Speech #1130113323

We will be doing this emergency every 2 or 3 months because what we have seen over the last couple years is that the numbers of children coming into the country because of this loophole in the 2008 law I described a moment agothe numbers have nearly doubled over the last couple of years. and there are projections that there will be not just the 57.000 unaccompanied children who have been detained so far this year but that the number could grow as high as 90.000 by the end of this year and 145.000 next year. We are going to be in deep trouble. not to mention the crisis for these children. Our capacity to deal with them at the border and in local communities there is overtaxed. and there is the fact that the Border Patrol is diverted from interdicting illegal drug traffic and other necessary activities because they are taking care of these children. who deserve to be taken care of. at least while they are in our protective custody. So this is not a solution to the problem. I know from meeting with the PresidentI see the distinguished majority leader and the majority whip here. We all were invited over to the White House this morning to talk to the President about national security matters. My distinct impression was the President understands the nature of the problem. and he conceded that we cannot endlessly accept people who want to come to the United States from troubled regions of the world because it would simply overtax and overwhelm our capacity to deal with it. That is why it is so important to have legal immigration. I agree that we need immigration reform. I do not agree that we need the Gang of 8 bill. But I am committed to trying to fix our broken immigration system on a stepbystep basis when we next have an opportunity to do so. But right now we have an emergency that is disproportionately affecting my State. the State of Texas. and our local communities and our State are being overwhelmed. It is the Federal Governments responsibility and the Federal Government needs to step up.