Washington D.C. – On Tuesday, June 25, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on H.R. 3401, The House Border Supplemental. After voting against the bill, Congressman Randy Weber (R - Friendswood) released the following statement:

“For almost two months, the Trump Administration and House Republicans have requested consideration of emergency funding to address the humanitarian crisis on our border. We are seeing an average of over 100,000 border detentions per month, with 144,000 apprehensions in May alone – that’s between 3,300 – 4,800 a day!

“Customs and Border Protection admits they will run out of money to fund operations in mid-July. Meanwhile, House Democrat Leadership refuses to acknowledge the legitimate crisis brewing on our border. Rather than operating in a bipartisan fashion, House Democrat Leadership offered a bill, which will only further exacerbate the situation.

“Unlike the bipartisan Senate humanitarian assistance bill, the House Democrat bill does not provide the $135 million in funding needed for ICE officer pay and overtime. It does not provide funding for additional immigration judges currently overwhelmed with a backlog averaging 700 days per case. It does not provide funding to investigate human traffickers smuggling unrelated children across the border. It does not provide funding to the DoD to allow for additional troops to lend support to border agents already stretched too thin. It does not allow Health and Human Services to modify agency policies related to sponsors of unaccompanied minors, even if those modifications could improve their safety and welfare. It does not allow DHS to surge employees to the border to provide backup and assistance to exhausted, overworked and understaff personnel, even as Texas and Mexico are both sending troops to their respective borders.

“What this bill does do is provide additional incentives to entice more illegal immigration. We must work together to stop the overwhelming influx, and provide the necessary resources for our CBP agents, National Guard and other officers to do their job. We must work together to ensure those detained receive humanitarian assistance and are a processed quickly through the immigration court system. When Democrats are ready to put politics aside to deal with the actual crisis, I’m ready to work with them to get the job done.”

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