Rogers Statement on H.R. 2203 at Homeland Security Markup

Mr. Chairman, this bill makes me fear for the future of our Nation.

Through extrajudicial investigations, administrative measures meant to decay the Department’s ability to hire law enforcement officers, attempts to malign the men and women at the Department, additional paperwork requirements so burdensome for routine encounters that the Department will not be able to enforce our laws, and banning an agreement with Mexico to facilitate the orderly processing of people at the border, it is intellectually dishonest for the left to deny that they are united around an open borders agenda if they move this bill.

Most of the members here don’t even know what’s in this bill because four different variations were circulated to staff just yesterday. This product is a rush-job to say the least.

This bill would diminish the role of Congress and this very committee to conduct oversight over the Department of Homeland Security and would undermine the checks and balances system that defines the United States government.

By copying the exact construction and wording that created the 9/11 Commission, this bill equates the heinous terrorist attacks that sparked the founding the Department with the Trump Administration’s handling of the migrant crisis at the southwest border, that was perpetuated by the Democrat majority’s inability to fund the Department. It creates a $3 million Commission made up of a majority of liberal Democrat lawmakers to investigate the Administration, with the authority to issue subpoenas, public hearings, and unlimited document production requests, wasting taxpayer dollars in an effort to vilify the president. They didn’t find anything they could use in the Mueller report, so now they’re trying something new. Welcome to the circus, folks.

The bill creates a new office within the Department that would duplicate authorities that already exist and give one person with no specific qualifications the authority to provide immigration relief and other redress to illegal immigrants outside the bounds of our laws.

The bill before us targets constituents’ first amendment rights by precluding any border community stakeholder from serving on an advisory committee meant for border community stakeholders IF they support the current president.

This bill maligns the brave men and women who protect the homeland on the front lines every day and mandates duplicative training for ICE and CBP officers to now be carried out by attorneys outside the Department? What is the goal here? To fill the pockets of left-wing immigration group attorneys?

Instead of attacking the Department, we should be focusing on the criminal organizations who lure vulnerable people on the dangerous trip to our border who don’t care about their well-being or already deteriorating health when they get to or border, but just turning a profit.

The bill terminates an international agreement with Mexico to allow for the orderly processing of the influx of migrants at our southwest border that prevents overcrowding of already overcrowded facilities. Are Democrats asking for more people to be put into facilities that are not built to hold them?

This bill would allow any member of Congress or staffer to pop into a CBP facility unannounced, for any reason, without any cause. This would be extremely intrusive and obstructive to an already overwhelmed agency that is trying to keep the lights on at the border with no help from Congress to fix the loopholes that have led to this crisis.

My responsibility as a member of Congress is to oppose this bill, and I hope there are courageous members on the other side of the aisle who will see this bill for what it is – an affront on our rule of law – and vote this down with me. This bill would not only make our country less safe, but directly put it at risk. 

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