January 3, 2024
For Immediate Release
Contact: Taylor Haulsee
EAGLE PASS — Speaker Johnson today joined CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper live from Eagle Pass, Texas, where he led the largest Congressional delegation to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Click here to watch the Speaker’s full interview with Jake Tapper
On White House Border Proposal:
“What the White House is proposing is more money to process and allow more illegals into the country. We need to do the opposite of that. You don’t need to take my word for it. Listen to the Deputy Chief of U.S. Border Patrol. He was with us last night. He told us, in his own words, it is as if I am at an open fire hydrant. I do not need more buckets to dump the water. I need to turn the flow off. That’s why we’re here today, Jake. We had 64 House Republicans representing 26 states and one U.S. territory. Everybody from California to Maryland, Michigan to Florida. Every state in America is a border state right now. This catastrophe can come to an end if the Biden Administration would do its job and they refuse to do it. They’re doing the opposite.”
On House Passage of H.R. 2:
“We have insisted on the provisions of H.R. 2, which for seven months has been collecting dust on Chuck Schumer’s desk. The reason we’ve insisted upon that is each of those provisions work together to secure the border. You cannot for example just reform the asylum program and leave the broken parole process unrepaired. Then you would have a loophole that would do absolutely nothing. You cannot just reinstate Remain in Mexico. Even just that action would stem the flow an estimated 70%, but you also have to end catch-and-release. You cannot pick and choose from a menu and expect to solve the problem. I will quote to you one of the sheriffs from Terrell County, a border county, who has to deal with this crisis every day. He had lunch with us today. He told us, before he became a sheriff, he worked for the U.S. Border Patrol for 26 years. He said he had worked through four administrations who were doing great work. It took less than six months for the Biden administration, in his words to unwind 100 years of progress that the U.S. Border Patrol had accomplished. Six months. These are policy choices that got this situation. We are demanding that the policy choices change for the good of every single U.S. citizen.”
On National Security Threats at the Southern Border:
“Seven million people have come into the country since President Biden walked into the Oval Office. That is a low estimate. Some people think it may be twice as high. We have those who have abated that evaded capture. We do not know how many known terrorists evaded capture. They are potentially setting up terror cells… That is the terrorist watchlist. It takes quite a bit to make that list. We have hardened criminals coming from all around the world. They are opening presents and sending in them here. We have talked to people on the ground. This is not Republican talking points. The White House needs to wake up to reality.”
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