Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. represents the 26th Congressional District of Texas. Each podcast episode is intended to provide Americans with a front row seat about the latest news in Congress.
This episode covers the topic concerning many Americans about the Biden Border Crisis. Border Security Caucus Co-Chairman Brian Babin (R-TX) joins Dr. Burgess on today's show.
Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. represents the 26th Congressional District of Texas. Each podcast episode is intended to provide Americans with a front row seat about the latest news in Congress.
This episode covers the topic concerning many Americans about the Biden Border Crisis. Border Security Caucus Co-Chairman Brian Babin (R-TX) joins Dr. Burgess on today's show.
Hello, this is Congressman Michael Burgess. And once again, I want to welcome you to the doctor in the house podcast. You know, undocumented immigrants get flown across the country late at night at taxpayer expense Americans face the worst inflation in decades. Our border is overflowing of trafficking victims, illegal immigrants at a drugs, and subsequently kill thousands of Americans each year. We're here to discuss this topic today with my friend and Texas congressional member, fellow Dr. Caucus member. But most importantly, he is the chairman of the border caucus for the entire Republican conference. So brought I'm Babin, Woodville, Texas. I'm happy to welcome to you to the doctor in the house podcast. Well, thank
Speaker 2:You. I'll often need a doctor and you've, you've been a good mentor to me since I've been in Congress too now for, uh, a number of years. And I really am honored to be with you this
Speaker 1:Morning. Well, I appreciate having you cuz after all, I mean the things we all know we've been down together and separately, multiple occasions over many years and the Southern border today is the worst that it has ever been. And the Biden administration has done nothing but make the situation worse. In fact, I think if we were to have sat here a year ago on the, on the Eve of the Biden administration, neither of us could have predicted just how bad things would be in one short year's time. But nevertheless, here we are, it is as bad or worse rather that it's ever been. And really just like to get your thoughts on what you have learned and what you have seen. I know we went down together not too many months ago, but there's a, it is an ongoing evolving crisis and it really requires all hands on deck.
Speaker 2:There's no question about it. Uh, uh, Mike, I really, uh, I'm just stunned and flabbergasted because, uh, I think people thought when they voted those who do had support president by, uh, the candidate Biden, uh, that he would be a moderate, uh, because that's kind of the way he campaigned. And then now we are seeing in the last 12 or 13 months that the man has been completely coopted by the radical wing of the Democrat party, the progressives, uh, the Marxist, if you will. And uh, on every single issue, he has gone hard left to the very, very detriment of, uh, Americans, high taxes, high, more and more regulation, open borders that we're talking about today. Inflation, unbelievable inflation. I haven't seen since Jimmy Carter's days and, uh, uh, stunningly, uh, they just continue to double down on the border. It it's incredible. I've been down there three times this past year, uh, and we have another trip planned, uh, in, in probably in about six weeks or so. And it is unbelievable. It is a historic disaster that is happening down there and the great state of Texas that you and I proudly represent our districts in, uh, is just being hammered. And I really appreciate our state, our, our governor and, uh, and some of our state officials who are really happen into the gap because, uh, the federal government is simply missing an action and not only missing an action, but actually accommodating the cartels, inviting people in promising them, uh, goodies, you know, uh, public benefits, uh, uh, putting, putting them on, on a road to, uh, to citizenship and being able to vote. We have two states in the, in the nation. Uh, one of'em New York just passed a, uh, a law that says that illegal aliens can vote in their local and state elections now, but not to be outdone. The go the, the Democrat party on a federal level has offered bill after bill and tried time after to enable the illegal aliens to vote in national of federal elections. This is what their whole strategy is.
Speaker 1:Yeah. They're goal directed. Uh, there's no question about that. You know, ironically, I'm also on the rules committee, so I, I get to see a lot of stuff right before it comes to the floor and president Biden's bill by act better act, which thankfully is still bottled up over in the Senate. And I, I hope it dies bottled up over the Senate. But when I asked all of the witnesses who were there on the rules witness table that day, I said, all of these benefits, the child tax credit paid leave, uh, paid time off all of these benefits that you, you are now providing for people is a citizenship part of a requirement to receive those benefits. And there was not a word
Speaker 2:Set, not a word. I, I don't imagine. So.
Speaker 1:And it is. I mean, how do you ever expect to get control of a problem when you are putting that type you're adding to the poll factor. So significantly the hell we're making the commercials for the cartels for them.
Speaker 2:There's no question about it. They have empowered the, the, the, the criminal elements, the international, uh, uh, crime send against the cartels. And quite frankly, I, you know, you hate to say something like this, but the bad administration is actually complicit in a lot of the drug and sex trafficking that is going on. And the, the, the cartels are making billions of dollars, uh, because of these policies. And, and quite frankly, these policies that, that, uh, the Trump administration had actually control of the border, uh, in his final year in 2020, uh, all of these, uh, uh, have been just abolished and terminated by the, by the Biden administration against the advice of every single one of the professionals, uh, and border patrol ice, all the professionals that worked, uh, in that, uh, in the Trump administration, they simply ignored that. And now we have had, I'll give you, I'll give you an example, more than 2 million encounters with illegal aliens, 2 million people have come across our border. And one year in the first year of Joe Biden, and, and just, just put this in your hat, that's the same as the entire population of Washington, DC, times three, coming across that board. And,
Speaker 1:You know, America is one of the most generous countries on the face of the earth when it comes to welcoming new citizens. I think, uh, just prior to the Biden administration, 1.3 million Americans get to raise their right hand and, uh, take the oath of citizenship coming into this country legally every year. Now you're telling me that you've had 2 million more people come in, uh, uh, illegally, and then we don't even know how many just snuck in. Well, those are the ones that were encountered at at least measured in some way. The overall number is just completely staggering. And again, I go back to it's unlike anything anyone has ever seen,
Speaker 2:No one has ever seen anything like this. It's a disaster making, uh, in the making for the United States of America. It's going to change our country forever. Uh, and, uh, I, I I'll tell you, uh, you, the ones that we detected, I heard you say that, and, and the ones that we detect and we can't get are called God aways. We think that's between six and 700,000 more. And then how many did we not detect that came over? Those that didn't want to be, uh, be, be apprehended or, or found out, uh, like folks on the terrace Watts list or Ms. 13 gang members. We had, we've had 14 this year, we've had 14 individuals, uh, who on the terrorist watch list that have come across and been apprehended by, by the authorities, how many that came across, that didn't get apprehended. And I would remind all the listeners out there that it took only 19 illegals or 19 individual criminals and terrorists to come across and accomplish the most horrible terrorist attack and American history on nine 11.
Speaker 1:You know, in fairness, people will say, you know, this has been a problem for a long time. And it was a problem in Trump administration. The Biden administration Bush had his troubles with, uh, with, with high numbers of people coming across the border<affirmative>. But as I watched it during the, the four years of the previous administration, there was a, a time when the numbers spiked in 2019. That was largely because we, as a Congress had not provided funding for a supplemental that say so badly needed, because again, their numbers were, were increasing, but then Trump got it right between the remain in Mexico policy. Um, unfortunately with the, the coronavirus pandemic, he was able to invoke, uh, title 42 of the public health service act back from the 1940s is wasn't some new thing that he thought up he was using the tools that were available to him. And I think one of the most important things was he engaged the leaders of the countries where the, the countries of origin we hear our current borders are talk about. I'm gonna get to the root problem. Uh, I think that's nonsense. I'll tell you what I've felt for some time that if we really engaged the leaders of those countries and said, your foreign is dependent upon us not spending those dollars on your children, right. Your children and our facilities. So I've had for years, a bill up that would say, uh, there's a formula by which we deduct from your, for aid budget, a charge per diem, per child originating in your country. Trump actually did something like that. And it gets the attention because this is the responsibility. No, none of the United States, president it, not of you and I, this is the responsibility of the leaders in those countries, uh, in Guatemala, uh, Honduras and El El Salvador, they, they ran for public office saying I want to provide for my people. Well, do it stand up, be somebody and get that done. Trump actually got their attention in that regard. And he's the only president during my tenure year, who actually was able to do that. Now we do have, our borders are going down and talking about giving more aid to, to various countries to deal with the root problems. But I'm sorry, if you don't apply a measure of accountability, if you don't apply some metric, guess what? You're just gonna buy more problems.
Speaker 2:And that's exactly what's, what's been happening. I mean, their, their invitation, they advertise, uh, you know, benefits to come up here. Uh, they tempt and lure, uh, women and children, uh, to make a dangerous Trek. Many of'em coming from, I think, over 120 countries or, or they're coming from a all over the world, not just those three Northern triangle countries, the ones in south America, many, many people from Africa and Asia are coming to south America, coming up through what they call the Daron gap. It's coming outta Columbia, coming through, uh, through Panama. There's a 10% death rate, uh, coming through the, through the Daron gap. It, it, it is a very dangerous track. And when someone puts their children at risk like that, or, or, or women, mothers, et cetera, uh, this is something that I think that would, that should be, this should be keeping these Democrat, uh, elected officials up at night to think of what they're actually to have if they're wreaking, uh, on, on humanity, uh, by their policies. And you're exactly right. Uh, Dr. Burgess, uh, president Trump was the only president that I have seen that really, really took seriously securing our borders. And I, it goes for many of em Republican, uh, presence in the past as well. Uh, but getting rid of, uh, MPP remain in Mexico, uh, curtailing title 42, as you said, uh, safe third countries, there's a Nu stopping the wall. Uh, incredibly all of these things worked after the year that where, where president Trump had a very bad year in 2019. There's no question about it. Uh, and he got it right though in 2020, we had the most secure border we've seen in decades down there, all of it reversed because of the, uh, revocation and the ending of these policies. Uh, and so here we have, we, we've got, we've got a drug trade that is just blowing your mind when you, when you think about it, you're, you're a physician, I'm a dentist. Uh, I think of the, the amount of fentanyl, just, just fentanyl, not, not, not, not talking about cocaine or other narcotics or other drugs, meth, et cetera, mill alone. We had 886 pounds of fentanyl that was seized by the DEA in Texas alone. And that is enough to kill millions of people one 16. And you know what fentanyl is, is a physician. It's a, it's a, it's an operating room drug, an anesthetic, uh, and, uh, you you've got, uh, uh, you've got, I think it was 20 million tablets and capsules were seized by the DEA 20 million, four outta 10 of those had a lethal dose of fentanyl in these, these were fake tablets and capsules, fake pills, if you will. Yes. And this has contributed to an all time high, over 100,000 Americans died of an overdose last year. It's unbelievable. Over a hundred thousand, this is a weapon of mass destruction because a lot of that fentanyl that's coming right out of China. Yes. And coming up through Mexico,
Speaker 1:It is a, it is a chemical warfare to go with the biologic warfare of the coronavirus. Absolutely. But that will be the subject of another podcast. Yes, sir. Um, yeah, you're right. They make these tablets out of the, out of the contraband F fentanyl. They make it look like a commercial product that might be normally available in a, in a pharmacy, right. And an unsuspecting person takes it. And that's why overdose deaths have gotten to an all time high, really important to me, the committee that I sit on energy and commerce, we, we have, uh, we, we did the work on what was called the support act in 2018, bill Trump signed in the law that, uh, really for the first time tried to get, uh, some, the country's arms around this, this fentanyl problem or this drug overdose problem actually did, uh, drug deaths did tick down a little. It over the next year. Pandemic has clearly made that worse, but then inattention on the border has really, really just poured gasoline on the fire. And we now see that the country's overdose deaths have, uh, uh, it's over a hundred thousand for last calendar year. And the projections are, it'll be 120,000 this year. Uh, it is a, it is an epidemic, a pandemic just as deadly as a coronavirus and should demand our attention. And one of the ways to control it is to not let it come in your country, the first place.
Speaker 2:And there's no question about that, what you said, and, and, and the children, I I'm a grandfather of 17 grandchildren. And when I think of these little kids that are, are being trafficked up here, and last year in 20 20, 1 of Biden's first year in the presidency, 147,000 unaccompanied children came across our, our borders. Uh, these are, these are kids that this was, was an amount that was double the record. That was, uh, that was, uh, set earlier in 2019. And that's 147,000 kids put in the hands of cartels, meaning that thousands of kids, thousands of children were abducted recycled. We, we see videos, same kid coming back and forth, coming and forth across the border, uh, recycle hurt, abuse, raped the child sex trade is rampant. And, uh, again, the bad administration is complicit in a lot of these activities that are going on. They're putting enormous risk, uh, and jeopardizing, uh, the lives of Americans as well. Cause, you know, well, as I do, uh, that, uh, many of these, uh, many of these people coming across, uh, purporting to be looking for a better life, many of'em are Ms. 13, many of'em are former criminals. An enormous number of, or former criminals have had, had have records, not only in their own countries, but having been deported numerous times before from, from the United States of America. And so, uh, these are, these are repeat returning people, uh, that have been enabled, uh, to do so by, by the policies of, of the Biden administration.
Speaker 1:And unfortunately it is extremely lucrative for the traffickers and the cartels and the coyotes in the countries of origin to prey upon these folks. I mean, they borrow money from their local bank, right, to fund their trip up here and their passage, uh, across the, across the real grand into probably the state of Texas. Um, and then we of course provide them the last, the last mile of that journey. Uh, but with tax payer dollars, uh, I put them on a flight and sending'em somewhere to the interior of the country. So we're part of that supply chain, if you will, which is not a good thing.
Speaker 2:Uh, there there's question about that. And then as, as, as our country is seeing the lockdowns, the mask mandates, the COVID vaccine mandates, et cetera, over and over again, many people are really tired of that. And while we're having to have a vaccine mandate or be fired from our job, many millions of Americans coming across the border 2 million last year, and we think there was probably 10 to 15 up to 20% COVID infection rate amongst many of these people just being allowed to come in, put on buses. I've seen it with my own eyes when I flew back from Harling and Texas. So one of my border trips, I actually took pictures of illegals that were coming on the Aircrafts. Some of'em sitting in first class carrying, uh, uh, Manila followers that said, I don't speak English. Uh, put me on my proper bus bus was crossed out. It said airplane<affirmative>. And they're being fanned out across the country with COVID having been checked. And then we caught them red handed, the deception that was going on with the Biden administration of flying on chartered aircraft, uh, people that were illegal. And many of these were adult male, single adult males flown to New York, flown to different places around the country in late our early, early morning, midnight type flights that they didn't want anyone to see. There was a surreptitiously taken, uh, the video, uh, by some law enforcement officers and board patrol agents that showed lines of'em coming out of these aircraft. Uh, and they were then they, their testimony were whistleblowers. Their testimony was that the authorities were telling them not to say anything about this. This was all supposed to be on the QT. And so why does the, the, the bio administration not want us to see what they're doing? And I, I would go right back to the grand strategy that they have. They want to remain in power. They come, they bring these people in, put'em on dependency, on our government on benefits, put'em on a path of citizenship, because as you that the build back better act had a provision in there to put millions on a, on a path of citizenship. I call it the build back bullism act. Uh, it still hasn't been passed. And thank goodness we, we hope it, it, it never does
Speaker 1:Look the, uh, you know, the criticism or the, the observation from the average citizen is, uh, well, you guys are in Congress. You do something about that. And the fact, the matter is right now, uh, Republicans in the minority. And so it is almost impossible to get a bill pass that is meaningful. Uh, we do have an regional good day where we're able to stop something that's really egregious like your, your build back BOL act that, uh, that you referenced, but it does point to the future. And I'm optimistic about the future. I do think there is a change in the wind. I, I think, uh, uh, you know, president iden bless his heart. All he had to do was do nothing and continue Trump policies and, and the world would've been pretty satisfactory, right. Uh, but instead they imposed all of this Neo socialism and, uh, open borders. And it's a consequence. Uh, things have gone so far the other way that you're right, it's not, these people are tired of, they're fed up with it. We do need, we do need to be taking action. We can block some things now, which that's good and we'll have some opportunities with funding bills, cuz they've, they've run out the clock on the, all of the funding of the federal government. So there'll be some opportunities there, but that's always very clumsy. That's always last, last minute stuff going forward, uh, with a change in direction, a speaker of the house, majority party in Congress, and then a change at the white house. Uh, we really need to be prepared to, we know what works. Uh, Trump administration showed us what works. We need to be prepared to get those policies back in, in place and make sure that they're faithfully executed.
Speaker 2:Uh, exactly. Thank you. Thank you for, uh, for, for saying all of that, because it's exactly what I believe as well. Um, you know, we we've, I, I, I detect the same, uh, the changes in the wind. Okay. I think we're getting ready to see a red wave wash over this country. Uh, this coming November. And the reason being is because of all the, the multiple, uh, multifaceted crises that, uh, that this bad administration has just created all on its own and unnecessarily, like you said, it Fe had just done nothing. Our economy was on, uh, under, under president Trump. The economy was coming out of the COVID, uh, uh, lockdowns and, and was really roaring back. And then he, he, he started killing our oil and gas industry. This is probably another, another time we could talk about this, the inflation, as I mentioned earlier, uh, the crime way, everything, uh, that, that this, this, uh, man almost single handedly as, as rigged on our country, uh, I think people are going to, uh, go to the polls by the millions and reject it. Even Democrats, as we saw in Virginia, as we saw in Virginia, not a, not a purple state, but a blue state just gave the majority back to the Republican party and elected a Republican governor, uh, because they saw what, what it was like to live under rat, uh, Democrat policies. People
Speaker 1:Just want the things that are supposed to work to work. And right now they're not, uh, the economy had just been left alone last January. It was doing pretty good, no inflation people getting back to work, earning more money, no inflation. Yeah. The world would be a better place today if that, uh, if that policy had been followed, but let's talk about something happy. Let's talk about Texas for a minute. Okay. Yeah. We love to talk about Texas, but Texas, of course. Uh, and I think it was the trip that you initiated the, uh, almost a year ago where right after inauguration day, of course, the wall that was being built was paused. All of the workers were furloughed. Of course their contracts had already been paid. So we weren't saving any money with sending everybody home, but no walls getting built. The materials are on the ground rusting, right? Uh, I guess fortunate, they're a little too heavy to carry off, but at some point people will begin to steal the metal that is piled up in those, I think it's already started, but we see our state, uh, caught in that conundrum. And now you're right. The governor to his credit is, uh, spending state money and state resources to secure that order and to resume the wall building. Uh, I've been down recently and, and seen that one of our good, uh, one of our good, uh, uh, DPS officers spent the day with me and, and carried me around to several places to see what, uh, what they were doing. But this is activity that I was unfortunately to be born by the state because the federal government is not, is not performing its responsibility. So just a, a, a couple of thoughts in some of the time we have left on Texas's response to the federal inactivity of securing the border.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm a, a, a strong constitutionalist, which I know you are as well. Well, uh, and you know, the constitution guarantees us, uh, article one, section 10, article four, section four, uh, says the federal government is supposed to be protecting these states from invasion. Uh, and if, if this is not invasion that we're seeing on the border, I don't know what is when 2 million P people, uh, come in. That's just the ones we know of as we talked about earlier, uh, it is, it is incumbent upon, uh, the states themselves and our great state of Texas. I'm so proud to be a, a Texan myself. And I know you are as well, uh, have stepped into that gap. Uh, they have, um, I think, uh, they, to the tune of about$3 billion, uh, our state legislature and our governor have, uh, have gotten together. And, uh, they are in the process of building, uh, a barrier down there, probably not gonna be as extensive, this, uh, what president Trump was, was trying to do when he was in office. Uh, but at least we're doing something to put up Barry barriers work if barriers didn't work. Uh, Nancy Pelosi wouldn't have a, a wall around her home, out there in, uh, in San Francisco. Uh, they're not, imor walls are not imoral walls make for good neighbor. And when you have, uh, neighbors that are pouring across in numbers that we have never seen before and being, uh, you know, overloading our, our medical system, uh, overloading our education system because they, they come in and they get free education. They get, they get, uh, free medical treatment. And that was even, I, I remember are the presidential primary, the Democrats sitting up there and every single one of them said free medical treatment for all illegal aliens that come across. So it's, it's no wonder that we're, we, we we're having the problems that we are now and taking jobs that, that Americans, uh, really, uh, should be taking. So I'm looking forward very much so, uh, to taking the majority back and, um, having the, again, the, the state of Texas trying to, uh, you know, they're the ones really making arrests down there and putting people in jail for breaking into houses. And when these illegals coming open gates let thousands and thousands of dollars worth of cattle out, uh, all kinds of vandalism damage, uh, demanding this, demanding that, uh, so I'm proud of the governor and, and our DPS troopers, uh, and our game wardens that are going down there and spending a lot of extra time, uh, doing in the things that they, that, that, that really, uh, the border patrol should be doing are not allowed. And let me say this, uh, secretary of BCU, uh, the Badden appointee, uh, of home department of Homeland security and the bad administration as, as a whole have thrown these border patrol agents as under the bus. Uh, as you recall, the whipping incident by mounted border patrol agents, uh, trying to keep, uh, uh, people from coming across, uh, a few months ago, these men were trained. These are expert horsemen. I've seen'em, I've actually mounted up on, on a couple of their, their horse before. And, uh, they're not whipping anyone. Those are the ranges. They're trying to keep these people. Uh, these are like good cutting horses. You know, when these people are trying to rush in and get around them, and then to be thrown under the bus by president Biden himself saying, there's, we're going to hold these people accountable. He's he, he, uh, he, he actually demonized them before there was even an investigation. And now that there's been an investigation, guess what? We cannot get the results of that investigation, because it shows that these men were doing the things they were trained to do. Uh, and they were, they were, uh, lambasted by the president and the DHS secretary of meas. And so as, as a consequence, there's low morale down there, the border,
Speaker 1:Well, I am happy to report. I was at the El Paso sector just a few weeks ago, and the amount of patrols were were out there. Good. No other way to get over some of that terrain. No. Uh, if it weren't for a man on horseback, uh, yeah, you could be on foot with, uh, perhaps a, a canine, but a man on horseback rule and on horseback could cover a lot more territory and have higher visibility and be a, a really as a force multiplier. So it would be a, it would be another mistake on top of all of the other bad decisions. Were they to remove the, the mounted patrols from the, uh, from the border patrol, they do a, a great job. And we actually ought to be grateful that we got men and women who are willing to do that. Cause it's not easy work as you know, no, I
Speaker 2:Don't, I'm, I'm very proud of those, those men and women. Um, I, uh, I, I just feel, feel very strongly, uh, that we need to commend these, these folks down there that are doing the work, the DEA, uh, seizing 30 million fake tablets, uh, millions of pounds of, uh, uh, of, of narcotics and death, you know, lethal drugs, uh, and, and apprehending, uh, Ms. 13 gang members or terrorists watch list, uh, members or no, fly out the list, uh, uh, illegal aliens coming across. I'm very proud of them for doing that job. And then when we have the, have the bad administration that will not let them accomplish what they're doing and not only not let them, uh, and really disobeying and violation of their own oats of office, I, I must say, but then demonizing and criticizing when they do want to do their jobs. That that is that's inexcusable. Again, I'm ready for November. Uh, I'm really ready to see, uh, uh, the American people who, who value their freedom. And don't like hypocrites while we're being locked down and forced to have vaccines, uh, these types of things. And then we have illegals coming across and not, not having to do any of that Americans. Don't like to see that we like underdogs. Don't get me wrong. Americans love the underdog, but we don't like hypocrisy. And that's what we're seeing.
Speaker 1:Yeah. In El Paso, I asked the customer board protection, uh, are you all required to take the vaccine? And they said, yes, we will be. And they gave me a date by which they would have to have it. I said, are any of these folks who are being held in this big room? Are they required to take the vaccine before they go? And they said, no, it's, we'll make it available to them, but they are not required. Yeah. And that hypocrisy that you just hit on that is it's gonna be responsible for low morale amongst our custom border protection, the people where the, but again, sworn to protect us and uphold the constitution. But, uh, Mr. Mrs. America out there don't understand why, uh, we seem to have two sets of rules and one for the law abiding and another set of rules for people who are engaged in criminality. It's it just, it, it defies gravity. Um, one for the, and not for me, there you go, but you've done a great job as our chair, our leader on the border caucus, and certainly look forward to you having the continue in that position. And then perhaps next year, when we get some additional reinforcement in the people's house, uh, we'll be able to hold leaders of the current administration accountable to a level where they will understand that their job performance is important and that they are Sable to the people and the people's house. And, uh, we'll begin to turn this thing around.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Dr. Burgess is always great. Great to be with you, appreciate your service to your country, to your district. And, uh, it's an honor to
Speaker 1:Serve with you. You got it. Well, that concludes this, uh, this episode of Dr. In the house pro podcast, but, uh, stay tuned. We got many more subjects to cover and many more guests to invite. So see you soon. Bye. Bye.