00:00In the United States, we justly pride ourselves on being a nation of laws.
00:07This is one of the things that makes our country different from the rest of the world.
00:15Economists have written about the fact that while there are many entrepreneurial or innovation societies and economies,
00:22it is the rule of law, the predictability, the enforcement of contracts, and the fundamental guarantees of rights that makes us successful where other countries fail.
00:36Unfortunately, we have seen the undermining of the rule of law by the last four years by President Biden's refusal to simply enforce our immigration laws.
00:48And my prediction is we'll be paying the price, not just in weeks and months, but in years and decades,
00:59for what has come to be known as the Biden border disaster.
01:06President Biden's policies betrayed the American people because of the lack of leadership in the face of a historic crisis,
01:14here again of his own making, at the U.S.-Mexico border.
01:21Yesterday, I chaired a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary entitled,
01:26Biden's Border Betrayal, Criminal Aliens in America.
01:31At that hearing, we examined some of the false narratives that the mainstream media have peddled
01:37about President Trump's enforcement of our immigration laws.
01:43We were honored to be joined by two angel moms whose children were murdered by criminal aliens who never should have been in the United States in the first place.
01:57Marie Vega joined us.
02:00Marie is the mother of Javier Vega Jr., who went by the name Harvey.
02:06Harvey was a Border Patrol agent who was murdered by illegal aliens nearly 11 years ago.
02:11I'm grateful to her for sharing her story, as painful as I know it must have been for her,
02:19and talking about the trauma that she, her grandchildren, and her entire family have experienced over her son's murder.
02:28Our second guest was Tammy Nobles.
02:32Tammy was the mother of Kayla Hamilton,
02:35who was murdered by an illegal alien who was also a member of the MS-13 gang,
02:42one of the most violent gangs in the world.
02:48Kayla's murderer entered our country as an unaccompanied minor
02:51and was later released into the custody of an unvetted sponsor.
02:57Miss Nobles' passion for ensuring that this horrific tragedy won't happen again to more families
03:04was evident throughout the hearing,
03:07and I'm grateful to her, again, for sharing what had to be a very painful experience,
03:13but one she did in honor of her daughter's memory.
03:40Victor was seriously wounded that day, and his partner was killed.
03:43I've known Victor a long time, and he is a steadfast advocate of the rule of law
03:49and understands what is required if we are going to keep Americans safe.
03:55These families and victims would never have had to suffer.
03:59Such devastating loss were not for the criminal aliens
04:03who never should have been here in the United States in the first place.
04:09It was a curious matter to me that our Democratic colleagues
04:12claimed to be the party of compassion when it comes to immigration.
04:18But they would rather society and the media and Congress
04:21turn a blind eye to these victims of criminals
04:25who entered the country as a result of open border policies.
04:29That's not compassionate.
04:33Some of the individuals' ICE,
04:34or Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
04:37is what the initials stand for, of course.
04:39Some of the individuals ICE is apprehended recently
04:42include murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and sex traffickers.
04:48Our fourth witness was Sheriff Roy Boyd of Goliad, Texas,
04:54a small South Texas county.
04:57And he described the horrifying details of human trafficking
05:02and criminal activity carried out
05:04by the transnational criminal organizations.
05:08This is organized crime.
05:11But cartels that he has witnessed in recent years.
05:16He said during his testimony, and I quote,
05:19the border has always been a location for criminal activity.
05:23However, I've never witnessed such an increase
05:26in blatantly open criminal activity
05:29as I did between 2021 and 2024.
05:34It's truly shocking to think about the sheer number
05:38of illegal criminal aliens
05:39who are currently roaming free in the United States.
05:42Now, you would think,
05:48listening to some of my Democratic colleagues,
05:50that ICE is arresting gardeners,
05:54cooks, housekeepers,
05:57people who are basically just trying to earn a living.
06:01But the truth is there are 291,000,
06:05291,000 criminal aliens in the United States
06:10who are under final orders of removal.
06:14That means they've exhausted all potential legal remedies
06:18to be able to stay here.
06:20And they've been found not qualified to stay.
06:23And they've been ordered removed.
06:25But they've simply ignored that order by a court.
06:30For this fiscal year alone,
06:32213,000 criminal aliens with final orders of removal
06:36have criminal convictions,
06:38while another 78,000
06:40have pending criminal charges against them.
06:44Even more disturbing is the fact
06:46that 282,000 of these criminal aliens
06:51are still roaming free,
06:53not being held in ICE custody.
06:57Now, I know Tom Homan,
06:59who's the border czar,
07:01who's heading up these efforts,
07:03is working to chip away at this list
07:05of criminal aliens
07:07who's still present in the United States
07:10who are under final orders of deportation.
07:13But again, to listen to the news
07:15or listen to some of the political rhetoric,
07:18you would think, again,
07:20that Tom Homan and ICE
07:22are detaining gardeners and cooks
07:25and housekeepers
07:27when 282,000 of these criminal aliens
07:32with final orders of deportation
07:34are still roaming free.
07:37Most aliens with final orders of removal
07:41have been in the immigration system
07:42for almost a decade.
07:45Let's say they've been litigating their claims
07:47in immigration courts,
07:51some for almost a decade.
07:54And many, if not all,
07:56were given the opportunity
07:57to have their day in court,
07:59but many of them just neglected to show up,
08:03given a notice to appear in an immigration court,
08:05and if they had a bona fide claim to asylum,
08:10to present that to an immigration judge.
08:12But many of these individuals
08:14simply did not show up,
08:17forfeiting any right they had
08:19to claim that they could legally stay
08:21in the United States.
08:24But all of this doesn't stop our colleagues
08:26across the aisle from claiming
08:28that illegal aliens detained by ICE
08:30are not being given due process.
08:35Well, we're blessed to live in America, no doubt,
08:38and I think sometimes we take for granted
08:40all of the privileges that we are afforded
08:45and all the rights we have as citizens.
08:48So it's worth asking the question,
08:51what sort of process
08:52are these illegal aliens actually due?
08:56And while the Fifth Amendment
08:58to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights
09:00applies to all individuals in the United States,
09:03illegal aliens are not entitled
09:05to the same range of due process
09:08as U.S. citizens.
09:10Especially when they neglect
09:12or refuse to show up in the first place
09:14when the notice to appear has been given,
09:17but they simply reject it.
09:19The idea that someone could break our laws,
09:22enter our country illegally,
09:24and then be entitled to all the rights
09:26and privileges of an American citizen
09:28is awfully far-fetched.
09:32And it's not the law.
09:33Let me be clear about what the law actually says.
09:37Aliens who already have final orders of deportation
09:40who are being detained for the purpose of removal
09:43already had their due process.
09:45I would encourage my colleagues on the left to reflect on this
09:51before continuing to use the buzzwords due process
09:54to mislead the American people
09:56as they discuss cases that appear sympathetic,
09:59but where the process that these aliens were entitled to
10:04has simply been exhausted and they lost,
10:07or they refused to show up in the first place.
10:11The American people know what Democrats fail to admit.
10:17Deterrence.
10:19Deterrence.
10:20Deterrence.
10:22Deterrence.
10:22It's a critical part of immigration enforcement
10:24and preventing the flow of criminal aliens
10:26into the United States in the first place.
10:29In other words, if you know that it's likely
10:33that if you pay a coyote or a human smuggler
10:37$10,000 to smuggle you into the United States,
10:42but you're unlikely to be able to stay,
10:45then you're probably not going to make that decision
10:48to make that dangerous trip in the hands of a criminal organization to come to the United States.
10:55That's part of what we talk about when we're discussing deterrence,
10:59the likelihood that you'll be unsuccessful, so you don't try in the first place.
11:05I've been impressed by the way that the state of Florida has stepped up to the plate
11:09by helping the administration open a detention facility known in the press as Alligator Alcatraz.
11:16Well, whatever is necessary to provide detention facilities for people who have no legal right to remain in the United States
11:27because they've exhausted all of their legal remedies,
11:31we've just provided significant additional resources in the one big beautiful bill to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE
11:40to build those detention facilities like the one in Florida.
11:45as needed in order to detain people before they are repatriated or removed from the United States.
11:52I'm hopeful other states will step up in a similar way,
11:56and I'm strongly supportive of creating those necessary detention facilities in places like Texas.
12:03The American people voted overwhelmingly on November the 5th for a president who promised to enforce our immigration laws.
12:15And so it's only right that our states would work together with the federal government to facilitate the enforcement of those laws that the American people voted for.
12:26I know we're thankful, I know they are thankful to President Trump for keeping his promises,
12:33and I look forward to continuing to work with him and Governor Abbott to ensure that this work continues in my home state of Texas.
12:42Together, we are making our communities safe again.
