And I know,
09:23for example, you all had to prosecute MS-13, Congressman Knott, when you were back prosecuting
09:27in the Eastern District of North Carolina. Look, we don't need any more hug-a-thug diplomacy.
09:32We need a federal government that puts the American people first, puts their safety first,
09:37their livelihoods first, and their families first. My friends, we're still feeling the consequences
09:42of this failed border policy in North Carolina. Just last week, this picture to my right,
09:48the FBI of Charlotte, and I want to give a shout out to the FBI agents based out of Charlotte.
09:53They arrested an illegal immigrant who had already been deported. That's a picture of him right
09:58there. He was charged with the kidnapping of a mother and her one-year-old child in Garner,
10:05North Carolina. Again, that's in Congressman Knott's district right there. They tied her up,
10:11took the woman, and the child at gunpoint demanded a million-dollar ransom, and then dumped them in the
10:16woods. By the grace of God and the swift action of the FBI, Garner police, and our state bureau of
10:22investigation, they were rescued. But that crime should have never happened. Estrada Hernandez
10:28should have never been in this country in the first place. And you know what, Mr. Speaker? He would
10:32not have been if it weren't for the Biden administration's open border policies and refusal to
10:37simply follow the law. Mr. Speaker, this is not compassion. This is not justice. This is chaos,
10:42engineered and endorsed by some on the other side. I do hope those on the other side who disagree with
10:48this will start stepping up and pushing back with what's happening there. But I'll say this too.
10:52Thankfully, under President Trump's leadership, we are cleaning house. The Department of Government
10:57Efficiency has exposed FEMA's failures in the past administration. Secretary Noem is working to get
11:02this agency back on mission. And Congress is moving to eliminate the shelter and services program
11:08and to return those funds to real disaster recovery where they belong. To the families who are still
11:14recovering from Hurricane Helene, to those who were told there was no money left while FEMA lost track
11:20of millions, I hear you and help is on the way. This, my friends, is what it means to put Americans first,
11:26to restore common sense, to lead with integrity. And with that, I yield back.
11:30Thank you, Congressman Moore. Next, I would like to introduce
11:38my good friend Mike Herodopoulos from Florida's 8th Congressional District,
11:44otherwise known as the Space Coast. Congressman Herodopoulos and I have had many conversations
11:49about the cost of illegal immigration on programs that are designed to help and support vulnerable
11:57Americans and especially Medicaid. Congressman Herodopoulos has extensive experience in the Medicaid
12:04space and he knows that it must be guarded to protect those who rely upon it here in the United States.
12:10It is not an international charity and it's not especially for the illegal immigrants here in
12:16this country. To elaborate on his experience with this issue, I yield to the gentleman from Florida's 8th
12:22District. Thank you, Congressman Knott. Thank you so much for holding this. And these are the kind of
12:27conversations that the American public needs to hear and understand the impact that illegal immigration
12:33is having on our country and how it undercuts the rule of law and really undercuts those people who
12:39truly want to play by the rules that enter the United States in a legal fashion. And it's frustrating
12:44when we can bring so many bright conscientious people who want to come into the United States
12:49and you're deprived of these opportunities because of the long line that exists because the challenges we
12:54have with illegal immigration. And so I very much appreciate the Congressman leading the charge in
12:59this and bringing some of us who have experience with Medicaid to talk about the impacts that it has
13:04on our individual states. As we know, Medicaid is designed to help our most vulnerable citizens, seniors,
13:12veterans, kids, low-income families, and especially the disabled. But today that lifeline is being strained
13:19by illegal immigration and open-door policies. While Democrats and sanctuary states deny the problem,
13:26the data is clear. Let's be clear that every dollar spent on illegal immigration is a dollar taken from
13:34a senior, a veteran, a child, a family struggling to pay the bills. For the past four years, the pattern
13:41has been very clear. Migrants cross the border, surrender to authorities, they repeat carefully rehearsed lines
13:48provided by NGOs to meet the bare minimum threshold for asylum. They are released into the country
13:54and set a court date in years in the future. Thus, they will quite begin to actually receive
14:01health care benefits at the expense of taxpayers who have already been hard hit by higher prices for
14:07basic things like gas, food, and rent. The burden is real. From 2017 to 2023, federal and state governments
14:16spent $27 billion on emergency Medicaid for non-citizens, according to the CBO. Also, according to the CDBO,
14:26around $18 billion came directly from federal taxpayers, I mean every single American. Under the Biden-Harris
14:34years, Medicaid spending on illegal immigrants surged 124% higher than under President Trump. In 2021 alone,
14:44$27 billion was spent on emergency care for illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, Democrats in Washington and
14:52blue states are demanding that we actually pay even more. Now, to put this in perspective, as the
14:58congressman from North Carolina, congressman Knott mentioned, I'm from the state of Florida, and we
15:03actually audited how much we spent on Medicaid on emergency care last year. $660 million for hospital care
15:12for illegal immigrants, according to the Agency for Health Care Administration in Florida. $660 million.
15:20Dollars that were either intended to be spent on health care for American citizens, or maybe move
15:26the dollars around for education, or for roads, or to of course help our environment. But instead,
15:31people who came here illegally, $660 million. That is a substantial amount of money, and we will never
15:38get it back. And again, rewarding bad behavior. Now, how the system works is very frustrating.
15:45If you pay taxes in America, you're paying for illegal immigrants to get health care, whether you like
15:50it or not. Federal law requires Medicaid to cover emergency health care, period. That's just the law.
15:56You go to the emergency room, and that person qualifies, the American public pays for it. And states,
16:02of course, pick up the cost initially, but the federal government reimburses somewhere between 59
16:08and 73 percent of those costs to the states. So American taxpayer dollars are being spent on this
16:13program, whether you like it or not. So reimbursement quietly channels billions of federal dollars into
16:20care for illegal immigration through state Medicaid programs. And states like California and New York
16:26are actually the most abusive of this law. These sanctuary states choose to allow illegal immigrants
16:32to receive state Medicaid programs, then send a bill to Washington, D.C. for all taxpayers to pay for it.
16:39It's not like they're being generous with just their taxpayer dollars, but that's spread across the entire
16:43system in the United States. States like California and New York manipulate provider taxes and use creative
16:49accounting to maximize federal reimbursement, thus shifting more of the burden to taxpayers across the country.
16:57And here's the gall of it all. New York even promotes free medical care for illegal immigrants with
17:04official state flyers, encouraging them to use emergency services. And that's pretty rich.
17:11I mean, you can think about it. They're saying, well, we're just using our state tax dollars.
17:14That's not the truth. They are promoting on taxpayer dollars this push to have, again, other people pick up
17:22the cost. So this is not some federalism deal where it's being, you're just handled by one state.
17:27This is, again, realizing that someone else will pay the bill, thus they are being generous with other people's money.
17:34So to counter this myth that the Democrats are trying to push that illegal immigration does not cost the taxpayer dollars,
17:42it's just not true. And this is why I want people to look closely at what Medicaid is.
17:47Again, every Republican I've talked to, and I go across the country and talk about this issue,
17:52we want to provide Medicaid for seniors in nursing homes, we want to provide them for pregnant women,
17:58we want to provide it for kids, and we want to provide it for disabled.
18:01But when you upset that relationship by having people who are here illegally, you're actually potentially
18:09putting Medicaid programs at risk. And for those who really want to study the issues, there's a
18:13water balloon effect here. When Medicaid, which really doesn't reimburse doctors for their care,
18:19it causes private health care costs to go up. So imagine that the ire that so many people have,
18:26if you talk to a family of four, and you talk to the parents, they're gonna say,
18:29you know, for a family of four, I'm paying like $1,500 to $2,000 a month for private health care,
18:35and yet a person who comes into the country illegally pays zero in health care because
18:41they get Medicaid services where there is not even a copay. That's the ironic part about this,
18:47is that they break the law and they're rewarded for it. That undercuts the American dream. And
18:52people start thinking logically, well, why do I pay by the rules? Maybe I'll manipulate a form so that I
18:58qualify for Medicaid, and they might never check it again. And that's happening today. People are even
19:04objecting to the idea that we check to see the person still truly qualifies for Medicaid. That is
19:10theft from other taxpayers. So as the CBO confirmed, $18 billion in federal spending was put on emergency
19:18care. And these are just the facts that play out. And again, let's have the honest conversation. If you
19:24want to fund, then say it. But don't say that's not happening or burying it under your typical
19:30bureaucratic or political doublespeak. These are the conversations we need to have. And just so you
19:35all know, in the policy that we're looking at today, where we're going to, let's say, reconsider the
19:42budget, they're going to spend $45 billion for basically jails for illegal agreements who come across,
19:51because if you don't have that jail space or the detention centers as they're looking at asylum,
19:55they go into the country. And that means you might not have a court case for a few years. And again,
20:00let's just think logically here. 10 million people. How many judges, lawyers, public defenders, bailiffs,
20:08and other folks do you need to actually have 10 million court cases in their version of due process?
20:13As our lead prosecutor today, Mr. Knott will tell you that the law is simple. You came here legally,
20:21your only thing you're justified or allowed is a ticket out of here. Let's be honest about
20:26immigration. This is about the rule of law. And I want to bring in a lot of folks, I want to have
20:30an immigration system that works. And you actually sign up, and you get online, and you find out who
20:35these folks are, just like they check you on an airline, you should check you at the border. But
20:39instead, this previous administration literally said, here's the script, tell them this, you'll
20:44get the court case in years to come, and you can go into the interior of the country. That's double
20:49standard. And so I applaud Congressman Knott for taking this opportunity to talk about it in a real
20:54way. And my fellow, my friends from North Carolina talk about how it impacts every one of us. It's
21:00taking from the system, causing people to pay more for insurance, and undercutting the rule of law.
21:06And that's why we had an election last year, and the voice was clear. The president said he would
21:11stop this crazy idea, because we're already a trillion dollars in debt year by year, 37 trillion
21:17in debt overall. This is common sense. And the president has finally stood up for those people
21:22who've been left behind the last four years. And so, Congressman Knott, thank you very much for
21:27taking on this real issue. It's the kind of discussion we need to have. And if the other side feels that
21:33we have not been telling the whole story, come out and have the debate. We'd love to see it. And with
21:37that, I yield back to the Congressman from North Carolina. Thank you, Congressman Herodopoulos. I'm
21:41ready for that debate any day. I'm ready for that discussion any day. Again, the Republicans believe
21:46that American tax dollars should serve American citizens and not those who are here illegally.
21:54Next to speak is another representative from our great state of North Carolina, Congressman Mark Harris.
21:59Congressman Harris pointed out back in February that an NGO in North Carolina was actively working
22:06to hinder law enforcement, aid illegal immigrants, and further worsen the crisis engulfing our communities,
22:13both in North Carolina and all over our country. A pastor of more than 30 years, Congressman Harris is
22:20proof that allowing this humanitarian crisis to continue is not compassionate and enforcing our laws is not
22:26hateful. It is with great honor that I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina's 8th district.
22:33Well, thank you, Congressman Knott. And Mr. Speaker, it's a pleasure today to be able to share in this
22:40time together. I'm grateful for you, Congressman Herodopoulos, for sharing, and also from Congressman
22:45Moore that we heard from earlier. And so I'm very honored to just be a part of this and very thankful for the
22:51vision and the passion that Congressman Knott has shown in pulling together this special order.
22:57You know, when a burglar breaks into your house, you don't set a place for them at the dinner table.
23:04That principle seems pretty obvious. But for some reason, radical progressives just can't understand it.
23:11For the past four years, radical progressive Democrats have openly welcomed criminal aliens
23:17into American communities. Lest we forget, here are just a few of the violent guests the left has
23:25invited into our country. Felix Rojas, an illegal alien who was deported multiple times, was charged
23:33just last week for raping a corpse on a Manhattan subway. In my home state of North Carolina, two illegal
23:41aliens that Congressman Moore alluded to earlier, Paula Duran Duran and Miguel Duran Duran were arrested for
23:50breaking into a home and kidnapping a mother and her 11-month-old daughter. Just outside Washington,
23:57D.C., an illegal alien, Hiran Rodriguez, was arrested by ICE after a local court dropped his charges.
24:06What was his crime that he was charged with? Abducting a four-year-old. These heinous criminals
24:13are only a small number of those welcomed into our country by Joe Biden and were arrested in just the
24:21past few days by the Trump administration. So you can only imagine what is happening in our country
24:28on a grander scale. While under President Trump's leadership, illegal border crossings are down 95%
24:35from last year, and yet we are still suffering from the impacts and the open border policies of the last
24:43four years. The left did not just facilitate an open border invasion. They have made the American taxpayer
24:52pay for it, and we are still paying for it. Under former President Biden's open borders agenda,
24:59it's estimated that at least 10 million illegal aliens entered our country. And on top of the
25:06massive financial costs of the crimes they commit and the jobs they take away from Americans, a huge chunk
25:13of them have been accessing government benefits like Medicaid and Social Security. Mr. Speaker,
25:20this is unacceptable. Americans are hard workers. That's why we have the best country in the world,
25:26and they don't work back-breaking jobs their whole careers for their taxpayer dollars to subsidize the
25:33lives of the very invaders that have subverted their sovereignty. The left loves to fact check.
25:41So why don't we take a moment and hear some cold, hard facts. Fact number one, under the Biden
25:49administration, more than one million illegal aliens received Medicaid benefits. Fact number two,
25:57in fiscal year 2024 alone, over two million illegal aliens were given Social Security numbers. Fact number
26:06three, a 2023 study showed that the net cost of illegal aliens to the American taxpayer was at least 150
26:16billion dollars annually. Fact number four, states are still having to bear the financial burden of Biden's
26:25border crisis. Texan taxpayers have to shell out 8.88 billion dollars a year to pay for the illegal aliens
26:33who invaded their state. For Californians, it's almost 22 billion. By the way, fact number five,
26:41in some states, it's a complete affront to citizens. I'm talking about where illegal aliens can get
26:49mortgages, bank loans, insurance, driver's license, in-state college tuition, and free health care. For
26:57illegal aliens, the U.S. has been an all-you-can-eat buffet, but the American taxpayer and innocent women
27:04like Lakin Riley, Jocelyn Nungere, and Rachel Moran have paid the full price of the left's open border
27:12agenda. It's time to turn off the faucet permanently. American taxpayers shouldn't have to fund their own
27:20demise paying for government programs that actually encourage an invasion. President Trump has shown us
27:27the path forward. Border crossings are down, as I mentioned earlier. Criminal aliens and gang members are
27:33being deported left and right. In other words, the forgotten American is first once again. But
27:40nevertheless, there's still much work to be done, especially in this 119th Congress. Under President
27:48Biden, Americans' hard-earned taxpayer dollars in the federal budget were used as a slush fund for the
27:54radical left to facilitate a border invasion of millions of illegal aliens, export their woke ideologies
28:01across the globe with wasteful pet projects and weaponize the government against anyone who disagreed
28:07with their policies. But President Trump's budget proposal, when signed into law, will be a crucial
28:15step in taking our country back from the left. It will defund the wasteful government programs subsidizing
28:22illegal aliens and provide President Trump with the very tools to solidify his sensible border security
28:29initiatives. For example, President Trump's budget would eliminate the shelter and services program that
28:38facilitated swarms of illegal aliens into American communities and save taxpayers 650 million dollars at the same
28:46time. It will also stop funneling 428 million dollars to migrant education programs that are taking away
28:55from struggling American students. And those are just a glimpse of the countless wasteful projects
29:01by which the American citizens should not be footing the bill. But it's up to Congress now
29:09to come together and advance both the President's budget and the reconciliation package across the finish
29:16line. Mr. Chairman, we owe nothing less to the American people who are tired of being placed behind illegal
29:26aliens. When illegal aliens are given benefits like Medicaid and Social Security by the thousands,
29:32they will keep coming into our country burdening the American taxpayer and exacerbating
29:38the crimes in our cities. This is why it's so important that this Congress act now with budget
29:46reconciliation give President Trump the tools he needs to keep both the wallet and the soul of America
29:54safe. Burglars are in the house and they don't just want a seat at the dinner table. They want the entire
30:04spread. It's time for us to use this historic opportunity to correct our course. Again, I thank Congressman
30:15Knott for his vision and his leadership. And Mr. Speaker, I yield back my time to the gentleman from North
30:21Carolina. Thank you very much Congressman Harris. At least one million illegals on Medicaid.
30:28I would submit that I have heard not one syllable from the Democratic Party from five years ago when
30:37Joe Biden took power until today protesting that fact. The Republican Party wants to protect Medicaid
30:44and get the one million plus illegals on it out of the country and off of the program. Last but not least,
30:51Mr. Speaker, I will turn it over to Congressman Mike Kennedy representing Utah's third district. I
30:58mentioned earlier that some of the ridiculous benefits that taxpayers have unknowingly funded
31:03for illegal aliens include something as unique as music lessons. When digging into this issue, Congressman
31:12Kennedy and I were both outraged and simply shocked at the brazen and flagrant waste of funds on these
31:18perverse incentives. I know this Congressman, Mr. Kennedy, to be a fierce advocate for conservative
31:26principles, both for his district in Utah and for the country at large. I yield to the gentlemen of Utah's
31:32third district. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, Congressman Knott for shining much needed light
31:38on this issue and for the opportunity that you've granted to me to speak. I rise today to speak about some
31:44of the consequences of the Biden-Harris administration, irresponsible actions over the past four years,
31:50and how Congress and the Trump administration are working to claw our way back to sanity for the
31:55United States of America. We have lived through the most devastating border crisis in modern American
32:01history. And let's be honest, it wasn't a natural disaster. It wasn't an accident. It was the direct
32:07result of bad choices made by the Biden-Harris administration. This wasn't mere mismanagement.
32:13It was facilitation. It was incentivization. And it was done at the expense of our laws,
32:20our national security, and our people. During their time in office, President Biden and Vice
32:25President Harris dismantled nearly every meaningful safeguard at the southern border.
32:30Their administration presided over a record surge in illegal immigration. Over 700,000 illegal aliens were
32:37apprehended at the border from October to December of 2023 alone. That was more than any full year
32:44during the Obama presidency when President Obama famously stated, quote, over 1,000 illegal border
32:50crossings a day would be considered a crisis, unquote. The Biden and Harris administration frequently allowed in
32:566,000 a day. Unfortunately, instead of restoring control and protecting our sovereignty, they did the
33:02unthinkable. They rewarded the lawbreakers. Rather than empower border enforcement, the Biden-Harris
33:09administration threw open the federal checkbook, funneling billions of taxpayer dollars to private
33:14non-profits like Family Endeavors Incorporated, Southwest Key Programs, and Global Refuge. These NGOs didn't
33:22just shelter illegal aliens. They pampered them. Those contracts paid for luxury hotel rooms, room
33:29service, 24-hour snacks, laundry, bilingual television, recreation, cultural events, individual tutoring for
33:38mathematics and social studies. Most shockingly, pet therapy, music therapy, and horticulture therapy for
33:46illegal alien children. In 2020 alone, Endeavors paid Christy Merrill, a music therapist, $533,000 for
33:56her services. In addition to this nonsense, the non-profit conducted 1,656 people-plant interactions
34:06and 287 pet therapy sessions between April 2021 and March 2023. This wasn't emergency aid. It was five-star
34:16treatment funded by hard-working American families, families that are struggling to pay their own
34:21rent and put food on their own table, much less providing them with music, plant, and pet therapy.
34:28I know many tax-paying American families that would love to be able to provide their children
34:32with one-on-one academic tutoring but simply cannot afford it. This all begs the question, why are we
34:39investing in illegal families while stripping financial resources from our own citizens to do so?
34:46In one case, Endeavors Incorporated, a Texas-based NGO, received a $1.3 billion contract from the
34:52federal government in a single year. Meanwhile, their top executives were paid over $600,000 annually,
35:00and the group spent more than $700,000 on lobbyists, all to keep the money flowing.
35:05Contrast that with the conditions our military service members faced during the same time.
35:11Moldy barracks, sewage overflows, and rodent infestations to highlight a few.
35:17In 2022, a mere $56 million was spent on housing maintenance for military families,
35:23less than one-twentieth of what was spent on luxury accommodations for illegal aliens.
35:28Who did the Biden-Harris administration care about? It certainly wasn't our men and women in uniform.
35:33Unfortunately, the extreme misuse of funds wasn't their only slight to the American public.
35:39The Biden-Harris administration relaxed vetting standards for those who claimed to sponsor alien
35:44children. DNA testing was scrapped and background checks were watered down. There were no public
35:50record checks required for other adults living in a sponsor's home, and tragic consequences followed.
35:56In one case, a 24-year-old Honduran man posed as a 17-year-old child and was placed with a sponsor
36:03in Florida, whom he later murdered. Sadly, that was not a one-off failure. This type of senseless
36:09violence became a regular news story. While Americans were working multiple jobs to afford rent and
36:15groceries, the Biden-Harris administration was funding a billion-dollar pipeline for unaccompanied
36:21aliens and empowering NGOs that had no incentive to solve the crisis, only to profit from it. They
36:27called it compassion. However, in reality, it was corruption, recklessness, and disregard for the rule
36:33of law. The good news is this. Their time in office is over. However, the ramifications of their decisions
36:40persist. While our southern border is certainly more secure now, we have hundreds of thousands of illegal
36:47alien cases that will overwhelm our legal system for years. The non-profit industry they supercharged
36:53is still bloated, and the American people are still waiting for real accountability. Now is the time to
36:59fix what they broke. We must defund corrupt NGOs, restore vetting and enforcement, and put the American
37:06people first again. We owe it to our citizens, we owe it to our troops, and we owe it to the integrity of this
37:13nation. The crisis wasn't spontaneous. It was built, funded, and incentivized. Let's make sure it's never
37:20repeated. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield back. Thank you, Congressman Kennedy. Mr. Speaker, you've heard
37:30today from my colleagues and myself about the outrageous government-funded incentives and plan to keep illegal
37:37aliens, not only flowing into this country, but also to stay in this country. This scheme goes beyond waste and
37:44it represents, candidly, a betrayal of the American people and the American taxpayers. Those have suffered mightily in
37:54this country because of the illegal immigration crisis. And in closing, I simply ask the following.
38:02To the American citizens who rely on Medicare or Medicaid, should we allow illegal immigrants to
38:11dilute the quality of your benefits and run-up costs in emergency rooms who are precluded from turning
38:19illegal immigrants away? I say, along with my colleagues, absolutely not. No tax dollars should be
38:27allocated to covering health care costs for any person who is in this country illegally. To the American
38:35parents, whether rural or urban, who are struggling to feed your children, I ask, should illegal immigrants
38:47receive tax-funded meals day in, day out to eat on your dime? Again, I heartily say,
38:56absolutely no. To the children at risk of falling behind and lagging schools all over this country,
39:05I ask, should we continue to allow millions upon millions to arrive here illegally and crowd out your
39:14classrooms? I say again, under no circumstances should we give public education dollars to any person
39:24or any family who is here illegally? To the social security recipient, should we take on more debt
39:34and endanger your access to continued benefits just to keep our borders open? With no hesitation,
39:42I again say, absolutely not. We must protect tax dollars for American citizens. To the veterans who
39:52are battling homelessness or addiction or the Western North Carolinians who are left without shelter
40:00following Hurricane Helene, should your tax dollars go to housing illegal aliens, to transporting illegal
40:08aliens. While you continually suffer? Again, I say definitively, under no circumstances is this appropriate.
40:21I urge all of my colleagues in Congress to join me in reversing the perverse incentive structure
40:29by sending a clear message that the United States laws are to be respected. Put candidly,
40:36if you are here illegally, leave.
40:40If you are here illegally, leave.