January 22, 2024 - Washington, D.C. – The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement held a hearing on January 11, on "The Impact of Illegal Immigration on Social Services.”  Subcommittee Chairman McClintock delivered the following opening statement at the hearing:

The day he took office, Joe Biden issued executive orders that opened our borders to the world and began the largest illegal mass migration in recorded history.  Since that day, his administration has deliberately released into the country over 3.3 million illegal aliens, a population the size of the state of Iowa.  And while the border patrol was overwhelmed changing diapers and taking names, an additional 1.7 million known got-aways have entered as well – an additional illegal population the size of West Virginia.

Ever since that day, I have asked the Democrats a series of simple questions.  How does it improve access to health care for Americans to pack our emergency rooms and maternity wards with illegals demanding free health care?  How does it strengthen our social safety net to allow in five million impoverished people requiring care?  How does it make our communities safer by making it all but impossible to deport criminal illegal aliens?  How does it help working families by flooding the labor market with cheap, illegal labor?  How does it improve our schools by packing classrooms with non-English speaking students?

I am still waiting for an answer to these questions from the Democrats.  But the reality is starting to become obvious to the American people.  Coincidentally, after we had announced this hearing on the impact of this crisis on social services, Eric Adams kicked 4,000 New York children out of their high school in order to house 2,000 illegal migrants.  He has yet to explain why he didn’t offer them a plane ticket home instead.  Indeed, one estimate from New York City is that the cost of simply educating – let alone housing and feeding – their recent arrivals will cost the city schools a billion dollars next year.  That is a ONE BILLION cut in their school budgets; a one billion dollar cut to the funds available to educate legal residents.

We have already heard of American veterans kicked out of nursing homes to make way for illegal aliens; of law enforcement overwhelmed by dealing with the accompanying crimes; of American mothers forced to drive three hours to deliver their babies because every maternity bed in their local hospital is taken by a lawbreaker who has no legal right to be here.  We will hear of more outrages today.

Under the Biden Administration schools are becoming illegal alien shelters.  Airports are becoming illegal alien shelters.  Parks are becoming illegal alien shelters.  Police stations are becoming illegal alien shelters.  Nursing homes are becoming illegal alien shelters.  Hotels are becoming illegal alien shelters.  Homeless shelters are becoming illegal alien shelters.  All of this is paid for by struggling American families who work hard, pay their taxes, and obey our laws.  And when they question it, they are called racist xenophobes by my Democratic colleagues.

This is not because of incompetence.  This is the deliberate policy of this administration.  It won’t be solved by new laws that the Senate won’t pass and the President won’t sign or enforce.  It won’t be solved by spending more money to encourage and support still more illegal aliens flooding our country.  It won’t be solved by swapping one leftist official for another.

The harsh truth is that this catastrophe was set in motion when the American people elected this administration and it will continue until the American people replace it with one that will defend our citizens, secure our border, and restore the rule of law.  This unprecedented illegal migration is exactly what the Democrats promised to do; this is exactly what they have done; and this is exactly what they have defended for the last three years in this Congress.  If you voted for them, this is exactly what you voted for, and if that surprises you, you weren’t paying any attention.

The good news: people ARE starting to pay attention as communities confront the dangers and deprivations that this administration and its supporters in Congress have unleashed upon them.  We will quantify some of that in today’s testimony and pray it is not too late to save our country.
Source: Cogressman Tom McClintock