However, today, we continue to apprehend certain
people, and it is down to 200,000 a year on the border. That is a
substantial number. What concerns me more than the number of apprehensions is the fact
that if migrants are crossing the border illegally, then so are
terrorists, drug smugglers, and human traffickers. Mr. Speaker, many Members of this body probably remember illegal
immigrants rushing the border in San Diego back in the 1990s. Illegal
immigrant entries decreased significantly, as I said. The number of
illegal crossings fell, crime rates declined, commerce increased, and
neighborhoods became safe all because of fences and barriers on the
border. The Border Patrol cautions that illegal border migration seeks the
path of least resistance and that these commendable results do not mean
that the flow has steadied. It has simply moved to another unprotected
place like the Rio Grande Valley in my home State of Texas. We want to
change that dynamic.
Keywords matched
Illegal
immigrant migrants illegal
immigrants Border Patrol