Andy Biggs

Mr. BIGGS

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. BIGGS

Mr. BIGGS. Thank you. You didn't have to put the ``many'' in front of that, Debbie. It is true. She was a young child when we first met. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to speak and recognize my good friend, Debbie. When I was serving from the east side of the valley and Debbie got elected to the school board, I started hearing about Debbie Lesko is going to be this great conservative politico. I did not know Debbie at that time, but I got to observe her. Then we ended up serving in the State legislature together, and she was dynamic and exciting and actually conservative. As Greg mentioned, she worked on pension reform. The bulk of that took place after I left, thankfully, because pension reform, as anybody who has ever done it knows, is one ugly thing and takes a lot of courage. Debbie exhibited courage, and I would get reports on how she was doing that. She brought in people with very disparate interests. She worked with them. She got them on board, and she would tell them where the rubber met the road. That was really awesome. Then I am here, and then the next thing I know, Debbie is here with me. The bad news for me is that she is going home to Maricopa County. She is going to do a great job there. This is great news for Maricopa County which, by the way, is one of the largest counties in the country. It is about, what, 5.5 million people in the county, something like that, with only five supervisors. Debbie has told me this. I know she has told Paul this. I know she has told Greg this, and I know she has told David and Juan this: she only has one-and-a-half staffers. That is really bugging her. I can tell you that. She is going to do a great job. She has been a great friend. I will also pay homage to Joe and Debbie's family who have been so supportive, literally, for many years. So with that, I----

Mr. BIGGS. I am like Winston Churchill. I am a crier. Debbie, Cindy and I love you.

Mr. BIGGS

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Good for his remarks. It is a pleasure to hear from him and have him participate. After everything we have heard tonight, it is no wonder that Kamala Harris has been working hard to distance herself from her role as the border czar. Under her watch, more than 10 million illegal aliens have crossed our border, 350 terrorists have been stopped at the border, of which 100 of those were released into the country. That is just who we know about. Since 2021, more than 200,000 Americans have died from fentanyl overdoses, and enough fentanyl has come into the country to kill 458 million people, more than enough to kill every American alive. More than 300,000 children have been misplaced under the border czar's watch. In fact, she can't even tell you, Mr. Speaker, exactly how many are missing. She has no idea where they are. All we know is that sometimes you had an individual sponsor receive as many as 40, 50, or 60 unaccompanied young children whom we don't know now where they are, and we don't vet the sponsors anyway. Now, Kamala Harris wants us to believe that she would be tough on the border and that she would solve the crisis. Why would anyone believe her? What would she do differently than when she was second in command of the executive branch and designated the border czar? The reality is she wouldn't do anything differently. We know this not only from her record as the border czar but also from the policies she has supported throughout her career. Let's just recount some of those. For instance, she called the border wall stupid, useless, and a medieval vanity project. That is not unlike one of Arizona's Congressmen, Mr. Gallego, who said that it was stupid and useless. Here we have Kamala Harris saying that the detention centers need to be shut down, promising to do so if she was President. She has supported measures to reduce detention bed numbers and cut funding for border wall construction. She opposed all of President Trump's effective border policies, including remain in Mexico and title 42. She has even said she supports using taxpayer dollars to pay for sex change surgeries for detained illegal aliens. Does that sound like someone who wants to fix the border? Does that sound like a border State prosecutor which she now aggrandizes herself as as she goes around the country campaigning? There should be no doubt that if Kamala Harris is in the White House next year we will only get more of the same and maybe even worse. Mr. Speaker, if you thought 10 million illegal aliens in 4 years was bad, you just wait. The American people should not be fooled. Now, talking about not being fooled, here is what you have from former San Diego Sector Chief Agent Aaron Heitke who told members of the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday that the White House repeatedly tried to fake America out, to ``quiet the border-wide crisis.'' What was she doing? What was the Biden-Harris administration doing? She was shielding information from the press and concealing crossings by dangerous migrants with terrorist ties. This is what he said: ``I had to release illegal aliens by the hundreds each day into communities who could not support them. ``To quiet the problem, two flights a week were provided from San Diego to Texas. These flights simply brought aliens that would have been released in San Diego over to Texas.'' Each flight cost about $150,000. That is what Kamala Harris the border czar did. What else did the administration do? What else did she do to hide what is happening at the border? For one thing, they don't count CBP One entrance or the Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua program as encounters. So when you count and you see the number, Mr. Speaker, you are not going to see that. So what does that mean? It means the last 15 months CBP One people have come in and been released into the country under that fraudulent, illegal program, by the way. There are 815,000 just in that program that they don't count. Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba, and Nicaragua, 530,000 in the same period of time, 530,000. Mr. Speaker, do you wonder why you have Tren de Aragua all over the country? By the way, about 6 weeks ago, CBP actually issued from their headquarters to the field offices a notification saying: Hey, watch out, Tren de Aragua is now embedded and infiltrating the country, but it is moving to the Northeast part of the United States of America. In the same memo, they said: Also, be aware that Iran and Iranian proxies are flooding our border with terrorists. That is not Biggs talking. That is Kamala Harris' own administration admitting their failure. How about this: Jerome Powell, the head of the Federal Reserve, just yesterday said: Do you know what is causing rising unemployment? It is unfettered illegal immigration. That is from Kamala Harris' administration. They appointed Jerome Powell to be the head of the Federal Reserve. That is what you see from this border, Mr. Speaker. Do you know what, Mr. Speaker? I have literally listened to some of my colleagues in our committee say: There is no crisis on the border. There is no problem on the border. El Paso, for instance, is a loving community. We don't have a problem. Do you know what, Mr. Speaker? We have a problem not just on the border anymore. Arizona is a transit for illegal migration. Phoenix is a hub for human sex and drug trafficking. We have got multiple interstates going through there, and the illegal migration comes up and goes from Phoenix and is distributed throughout the country. That is why Arizona, Texas, California, and New Mexico now are not the only States suffering under the rampage of an invasion of illegal migrants. It is every State and every community. So, Mr. Speaker, when you talk about who controls the borders, it is the cartels. The cartels control the border. There are multiple plaza fights going on right now between various factions, some within the Sinaloa cartel in and of itself, going after each other trying to pick up pieces so they can control the plaza. That is what is going on. Why is it going on? It is because this administration refuses to enforce the law. It is going on because when President Biden was elected, within 72 hours he had issued more than 100 executive orders, many of which were to basically emasculate the border security and policy of the previous administration under Donald Trump which was so successful. I will give you now just one quick example, Mr. Speaker. The Yuma sector, the last year Donald Trump was President, had fewer than 8,600 encounters. There have been weekends under this administration that they have had 8,600 encounters. The Tucson sector 60,000 per year on average under the previous administration. Under this administration, there have been months, nearing 60,000. That is what you have to understand, Mr. Speaker. It isn't just numbers. These numbers represent people who come in here, some with benign intentions and others with malevolent intentions. Mr. Speaker, this has got to stop, and it must end now, but this administration refuses to do it. H.R. 2 sits languishing over there in the Senate. It has been there for 1\1/2\ years. That is a bill that would bring this to a halt quickly. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr BIGGS

Mr BIGGS. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.

Mr. BIGGS

Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure now to yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin), the co-chair of the Border Security Caucus.

Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments. I appreciate serving with him on the Border Security Caucus. He does a great job there, and I appreciate it so much. In Colorado, the Tren de Aragua has been overrunning Colorado communities. Border officials have referred to Tren de Aragua as MS-13 on steroids. These criminals are the worst that the world has to offer, and the Biden-Harris regime has allowed them to make themselves at home in Colorado communities. Larry Medina was arrested by Aurora police in connection with a felony menacing at Whispering Pines Condominiums. The victim reported to police Medina pointed a firearm and threatened to kill him. Jhonardy Pacheco-Chirinos was arrested on a first-degree assault warrant out of Adams District Court. The warrant stemmed from an assault in November 2023 at an apartment complex. Jhonnarty DeJesus Pacheco-Chirinos was arrested in connection with a nonfatal shooting the day before at Fitzsimons Place apartments. Luis Miguel Calzadilla-Rojas was arrested in connection with a nonfatal shooting in front of a probation officer. Yoendry Vilchez Medina-Jose was arrested on a warrant stemming from an assault at Whispering Pines Condos. Juan Carlos Mejia-Espana was arrested following a domestic dispute, also at Whispering Pines Condominiums. He had a weapon. Carlos Aranguren-Mayora had numerous encounters with Aurora police officers and law enforcement agencies throughout the metro area. He faces a total of 38 charges, five active court cases. Roiberth Daniel Mora-Marquez was arrested in connection with an April 4 dispute and assault over unpaid rent money. He is also a suspect in a nonfatal shooting. Jose Miguel Reyes-Perez was arrested for aggravated assault, menacing, and motor vehicle theft. This is what is going on in Colorado. I am pleased to yield to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lopez) to discuss this further.

Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Lopez for his comments. On August 4, 2024, Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston apprehended Guatemalan national Jorge Luis Castro-Alvarado, who was charged with raping a Massachusetts resident. Castro illegally entered the United States on an unknown date, at an unknown location without being inspected, admitted, or paroled by a U.S. immigration official. He was convicted of assault and battery on a family or household member. The court sentenced Castro to 18 months in prison and suspended all but 6 months of the prison sentence. In early 2023, Juan Carlos Garcia Rodriguez became one of the up to 140,000 unaccompanied children with whom HHS has lost contact. Just months after HHS lost contact with Garcia Rodriguez, he ran away from his sponsor and assaulted and murdered 11-year-old Maria Gonzalez in Pasadena, Texas. Garcia Rodriguez was illegally smuggled to the U.S. border through Louisiana in 2023 by a guide paid for by his parents. Rodriguez was then processed as a UAC and later transferred to custody of the Department of Health. Despite this, Rodriguez was placed with an unrelated adult sponsor who was also an illegal alien. I now yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Van Duyne), who knows about the ravages of illegal migration.

Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her comments. Enforcement Removal Operations Boston apprehended an unlawfully present 28-year-old Salvadoran national charged with numerous sex crimes against a child on Nantucket island. Officers from ERO Boston arrested Bryan Daniel Aldana-Arevalo September 10 in Nantucket. Aldana had unlawfully entered the U.S. on an unknown date, at an unknown location without having been inspected, admitted, or paroled by a U.S. immigration official. Nantucket authorities arraigned Aldana on July 26 in Nantucket District Court for one count of rape of a child with a 10- year age difference and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. Deportation officers from Enforcement Removal Operations Atlanta arrested an Ecuadorian fugitive listed as one of the country's 100 most wanted criminals. Officers apprehended Cesar Condor Vaca during a targeted operation in Greenville, South Carolina, on January 30. The assistant attache in Ecuador notified ERO Atlanta that Condor Vaca was wanted by Ecuadorian authorities for femicide. An ERO assessment revealed Condor Vaca legally entered the U.S. on March 15, 2021, and failed to depart as required. ERO Atlanta officers served him with a notice to appear. A notice to appear. He will remain in U.S. ICE custody pending removal proceedings. Madam Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Norman), who knows the ravages of illegal migration in South Carolina.

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate the gentleman from South Carolina. Ellen Gutierrez Saez, Johan Salvo Alacon, and Manuel Eduardo Fuentes Gomez, three Chilean citizens living illegally in the United States, were arrested and believed to be part of a South American criminal gang operating in the United States whose members commit robberies, fraud, and traffic stolen property. That group is believed to be responsible for at least 111 robbery incidents since February 2023. Nathan Kharim Melendez is wanted in Mexico for the criminal charge of causing multiple injuries with a vehicle and abandoning the scene, fleeing the scene. He has been wanted by Mexican authorities since March of this year when he was named as the suspected driver of a car that ran over a 30-year-old woman, her 5-year-old daughter, and 2-year- old nephew. He was arrested in Phoenix, Arizona, in June of this year. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Crane), one who knows the ravages of illegal migration in Arizona.

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Mr. Crane's recounting of what is going on across our border. ERO Boston removed Felipe Augusto De Oliveira, a 23-year-old Brazilian fugitive, from the United States who was wanted by authorities in his home country for attempted homicide. U.S. Border Patrol apprehended De Oliveira on March 28, 2023, after he unlawfully entered the United States near Lukeville, Arizona. He was subsequently released on his own recognizance by a Department of Justice immigration judge, and I am sure we are looking for him still. Enforcement and Removal Operations in Miami, in partnership with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's office, arrested Giovanni Radu, a 22-year- old citizen of Italy, who entered the United States as a nonimmigrant and violated the terms of his admission. He collected a total of $80,000 in the past year using a fake nonprofit. He is facing State charges, including organized scheme to defraud, failure to register as a charitable organization, and a whole host of these things, as well as carrying a concealed weapon during a felony and battery on a law enforcement officer. One who knows well, because she has some roots in Arizona as well as Florida, what is going on in the ravages of crime that is a result of this wide-open border is my friend, the gentlewoman from Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Cammack).

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman and appreciate her comments and experience along the border. In August of 2023, illegal alien Kindu Jeancy Zamambu was charged with felony first-degree sexual abuse and misdemeanor unlawful imprisonment for assaulting a woman at a hotel in Cheektowaga, New York. Zamambu, a 23-year-old national of the Democratic Republic of Congo, entered California on February 13, 2023. He was arrested about 1 mile west of San Ysidro, which is the San Diego area. ICE enrolled Zamambu in Alternatives to Detention and released him into the U.S. Less than 6 months later, he was assaulting a woman in New York. Next, is Daniel Hernandez Martinez from Venezuela. Within 6 months of his release in the United States, Venezuelan national Daniel Hernandez Martinez committed at least 22 criminal offenses in New York City. He is charged with petit larceny on four separate occasions, criminal possession of stolen property on three occasions, multiple charges for menacing, assault, attempted assault, criminal mischief, possession of burglary tools, disorderly conduct, and more. He was released into the United States without any legal justification. In addition to his crimes, DHS records indicate he is a suspected member of the dangerous Tren de Aragua gang. Currently, there are no DHS records to indicate that ICE has removed him from the country. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Langworthy), someone who knows the ravages of crime produced by illegal migration.

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his stirring testimony. Mr. Speaker, in November 2023, Jose Barrera Amaya was arrested for drunken conduct and fighting. DHS arrested Barrera Amaya, but the agency released him on the very same day. Just months after his first arrest in March 2024, Barrera Amaya was arrested for stabbing his neighbor and his neighbor's brother at a laundromat. DHS first encountered Barrera Amaya in December 2021 along the U.S.- Mexico border. After being expelled pursuant to title 32, press reports indicated that Barrera Amaya had reentered the country as a got-away through Eagle Pass, Texas. Jose Ibarra from Venezuela: Border Patrol apprehended Jose Ibarra in September 2022, and the Biden-Harris administration released Ibarra into the U.S. just 1 day later because it determined that Ibarra's release was warranted due to urgent and humanitarian reasons or a significant public benefit. On February 22, 2024, Jose Ibarra murdered 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley in Athens, Georgia. Riley's body was found on the University of Georgia campus after she had gone for a run. A day later, authorities arrested the 26-year-old Venezuelan national in connection with Riley's murder and charged him with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call, and concealing the death of another. Laken Riley would be alive today if Biden and Harris were enforcing the law instead of releasing hardened criminals like Jose Ibarra. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen), who knows what the ravages of illegal migration have done to Georgia.

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for all of his good work on the issue. Mr. Speaker, Jesus Enrique Ramirez Cabrera was arrested September 7 after abducting a high school girl in Manassas, Virginia. Cabrera allegedly approached the girl on her morning walk to school, falsely identified himself as a police officer, and then forced the girl into his car, abducting her. Thankfully, the girl was able to escape with minor injuries out of the moving car. He was found and charged with abduction, robbery, impersonating a police officer, and petit larceny. U.S. Border Patrol had arrested Ramirez Cabrera on December 9, 2023, after he unlawfully entered the United States near San Luis, Arizona. U.S. CBP issued Ramirez a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge and then released him from custody. Here is another case that impacts Virginia. Jose Fabricio Veizaga- Vargas, who is a Bolivian, was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol on April 24, 2023. Now, remember this: On April 24, 2023, after he unlawfully entered the U.S. near El Paso, Texas, Veizaga was served with a notice to appear before a DOJ immigration judge, who released him on his own recognizance on April 25, 2023. Following his arrest by Fairfax County Police on May 3, ERO Washington lodged an immigration detainer against Veizaga. The Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court convicted Veizaga of misdemeanor sexual assault of a child aged 13 to 14 and sentenced him to 6 months in jail, but the court then suspended all 6 months of the sentence. The Fairfax County Adult Detention Center refused to honor the immigration detainer and then released him from custody without even notifying ERO Washington, D.C. Veizaga was again arrested on August 8--this is all in 2023--by Fairfax County Police and charged with misdemeanor DWI. The detention center refused to honor ERO Washington's immigration detainer again and released him without notifying ERO Washington, D.C. Fairfax County Police arrested Veizaga a week later and charged him with seven counts of felony possession of child pornography, felony possession of obscene material with a minor. The detention center refused again to honor the immigration detainer and again released Veizaga onto the streets without notifying ERO Washington, D.C. Ultimately, on August 19--remember, this is all in 2023--in Annandale, Virginia, 36-year-old Bolivian Jose Fabricio Veizaga-Vargas was apprehended by ERO, Enforcement Removal Operations, and convicted of sexually assaulting a Virginia child. He is also now charged with DWI and possession of child sexual abuse material. The point of it is that we see how much havoc this one individual wreaked upon Virginia. That is what we have because of the Biden-Harris open-border policies. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good), my friend who has seen the ravages of illegal migration.

Mr. BIGGS

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, it wasn't related to official duties. They have waived the privilege. Merrick Garland waived the privilege. He now needs to respond, and he continues to say no. We have the authority. We have the inherent contempt authority, and we need to use that authority if we are going to maintain our Article I authorities and the separation of powers.

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, what I find intriguing is we have had references repeatedly tonight that this is not the Kremlin and assertions that some of us received subpoenas and didn't respond. This individual doesn't know the facts. When a subpoena was issued, does he know whether service was ever made? Does he know that? The answer is no, and it wasn't. Let's talk about why we are here today. The other side says: Wait a second, Mr. Garland was in compliance because he provided a written transcript that was accurate--except for what happened 3 weeks ago now, the DOJ itself in pleadings to the court said: We made changes to the transcript, but don't worry, don't worry about those changes. They were de minimis. We took out repeat words. We took out pauses. We took out all kinds of things that were just small in nature. How do we know? We don't know. However, there was an audio recording. Isn't that fortunate? There was an audio recording. Just like in the Nixon tapes--and this is the controlling law here-- the Court said if you change the written transcript, you have to provide the audio recording. That is what the Court said. My friends across the aisle said we have to rely on what the Court said. The Court said if you have doctored or altered or changed or edited the transcript, the written transcript, you have to provide the audio recording. That is all we are asking for. Comply with that. Comply with the law. Comply with the subpoena you were given, the subpoena that you didn't contest, that you admitted you were served with, that you admitted controls. Now, you claim executive privilege, but you can't claim executive privilege because you waived it. The courts have ruled on that, too. It has to be timely. They didn't make a timely objection. It has to be related to official duties. This wasn't related to official duties.

Mr. BIGGS

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Chair, many people may not know this, but NBC News recently reported that more than 400 illegal aliens who are affiliates of ISIS were released into the United States under this administration's watch. They have caught some of them, but they still have a significant number of them out. Do you know what they said? Gee, if we could have enforced the law, we wouldn't have released them into the country, and we could have rounded them up and prevented them from ever getting into the country. The reason I bring that up is because I am speaking in support of my amendment, which prohibits the use of funds to pay the salary and the expenses of the position of the DHS Secretary. Who is the DHS Secretary? Who is this individual? It is the person who has been the architect of the open-border policy. I think one of my colleagues from Florida, who was on the floor here just a moment ago, said it is a fictional invasion. Really? It is 10 million people in 2\1/2\, 3 years. They started setting records when? February 2021. They have set records every month since. Who is in charge of that? Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary. In fact, this body was so disenchanted with his policies that we impeached Secretary Mayorkas. When he was confronted with: Do you have operational control of the border? He said, in a Judiciary hearing, you know what, hey, we don't like that. First, he said, yes, we have operational control. We gave him the statute. Are you at operational control? Well, you know, we basically devised our own definition. That is the person who is occupying the Homeland Security chair right now, and they have incentivized literally millions of people to come into this country. That is the lawlessness that has brought people to their knees in many communities around this country. We are still trying to get information from the DHS and the Department of Defense about the terrorists who attempted to infiltrate Quantico just about 6 weeks ago. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Chair, I get a kick when I hear Democrats say that the so-called bipartisan bill out of the Senate would have solved this problem. Do you know what that bill did? It granted amnesty. Do you know what it did? It set a floor of 2,500 illegal aliens every day who get to come in. Guess what else it did? They provided loophole after loophole. There is no limit on unaccompanied children, and hundreds of thousands have come in. They have misplaced over 100,000 now. They are just so irresponsible. We heard people talk about an ineffective and outdated policy. Do you know what worked? That ineffective and outdated policy. Do you know why? Because it secured the border. We had the most secure border in about, I don't know, our Nation's history under President Trump. When they came in, President Biden issued 93 EOs. Guess what? You have a mass invasion on the border. What is it called? They called it a useless border wall. Do you know who voted for that border wall originally? That is right, people like Hillary Clinton. They voted for that border wall. They don't want a border wall. I have on my phone images from the Tucson sector of people dressed in camo bringing drugs across interdicted just the other day. Do you know why they were going near the San Miguel gate, which I have taken colleagues to before? Because there is no fence. In Arizona, we largely have no fences. Here is the deal: This Homeland Security Secretary is the one who gave us this policy. I can say what I heard from these people. I can say what they said: ineffective, outdated policies. They said these people are legally entitled to refugee status. Under what law? Under international law. How about the first safe nation law? They are required to obey that. Guess what? That is what the U.S. law is, as well--the first safe harbor, the first safe state. That is where someone who wants refugee status comes in, but they are not seeking refugee status. They are seeking asylum. Do you know who sought asylum? The two outrageous murderers who just murdered that 12-year-old girl in Houston. They were released under asylum requests. They went and had the cartel cut off their ankle bracelets. That is what is happening. That is why this Secretary, this position, which we are defunding correctly under the Holman rule, should not be funded, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of my amendment, which prohibits funding from being used to implement the DHS 2022 rule that allows illegal aliens to receive more government subsidies. Under our immigration law, one ground of inadmissibility for aliens is if they are likely to become a public charge. That is in the statute. That is to say, if they are going to be a financial burden to the American people due to the likelihood that they will rely on public assistance programs, they are inadmissible. However, in 2022, the DHS weakened this rule by excluding a whole host of government benefit programs, including Medicaid. What does this mean? First, it gives the Biden administration more excuses to allow millions of illegal aliens into the country by doing away with one standard that would legally disqualify many people. Second, it allows the Biden administration to explicitly pay illegal aliens to be in the country with taxpayer dollars, which has always been their plan. Third, it creates a major pull factor or incentive for people who are thinking of crossing the border to actually cross the border illegally. There is evidence of this. Just talk to the people crossing the border. I have. I have gone down to the border many times. I take people with me, Members of Congress, all the time. When you ask people, they will say they heard the U.S. Government was going to pay them to be here--I have actually had people say this--and that they will take me where I want to go. Why wouldn't they say that? It is true. Can someone tell me any policy by this administration that discourages illegal aliens from entering the country? There is not one serious policy that actually deters immigration. This is why we must vote to end this open border DHS rule and stop giving Federal dollars to illegal aliens. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Chairman, the Senate bill that my colleagues love so much didn't ever make it over here. It didn't make cloture twice in the Senate. My colleagues can continue to yell and scream, but we passed H.R. 2, which is laying over there in Chuck Schumer's lap, who is refusing to move it. Let's talk a little bit about this cruel and inhumane business. Do my colleagues on the other side of the aisle know what is cruel? How about for those who live in Yuma, Arizona, where the community has one hospital. There is one hospital. When there is an emergency, they don't have enough beds for you if you are a citizen because they are dealing with illegal aliens who have flooded that hospital. That is cruel and inhumane. Do my colleagues know what happens? They air evac citizens to Phoenix or San Diego. That is cruel and inhumane. Does the minority know what happens? Let's say a citizen is pregnant. That maternity ward has 10 beds in it at Yuma. Most of the time, it is filled with illegal aliens who have come in. We just heard a lot about money, about this benefit. There are others who assert the exact opposite. The one thing that we do know for sure that everybody agrees on, right and left, if my colleagues actually talk to people who know something: There are remittances well in excess of $100 billion a year that go out from illegal aliens in this country. It is a cash flow. If my colleagues talk to leaders from the Central American States or even representatives from Mexico, they are going to tell Members what the cash flow is that those remittances provide for them. In Mexico, it is the number two leading cash flow for them. They come here because these individuals are incentivized to come here, in part, because of the public charge that we allow them to be on. That is why this amendment is crucial. If someone who is in this country illegally should not be here and is receiving benefits, should they receive the more than 90 social welfare benefits that this country, the Federal Government, provides? This administration has loosened the number of those benefits that are available to illegal aliens. That should not happen. We have a public charge rule. If you come in legally, you can't get in, but my colleagues are wanting to say: Well, if you are here illegally, that is okay. Good grief. This is the statute. We are reverting to the statute that worked. That is why this amendment is critical. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BIGGS

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. BIGGS

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that I may hereafter be considered to be the primary sponsor of H.R. 4205, a bill originally introduced by Representative Santos of New York, for the purpose of adding cosponsors and requesting reprintings pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII.

Mr. BIGGS

Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. During his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Special Counsel Hur stated that ``the evidence and the President himself put his memory squarely at issue.'' In his report, Special Counsel Hur noted that during both his and Zwonitzer's interviews with President Biden, the President's memory was ``significantly limited.'' President Biden has contested that. The Democrats contest that. In reality, it is the failure to fully comply with committee subpoenas regarding the audio recordings of the Biden and Zwonitzer interviews that has hindered the House's ability to adequately conduct oversight over Special Counsel Hur regarding his investigative findings and the President's retention and disclosure of classified materials, and it has impeded the committee's impeachment inquiry. The committee must assess whether Special Counsel Hur's declination decision, which was based on President Biden's poor mental state, was consistent with the Department's commitment to impartial justice or whether legislative reforms are necessary regarding special counsel investigations because they are not leading to impartial outcomes. In short, the audio recordings would offer unique and important information to advance the committee's impeachment inquiry and inform the Judiciary Committee as to the need for legislative reforms to the operations of the Department or the conduct of special counsel investigations. Those are legislative purposes. They are constitutional purposes. They justify us getting the audio recordings. Yet, they don't want the audio recordings to come forward. Why is that? It is odd, isn't it? The DOJ admitted in court filings 2 weeks ago that they actually did alter the transcript. They claim there was just filler information. Maybe they were duplicative words. There are blank pauses in there that were not noted in the transcript. That is why an audio recording is important because the transcripts do not reflect important verbal context such as tone, tenor, or nonverbal context such as pauses or pace of delivery, all of which went into the decision by Mr. Hur not to prosecute a crime that he said was committed. That prosecutorial discretion is under review by our committee, legitimately and constitutionally. We have the right to that audio recording. The Department has said they are not going to give it to us--odd--because the cases that deal with requiring the audio recording to be turned over, the long skein of cases, turn on various things like the audio recording is the best evidence. They say that. Odd. They also say that if there is tampering or any kind of editing or altering of the written transcript, which we now know is true, then the audio recording is mandatory. That is why we should get it. This Department won't give it to us. Merrick Garland is in contempt of this Congress, and he needs to be held in contempt.