Robert Onder

Mr. ONDER

Mr. ONDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Bresnahan).

Mr. ONDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser), the sponsor of the resolution.

Mr. ONDER. Mr. Speaker, in closing, H. Res. 364 is a commonsense resolution that honors the sacrifices of our brave public servants and helps to ensure the welfare of their families. I urge support of this resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ONDER

Mr. ONDER. Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 120. personal explanation

Mr. ONDER

Mr. ONDER. Mr. Speaker, today I was not present to vote due to the death of an immediate family member. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 104.

Mr. ONDER

Mr. ONDER. Mr. Speaker, I was not present today to vote due to the death of an immediate family member. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 100, NAY on Roll Call No. 101, and YEA on Roll Call No. 102.

Mr. ONDER

Mr. ONDER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the No Rogue Rulings Act. Historically, district court rulings only applied to the parties before the court, but over the past 15 years, district courts have increasingly asserted that their rulings apply nationwide, interfering with the legitimate Article II powers of the President of the United States. We are experiencing a constitutional crisis, a judicial coup d'etat. In February alone, district judges issued more nationwide injunctions against President Trump than against Bush, Obama, and Biden during their entire administrations. District judges from Democratic jurisdictions are preventing the President from fulfilling his duty to keep us safe. Last night, the Supreme Court called out judge shopping and reversed an order issued by a Democrat-appointed D.C. judge that blocked the Trump administration from removing violent Venezuelan gang members from our country. The Supreme Court said that this case should never have been brought in D.C. but rather in Texas where the individuals can file individual petitions challenging their individual cases. The Supreme Court can and should rein in these rogue courts. In the meantime, the No Rogue Rulings Act rebalances the separation of powers as the Founders intended. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this critical legislation.

Mr. ONDER

Mr. ONDER. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Do No Harm Act. As a physician, I took an oath to do no harm, but over the past several years, doctors working at pediatric transgender clinics have prescribed medications or done procedures that they know will permanently sterilize children or leave them with irreversible medical and psychological damage. This bill is the most comprehensive legislation introduced to date to protect children from experimental and unethical practices of so-called gender-affirming care. This practice has been banned or severely limited in European countries, including the U.K., Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, and it is time for the U.S. to wake up and ban this quackery once and for all. The Do No Harm Act builds on President Trump's day one executive order ending the chemical castration and mutilation of children. I look forward to working with the Trump administration to solidify this policy as Federal law.

Mr. ONDER

Mr. ONDER. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1048, the DETERRENT Act. Mr. Chair, this bill will end the influence and downright espionage of the Chinese Communist Party on our American College campuses. Last Congress, the Select Committee on the CCP issued a remarkable report highlighting how UC Berkeley partnered with Tsinghua University and the city of Shenzen to create the Tsinghua-Berkeley-Shenzen Institute, which actively partnered with a Chinese research lab in April 2023 to improve advanced chip technology. Why in the world should the Chinese Communist Party, which controls the city of Shenzen and Tsinghua University, have access to American research on sensitive technology with military applications? Likewise, Alfred University recently received a grant from the Department of Defense to research hypersonic weapons. Unbelievably, the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan then partnered with Alfred University with this research. China University of Geosciences also happened to be doing very similar weapons research for the CCP. How do we know that our research and development in our hypersonic weapons isn't going straight to the CCP? The answer is: It probably is. Additionally, according to the FBI, the CCP is the world's principal infringer of intellectual property. We need to stop the Chinese Communist Party, the number one threat to our security and the security of the world, from taking advantage of American innovation and the openness of our university campuses. Mr. Chair, I proudly support the DETERRENT Act.

Mr. ONDER

Mr. ONDER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 35, the Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act. This important legislation would make it a crime to evade arrest or detention while operating a motor vehicle within 100 miles of the U.S. border. For aliens, the bill would go a step further, making it a deportable offense to flee from a pursuing Border Patrol agent. Our southern border is under attack, and our Border Patrol agents are on the front lines. The former administration depleted Border Patrol resources, leaving them with an impossible task that routinely puts them in harm's way. The Border Patrol experienced over 5,700 encounters every day in December 2022, the month that Agent Raul Gonzalez was killed while pursuing an illegal alien who was evading arrest. The following year, the Biden administration doubled down on its open-border policies, surging these encounters to 2.5 million in 2023. Under President Biden's so-called leadership, border wall materials were sold off, and razor wire was removed. Under President Trump's leadership, we are taking full advantage of our resources to secure the border, and Mexico and Canada have already agreed to bolster enforcement. The Trump policies are already working. Yesterday, The Washington Times reported what they called a reverse flow of illegal immigrants streaming back home after being blocked at Trump's border. When migrants learn of the new, enhanced security measures at the southern border, they are giving up and going home. Border Patrol agents who previously encountered as many as 10,000 illegal immigrants in a day are seeing fewer than 500. By passing this legislation, we are showing Border Patrol agents that we have their backs and that we prioritize their safety. This bill provides additional protections for Border Patrol agents by imposing harsher penalties for illegal aliens evading arrest at our border.

Mr. ONDER

Mr. ONDER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Florida for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address an issue important to all Americans, not just Americans living on our border. Illegal immigration directly impacts our society, our safety, our security, and the future of our Nation. Dangers posed by illegal immigration are many. The consequences of policies from the Biden administration are many and severe. Deaths from murder, poisonings from fentanyl, and victimization of the innocent by human traffickers could all have been solved if only the Biden-Harris administration and the Democrat Congress were willing to secure our borders. I want to begin by sharing a case that sadly demonstrates the dire consequences of our porous border and weak immigration enforcement. In my district, in St. Charles County, Missouri, two innocent women were sexually assaulted by an illegal alien of Middle Eastern descent who overstayed his tourist visa. Instead of returning home like he was supposed to and as our law required, he flouted the law and stayed illegally. Ultimately, he victimized two innocent American women. The trauma inflicted upon these women and upon many others like them is immeasurable. If we are to prevent this from happening again, we must remember that the pain is a direct result of the open border policies that have failed to prioritize the safety of Americans. Mr. Speaker, this is not an isolated incident. This is a pattern and an epidemic of lawlessness that has swept across our country. Criminals, foreign nationals, and even terrorists have attempted to exploit our immigration policy failures. Over the past 4 years, we have rightfully turned our attention to the southern border. We also have illegal immigrants taking advantage of lax enforcement and overstaying visas without consequence. The story of this individual in St. Charles County is part of a pattern with these overstays being a large source of our illegal alien population. For that reason, I will soon be introducing the Timely Departure Act. This important legislation would require certain visa recipients to post a cash bond which they would forfeit should they overstay their visas. Under this law, overstayers who overstay would be unable to obtain lawful immigration status for at least 4 years, and they would be unable to submit an asylum claim or withholding of removal claim after their scheduled departure date. Visitor, business, and pleasure visas are important to our economy, but they are being abused. Before the Biden administration's change to the asylum policy, visa overstays were a leading contributor to illegal immigration. As of 2023, visa overstays accounted for 42 percent of the illegal population. This legislation is necessary to enforce visa exit dates, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the Timely Departure Act. Mr. Speaker, our immigration system, which was once designed to be a source of legal immigration and lawful entry, has become nothing more than a wide-open door and a red carpet. This must end. This is why President Trump and House Republicans have to act forcefully to protect Americans. Another border security issue is the abuse of our asylum process. Over the past couple of years, especially as Texas has taken action to secure its border, fewer illegal aliens have been entering our country by sneaking by border crossings like Eagle Pass or Brownsville. More and more illegal aliens are presenting themselves to immigration authorities and claiming asylum. Most of these asylum cases are bogus. The Biden administration has not detained these aliens but, rather, released them into the country with some far-off asylum hearing date to which they never show. We found time and time again that these so- called refugees are violent criminals. Under our America First border policies, this abuse of the asylum process is going to end. President Trump's actions at the border, his executive orders, and his diplomacy with Colombia, Mexico, and Canada show that he means what he says. He means business. In Congress, we will assist with legislation like the Laken Riley Act, and we will provide funding for the border wall, border guards, and the legal resources to clean out the many bogus asylum claims. A message to all the countries who are part of the problem is the era of the U.S. playing the fool ends now. They should not empty their prisons or coddle drug and human trafficking cartels at our expense or they will face consequences. Another equally important issue is that the open border policies of the Biden-Harris administration have led to an epidemic of fentanyl poisonings across our country. Fentanyl, which is smuggled across our southern border, is responsible for 100,000 American deaths in the last year alone. We have become a global dumping ground for the world's deadliest drugs with Mexican cartels making and smuggling fentanyl and methamphetamine into the United States, drugs made from Chinese precursor chemicals. We will secure our border. We will build the wall. Yes, we will target drug cartels as international terrorists. Occasionally, we hear apologists for the open border policies of the Biden administration argue that somehow mass illegal immigration is good for our economy or that some illegal aliens pay taxes. It is nice that illegal aliens sometimes pay taxes, but these individuals fail to account for the full cost of illegal immigration. The strain on our economy has been profound. Taxpayer dollars have been spent to fund social services, healthcare, and education for illegal aliens. That is money that could be better spent on securing the future, money that we do not have with our debt of $36 trillion, not to mention the economic and social costs of the victims of crime caused by illegal aliens or the lives cut short by fentanyl poisoning or the immeasurable and lifelong trauma of the victims of human trafficking. Police officers, teachers, and healthcare providers are working harder than ever to accommodate an influx of people who have no legal right to be here. Democrats have told us to accept this as the new normal. House Republicans and President Trump are here to tell our communities this ends now. Mr. Speaker, this crisis is not just a border issue. It is a national security issue. It is a public safety issue. It is a public health issue. It is an economic issue. We must take swift action to protect our country, our communities, and our people. Mr. Speaker, the Biden administration's open border policies have failed, and it is time for a change. In collaboration with Donald Trump, it is time to make America safe again.

Mr. ONDER

Mr. ONDER. Madam Speaker, today, I rise in strong support of H.R. 21, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. This legislation says that infants who are born alive after an attempted abortion are entitled to the same respect and medical care that would be provided to an infant of the same gestational age. In some late-term abortions, the abortionist is unsuccessful at ending the life of the baby, and the baby is born alive. Babies are able to move and breathe on their own. Even pro-abortion academics admit this is often the case, and it is not rare. A June 2024 article published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology found that of 14,000 second-trimester abortions, over 1,500 babies were born alive, a rate of 11.2 percent. This legislation unfortunately is necessary due to heartbreaking reports of abortionists in the United States placing these living, breathing babies in biohazard bags, vats of formaldehyde, or storing them away in a utility closet to die alone. In that sense, there is a complete analogy between what goes on in these abortions, after these abortions, and what Kermit Gosnell did and languished in prison for. This commonsense legislation requires that abortion survivors be treated with dignity. Remember, this bill applies to the baby's right to care after a baby is born alive and has no implication for abortion or the mother's health.

Mr. ONDER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from my home State of Missouri for bringing forward this important bill.

Mr. ONDER

Mr. ONDER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 5, the Laken Riley Act. First, I point out that my Democratic colleagues are all exercised about the pardons of Donald Trump of January 6 protesters, but they said not a word when President Biden commuted the sentences of 37 cold- blooded murderers on death row in our Federal prisons. This bill is the Senate amended version of Representative Collins' bill that passed this Chamber earlier this month. It is named after Laken Riley, the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was brutally murdered by a criminal illegal alien, another casualty of the Biden- Harris, Democratic, open-border policies. This bill adds burglary, theft, and larceny to a list of crimes for which it would be mandatory that illegal alien criminals be deported. The Senate also added to this act a very important provision that adds assault of a law enforcement officer or causing bodily injury to another person. The Laken Riley Act, when signed by President Trump, will begin the long and hard work of protecting Americans from the more than 10 million illegal aliens who were enabled by Biden's open-border policies. On January 7, I was very encouraged to see 48 of our Democratic colleagues in this Chamber vote for the commonsense protections that Americans support in the Laken Riley Act. Yesterday, 12 Senate Democrats joined all the Republicans in supporting this commonsense measure. Mr. Speaker, deporting criminal illegal aliens should not be a partisan bill. I hope our Democratic colleagues will side with us on this issue to protect Americans and put Americans first.

Mr. ONDER

Mr. ONDER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 30, the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act. President Biden's open-border policies have been felt in our communities where now more than ever women are hesitant to walk alone in parking lots and look over their shoulders. In the past few years, we have seen illegal aliens chase, beat, sexually assault, and burn women even in public. These illegal aliens target and abuse women. This bill sends an important message that we will have zero tolerance for domestic and sexual violence by illegal aliens. H.R. 30, the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, builds on the Laken Riley Act. While the Laken Riley Act would have prevented the death of that 22-year-old nursing student, this bill will protect women in the future by strengthening protections against violent aliens. This bill has two important components. First, it amends current immigration law to expand the definition of sex offenses that require deportation. It would explicitly create grounds for inadmissibility for aliens who commit a sex offense as defined by the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. Second, it explicitly establishes a ground of inadmissibility for specific domestic violence offenses. It closes a loophole in current law and clarifies what illegal aliens must be removed for domestic violence. Enforcement by ICE for these offenses has plummeted in the years between the Trump and the Biden administrations. Over that same period, we have seen an increase in violent crimes and sexual assaults by illegal aliens. It is time to replace the slap-on-the-wrist approach with law and order. I genuinely believe that this legislation is part of our mandate from the American people, and we should send this legislation to Donald Trump's desk for signature on day one. On Tuesday, I was very encouraged to see 48 of my Democrat colleagues vote for the commonsense protection of Americans by voting for the Laken Riley Act. Deporting domestic violence offenders and aliens who commit sexual assault should not be a partisan issue. I hope that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will join us in supporting H.R. 30.

Mr. ONDER

Mr. ONDER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 28 and urge the House to pass this important bill. For the past 50 years, Title IX has been an unqualified success at increasing participation of girls and young women in sports at both the collegiate and secondary level. For 2 years, by allowing men identifying as women to dominate many events in women's sports, the Biden administration has perversely used Title IX to destroy the very gains that Title IX has fostered for young women. The issue is one of fundamental fairness. Males have a greater lung capacity, larger heart, more bone density, and dramatically more muscle mass than girls, all of which lead to an enormous competitive advantage in many sports. Champion Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix's lifetime best time in the 400 meter was 49.26 seconds. In 2017 alone, 15,000 young men, high school men and boys, outperformed that time. Swimmer Will Thomas, a/k/a Lia Thomas, ranked 462nd in his sport as a man, only to steal the NCAA 500-meter freestyle championship as a purported woman. To accept men in women's sports is to destroy women's sports. Being a male or female is a biological reality that cannot be changed by a few months of hormones or by clothes or by radical gender ideology. The future of our young women and girls and the gains they have made through 50 years of Title IX must be protected. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important bill.