Lawmaker urges support for Senate Concurrent Resolution 33 to fund ICE and CBP

A lawmaker argued in the transcript that Congress should back Senate Concurrent Resolution 33 to secure funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and to address what he called a national migration crisis.

The speaker criticized political defenses used by opponents, saying, "I support border security, but there's always a but," and framed his remarks as a response to what he described as five and a half years of failed policy since President Biden took office in 2021.

He laid out what he called three strategies by the opposing side: "Leave the border wide open, then create create a bunch of sanctuary cities, and then refuse to fund immigration and border patrol," and said those moves forced lawmakers like him to act.

The lawmaker said he would prefer to fund and regulate the Department of Homeland Security and immigration enforcement "through regular appropriations," but added that "my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have made that impossible," arguing that Republicans were now "forced to run a narrowly focused partisan reconciliation process to provide necessary funding to ICE and CBP and their operational and support components."

He also praised the previous Trump administration's border efforts, saying, "The Trump administration has made great strides in securing the border and removing those who have entered our country illegally, which will alleviate strains on local law enforcement and hospital systems, help lower insurance premiums, and put downward pressure on housing prices in the long run." These downstream effects were presented as the lawmaker's assertions in support of the resolution.

The speaker linked the measure to fiscal policy, stating that it "does a very important thing by setting our projected deficit of 3% of GDP," and urged colleagues to take finances seriously and support the budget resolution. The transcript ends with the speaker yielding back his time.

The transcript records only the lawmaker's floor remarks; it does not show a vote, any response from other lawmakers, or formal adoption of the resolution.