Speech #1130114847

Mr. Speaker. today I am introducing legislation to empower governors and local elected officials to control whether or not the federal government can place unaccompanied minors. who have illegally entered the country. into their communities. For the last several months. the United States southern border with Mexico has been flooded by illegal immigrants. many of them whom are unaccompanied minors. Throughout my time in Congress. I have been a leading voice in arguing for securing E1353 our borders. I have also opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants who are already here. And I have fought for a biometric exit system to make sure that we know exactly who has entered the United States on a visa. and who has not returned home as they were supposed to. More than 60 thousand socalled "unaccompanied minors" have arrived at our southern border. mostly from the Central American countries of El Salvador. Guatemala. and Honduras. This is a 10fold increase in unaccompanied minors crossing the border since 2011. We have heard a lot of excuses for why they have come here in violation of our immigration laws. We have been told that they are fleeing violence in their home countries. but there has not been any substantial increase in violence there. So it must be something else. What has changed is that the Obama administration implemented its DACA policyDeferred Action for Childhood Arrivalsin 2012. This policy tells people that. so long as they make it to this country safely. they wont be asked to leave. The president has put out the welcome mat for residents of other countries. and told them that our immigration laws will not be enforced. I went down to the border. near McAllen. Texas. and saw the situation with my own eyes. Some of the individual cases I heard were heartbreaking. But when I talked to the Border Patrol agents. they told me a different story. Many of the "unaccompanied minors" are in fact arriving with members of their families. or they are seeking to meet up with members of their families who are already here illegally. In addition. over three fourths of them are males. between the ages of 14 and 17. And many of them are affiliated with violent. criminal gangs. or are being recruited for gang membership right there at the border. And many of them carry communicable diseases. And. the administration has begun to transport thousands of these illegal immigrants to communities all across the country. Thats where the problems in our own backyard begin. Just a couple of months ago. I learned from city officials in Hazleton. my hometown. that they had been contacted by a nonprofit group. the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. about housing some of the minors at a location right across the street from my district office. Thats how I found outbecause the organization had called the city. The federal government didnt tell anyone about the plan: not the Governor. not the Department of Public Welfare. not Luzerne County. When I made the information public. residents of Hazleton rightly expressed their concerns. and the plan was dropped. But we learned an important lesson in that episode: the federal government is working with organizations across the country to place unaccompanied minors in various communities � . . without telling anyone in the state or locality that they are doing so. As of July 31st. we know that at least 456 unaccompanied minor illegal immigrants have been released to sponsors in Pennsylvania. The shelters and facilitiesaccording to the best information available right noware in Mechanicsburg. Womelsdorf.