During Tuesday’s House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Rep. Sheri Biggs (R-SC) questioned witnesses about the Biden Administration's spending on illegal immigrant support.
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NewsTranscript
00:00This is the gentlelady from South Carolina, Ms. Biggs.
00:03Thank you, Chairman Guest. Border security is a priority for my
00:08district and I'm grateful to you for holding this hearing and thank you to
00:12our witnesses for being here today and giving us your
00:17input. The Biden administration border crisis
00:21inflicted historic damage on our nation and I think that is relevant to today.
00:28Under his failed leadership, illegal crossings
00:31reached record highs with over 300,000 in December 2023 alone and more than
00:389 million over Biden's four years as president.
00:43The illegal population is now estimated to exceed
00:4615 million. Meanwhile, American families like those in the
00:53third district of South Carolina were left behind.
00:58After Hurricane Helene, our community struggled
01:02to pick up the pieces while illegal immigrants were placed in luxury hotels.
01:10Mr. Chairman, I would like to enter into record
01:13this article entitled, Clawed Back. DHS Chief Noem secures eye-popping
01:20psalms sent to New York for migrant hotels.
01:31Your statement will be entered into the record without objection. Thank you.
01:35This article demonstrates how the Biden administration
01:38abandoned the American people in favor of spending
01:4259 million in taxpayer money on illegal immigrants
01:46in New York City. That's just unfair and it's un-American.
01:55Under President Trump's leadership, we are already seeing a return to law and
01:59order and national sovereignty. In just one
02:03month back in office, border encounters dropped
02:06to just 11,000, proving that
02:11strong leadership, not luck, solves crisis.
02:17So my question is to Ms. Reese.
02:21We've talked about a lot here today, but what
02:24impact did this have on average American families?
02:29And I'm talking about like housing costs or
02:32strained school systems, longer wait times for health care.
02:38When the last administration put illegal immigrants ahead of our
02:41U.S. citizens. Well, communities were very strained
02:45and they weren't notified in advance that large populations were coming to
02:51their communities, so they didn't have time
02:53to prepare for more teachers or expanded classrooms. So schools were overcrowded,
02:59hospital rooms, emergency rooms were overcrowded,
03:02not enough shelter, so the prices of housing went up
03:06and that is why this was a number one issue for Americans voting last fall.
03:12Okay, and the second part of that question,
03:16now that we're back under strong leadership,
03:19how do we ensure that future administrations never repeat the
03:24failures of the Biden era and always put America first?
03:29Well, this is where Congress needs to step in
03:33and codify many of the changes that are necessary.
03:37We can't, we shouldn't be going back and forth president to president via
03:41executive order. We need to shut down the the benefit fraud, particularly
03:47asylum fraud, make sure there's enough resources not
03:50just for CBP but also for ICE and the interior,
03:54which is so important right now in the reconciliation bill.
03:57Thank you, and with that I yield back.