Chair Griffith Opening Remarks at Oversight Hearing on Biden's Border Crisis (1.17.24)

today's hearing comes nearly one year after this subcommittee held a joint field Hearing in macallen Texas with the subcommittee on health it presents a chance to re-evaluate the conditions at our Southern border and the conditions have only further deteriorated since that time the implications of the Border crisis extend far beyond the Border communities impacting every aspect of our nation this crisis is not a political talking point it's a real widespread crisis with extensive repercussions in macallen Texas I highlighted the unprecedented way this Administration operates our borders we have reached all-time highs with the number of migrants crossing the southern border I further Express concerns over President Biden's handling of the Border describing it as brutal and unsustainable since then the Customs and Border Patrol excuse me Border Protection CP CBP have reported for fiscal year 23 an astounding 2.47 million encounters at the Southwest border this is a significant escal escalation from approximately 450,000 Encounters in fiscal year 2020 in December 2023 alone there was an estimated 302,000 migrant encounters at the southern border the highest monthly total ever recorded this flood of migrants was seen during a visit by Congressional members to the southern border during this visit some members visited a hospital in Eagle Pass Texas along the border that is currently providing care for illegal immigrants according to one of my colleagues this hospital has a total of five ambulances and one is permanently dedicated to solely transporting illegal immigrants that doesn't mean that the others aren't used for that purpose but one is dedicated solely to that purpose once in the hospital these illegal migrants are prioritized over American citizens due to Acuity concerns in the end this is unfair to citizens of this country and is directly due to the failure of the Biden Administration to secure our Southern border sadly this Administration seems to prioritize the health an interest of illegal migrants over those of its own citizens even mayors of cities like New York and Chicago are now confronting the implications and costs associated with the influx of illegal migrants that border communities have long had to deal with these large cities are struggling to find resources to address the problem New York has even started to force their children to sign up for online classes so they can house the illegal migrants in the schools additionally the absence of effective border control has led to a significant influx of drugs especially fentel and fenel analoges into our communities a loophole cartels used prior to Temporary listing of analoges to traffic fentel into our country was by creating fental analoges to evade our criminal laws right now fenal analoges are considered schedule one substances but only because of temporary scheduling orders which expire on December 31st 2024 representative ladin my bill the halt fenel Act passed the house with bipartisan support in May of 2023 it would permanently schedule fentel analogs while allowing Research into them to see if there's any efficacy beyond fentel the administration's border policies have facilitated the abuse and exploitation of migrants particularly children the New York Times has uncovered a rise in child labor trafficking children as young as 13 are being forced into dangerous jobs offered in violation of federal labor laws this is done by the sponsors our government has has placed these children with we've seen reports of severe injuries and in some cases even fatalities the times reported that over 85,000 children UST entrusted to hhs's care have seemingly vanished Lost In A system that fails to protect the most vulnerable this is due to the complete utter failure of HHS to implement proper vetting processes that include detailed background checks consisting of FBI background checks and fingerprinting in September of 2023 HSS proposed a rule regarding unaccompanied minor this rule does little to bolster the vetting process used to place these miners this rule makes the vetting process optional to examine living conditions conduct background checks and interview the sponsors before a minor is placed with them optional optional further this rule does nothing to address the collaboration between state and local law enforcement Local Schools or local state and local child welfare services when a child is placed with a sponsor in short open borders not only endanger American lives but perpetuate criminal Enterprises that exploit these vulnerable individuals the Biden Administration wants to ignore the crisis being caused by its border policies we had a hearing in July with Secretary of HS discussing the office of refugee resettlement the committee sent additional questions for the record to the secretary and he still hasn't responded to our questions it is yet another example of how this Administration tries to ignore this crisis the situation our Southern border is simply unsustainable it is affecting Public Safety public health and public education this should not be a Republican versus Democrat issue this is an American issue I yield back the chair now recognizes subcommittee ranking member Miss caster for her five minutes for an opening statement