The Democratically controlled U.S. House of Representatives attempted to override President Donald Trump’s veto of their bill to reject the President’s declaration of a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Congressman Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, delivered a speech on the House floor encouraging Congress to sustain President Trump’s veto of H.J.Res. 46.
Brooks said that building a wall on the southern border would save more than 30,000 American lives each year due to illegal alien homicides and overdoses from drugs shipped through the southern border.
“Mr. Speaker, I rise once again to share stories of Americans who once were vibrant and alive but now are dead because Washington’s open borders policies fail to protect our own people,” Brooks said. “On average, roughly 2,000 illegal aliens are apprehended each year by federal agents for homicides committed on American soil. Another roughly 120,000 illegal aliens are arrested each year for other criminal activity, including 50,000 assaults and 15,000 sexual assaults.”
Congressman Bradley Byrne, R-Montrose, also voted to oppose the override of Trump’s veto.
“Democrats continue to try every trick in the book to stop President Trump from securing our southern border—perhaps the most significant crisis facing our nation today,” Byrne said. “Today’s failed effort by Democrats to overturn the President’s veto will ensure funding goes to our border for building the wall, hiring more border agents, and making technological upgrades to increase border security and keep the American people safe.”
“In Marshall County, Alabama, an illegal alien was recently arrested for first-degree rape of a 12-year-old girl,” Brooks said. According to Marshall County Sheriff Phil Sims, the illegal alien had at least 10 different aliases, 4 different birth dates and 2 prior deportations. In 2008, the illegal alien was charged with DUI in Louisiana and deported. In 2009, the illegal alien was deported yet again for illegal reentry. This first-degree rape of a 12-year-old girl would have been prevented by proper border security.”
“Despite overwhelming evidence that the situation at the southern border is a national emergency, every single Democrat in the House and the Senate opposed the President’s request for more border funding,” Byrne said. ”Since Democrats blocked attempts to address this crisis, the President used the authority given him by Congress to declare a national emergency.”
“In Mobile, Alabama, Sonya Jones was recently killed by an illegal alien charged with vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a head-on collision,” Brooks said. “Sonya Jones was a teacher at Living Word Christian Center Kingdom Academy. One of Sonya’s colleagues said that she “had a smile that would light up the hallways.”
The illegal alien who killed Sonya Jones is a prime example of how dangerous asylum laws and catch and release policies are to Americans. Sonya Jones’ illegal alien killer entered America illegally, was captured by law enforcement, but then released when he lied to claim asylum. As is so overwhelmingly often the case, Sonya Jones’ illegal alien killer failed to show up in court on the asylum claim and, instead, disappeared, leaving at least one dead American in his wake.”
“I support President Trump’s efforts to enact border security measures like building a wall, and I will continue to work to protect American citizens,” Byrne said. “Democrats might be keeping their heads in the sand to appease their growing radical base, but the American people see the truth.”
“Last week in Washington state, Kittitas County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Thompson was shot and killed by yet another illegal alien who legally entered America in Texas in 2014 on a temporary agricultural worker visa but illegally overstayed his visa after it expired,” Brooks said. “Deputy Ryan Thompson was married with three children and is the first law enforcement officer to be murdered in Kittitas County since 1927.”
“Americans have every right to expect Congress to defend American rights! And the most basic right is the right to life, the right to be protected from illegal alien killings that could so easily be avoided!” Brooks said. “President Trump is right to declare a national emergency to help save the lives of at least 30,000 Americans who are alive today but will be dead a year from now if we do not protect and secure America’s porous southern border.”
The veto override failed with a vote of 248 to 181.
“The current situation at the southern border presents a border security and humanitarian crisis that threatens core national security interests and constitutes a national emergency” President Trump said in a statement. ““The Democrat-sponsored resolution would terminate vital border security operations.”
President Trump explained before the signing of his veto on March 15. “Congress’s vote to deny the crisis on the southern border is a vote against reality.”
This is the first bill vetoed by President Trump.
Mo Brooks represents Alabama’s Fifth Congressional District.
Bradley Byrne represents Alabama’s First Congressional District and is a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Doug Jones.
