The Daily Signal - 'Open Borders Are Absolutely ... The Greatest Threat This Country Faces,' Lawmaker Says

Episode Date: March 10, 2020

 Congressman Paul Gosar of Arizona and Congressman Brian Babin of Texas join me on today's podcast. We discuss immigration, sanctuary cities, and some possible fixes to our current immigration crisis. We also cover these stories: President Donald Trump appeared to be urging Americans to put coronavirus in perspective with a Monday tweet.  Monday was a bad day for the stock market, which has been affected by coronavirus fears in recent weeks To avoid coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are asking older Americans and those with compromised immune systems to stock up on essentials, stay away from crowds, and hold off on travel that isn’t necessary.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, March 10th. I'm Virginia Allen. And I'm Rachel Del Judas. On today's podcast, I will be sharing two interviews I did with Congressman Paul Gossar of Arizona and Congressman Brian Babin of Texas. We discuss immigration, sanctuary cities, and some possible fixes to our current immigration crisis. Don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Now on to our top news. President Donald Trump appeared to be urging Americans to put coronavirus in perspective with a Monday tweet. Here's what he had to say. So last year, 37,000 Americans died from the common flu.

It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down. Life in the economy go on. At this moment, there are 546 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 22 deaths. Think about that. According to the Hill, there are at least 100,000 cases of coronavirus. coronavirus, with over 600 being within America. Monday was a bad day for the stock market, which has been affected by coronavirus fears in recent weeks. At one point, the Dow was down by 2,000 points. According to USA Today, the Dow Jones Industrial average is down almost 20%

from its February high. On Monday, the markets were particularly affected by a dispute between Russia and Saudi Arabia over oil prices. Oil prices are tanking. in part because of coronavirus. According to CNN, China is a top oil consumer. And so it's coronavirus woes, which will affect demand for oil, is a problem for oil producers. To avoid coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are asking older Americans and those with compromised immune systems to stock up on essentials, stay away from crowds, and hold off on travel that isn't necessary.

Nancy Messiner, the director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Responditions, diseases said. As the trajectory of the outbreak continues, many people in the U.S. will at some point in time this year or next be exposed to this virus, and there's a good chance that many will become sick. The reason to stock up now is to kind of stick close to home. She added, the highest risk is those who are older with underlying health conditions. I think if you're one of those groups separately or together, you need to be thinking towards what personal protections you want to take. Meanwhile, new cases of coronavirus continue to pop up across the U.S. New York State now has 142 cases. According to the New York Post, Governor Andrew Cuomo said schools could be closed for weeks,

if necessary. New Jersey now has 11 cases of coronavirus. Louisiana Governor John Bell Edwards announced his state has had its first person with coronavirus. In Washington, D.C., an Episcopal priest has tested positive for coronavirus. D.C. Mayor Muriel Browser is asking congregants who attended the church, Christ Church, in the Georgetown neighborhood, recently to self-quarantine per W-T-O-P. Next up, we'll have my interviews with Congressman Paul Gosar and Congressman Brian Babin. Do conversations about the Supreme Court leave you scratching your head? If you want to understand what's happening at the court, subscribe to Scotus 101, a Heritage Foundation podcast.

breaking down the cases, personalities, and gossip at the Supreme Court. We are joined today on the Daily Signal podcast by Congressman Paul Gossar of Arizona. Congressman, thank you so much for being with us today. Thanks, Rachel, for having this long. Well, we actually just finished a trip to the border. You're from Arizona, so what we saw, there is nothing new to you at all. But during this trip, we got to spend time in O'Gallas. We got to see a border structure that's been around for a couple years.

We were on a ranch where ranchers live close to the border, and so they talked a lot about time of response teams when CVP is able to address if they have problems on their ranch with illegal immigrants crossing. What did you see on this trip that was most impactful or stood out from other trips you've been on?

Well, on this trip, we started off by taking some helicopter tours over the border so you get a bigger viewpoint. You see things from the ground, but then when you see it from the air, it helps put things in perspective. So you saw the big gaps between the different fence post,

So there's lack of continuity. But the biggest thing that we saw was with the T.O. And this is an Indian tribe that actually has its border on the U.S.-Mexico border. And it's open. Frankly, there's no wall there at all. Now they've even admitted that they've actually helped the cartels in some instances. So one of the things that we have to look at is that the tribes are American, but the number one purpose of the government is to protect the people.

and that should be protecting the people of America. Well, speaking of protecting the people of America, Tucson, I think it was in November, they voted not to become a sanctuary city. What was that discussion like? I know, I mean, ultimately they voted against it, but I heard it was quite a battle there. So what did you see? What did you experience? What was that fight like?

You see it every day. So when you see what's coming out of California, you know, in a sanctuary, state, city. Application, same thing happened there. Tucson is closer versus Phoenix to the border. And so they are very consumed in regards to that discussion. But I think they saw the light. And luckily for them, particularly in light of what's now transpiring with the court system upholding the president,

you know, they realize that if you're going to be a sanctuary city, you're going to pay a penalty. Commissioner Mark Morgan, he mentioned recently at a press briefing that border crossings are the lowest they've been since February 2018. So there is some progress being made. What is your thoughts on that? Well, in spite of Congress, this president has actually, negotiated this out, but by utilizing trade deals with Mexico, with Guatemala, with Honduras,

and El Salvador. So he's worked his magic, even in the fact that the United States Congress tied his hands, particularly with those people that are crossing over our border illegally, with minor children. So I got to tell you, he's done a great job with the tools he's had, and kudos to him, but he gets the credit for it. In your home state of Arizona, what are some things is you see on a daily basis or whenever you're back visiting that illustrates the problem of the illegal immigration crisis that we're in right now. What are some things on day to day that you witness that you see are things that you want to address moving forward? So one of them is human trafficking. This was highlighted when we hosted the Super Bowl. It's the number one time

table of importation of sex trafficking at any one time in our state. And so I'm very cognizant of that, the human smuggling aspect. The drug. aspects. You know, 80% of the heroin and fentanyl type infiltrations of our country comes through our southern border in Arizona. So it's a pipeline. It's correspondence to what you would look at the body. It's like the femoral or aortic artery to their trade. And what I see there is the destruction of habitat. You see destruction of the pristine environment that's known as the desert. But you also see the crime. The crime's starting to start peaking. On our trip, we got a chance. to meet Sheriff Lamb.

And the implications aren't just for the border. It's for everybody north of the border. It's interesting you mentioned Sheriff Lamb and the desert when we were doing our tour, and I believe you were there that day. He showed us out in the desert, as you mentioned, there's all this litter, backpacks that have been thrown down, water bottles. And we were even talking about, and Sheriff Lamb mentioned this too,

despite the humanitarian concerns of illegal immigration, there's just all of this trash that's out in the desert. And he was even saying himself, like, where are environmentalists that are so concerned about that issue. Absolutely. So, you know, they respond by saying, you know, there's a negative impact by having a border wall. Yesterday we actually had a hearing in regards to this with the T.O. and supposed sacred sites.

When you look at it, when you're putting up that fence, what you're doing at that wall, you're actually helping the habitat because people can't just mow it over and desecrate it. Take some kind of willpower to get over that wall and to get into this country. So from the standpoint of what I look at, the animal space destruction, the habitat is destroyed. You get tire prints, you get rape trees that you see that are absolutely disgusting. And then the suffering. You know, the coyotes, when they're moving human traffickers, if there's a problem, they abandon these people. And these people are out in sweltering heat and sometimes frigid cold, and they die of exposure.

Sheriff Lamb, he also mentioned that during our tour. and I think it was the New York Times. They recently had a piece, and they interviewed some Border Patrol agents, and the agents themselves were talking about how they feel vilified, and Sheriff Lamb was saying how law enforcement in Arizona as well as CBP, people would in the desert, as you mentioned, don't have enough water or food,

and then they end up coming and rescue them. Is that a facet that you think is not often known by the majority of the American public? They don't. They don't understand how the organization works. A lot of times what they did, and they explained it on our country, trip is they'll take some human smuggling, particularly families, and they intentionally get caught. And what it does is in that area, it takes all the resources of CBP to actually inventory them.

At the same time, they're crossing over with drugs and even arms coming across the border. So it's kind of a catching display and deceive. So the sheriff has seen everything. People intentionally abandoned so they get caught so that other things can be moved across the border. It's sad. and most people don't really realize this that I went with Darylisa to the Central America in 2015

and the parents were telling us this is what was coming because the cartels had figured out that if they kidnapped children their parents would follow and so once again prophecy is out there well on January 10th

the Trump administration announced that 100 miles of the border wall had been completed construction along the southern border is there anything you've noticed as this landmark has been reached when it comes to immigration and securing our borders, any positive effects from that? I do. I look at the other side lamenting that they couldn't stop this and that there's actually

positive news in regards to the number of people coming across the border. And it defies everything that even environmentalists are saying. So butterflies can't cross over? You've got to be kidding me. So from the standpoint of what we're seeing is it's been done. It takes a businessman to understand that you can get through the bureaucracy. You can build this like pre-maid panels and put them up very quickly, and you got something that works very, very well.

What else do you think needs to be done when it comes to border security? What would you say are the top one or two things that we need to tackle to continue to fix the problem? It's enforced the law. There's one law in the land, and we have to hold people accountable for their actions. I go back and talk about Luis Brandeis, who used to be an associate justice on the Supreme Court, He said in the government of laws, the government is imperiled if it doesn't adhere to the rules scrupulously. If the government violates the law, it invites every man and woman to violate the law themselves.

It invites anarchy. Here we are. So we want to see enforcement. You know, so many municipalities will allow people to steal $1,000 and not be incarcerated. They're released. And so what we're building is the lack of accountability in this country. So everybody has to be held accountable. and you see it in the impeachment inquiry.

You see the FISA wrongdoings. People have to pay for what they do wrong. Well, Congressman Gossar, thank you so much for joining us on the Daily Signal podcast. You're welcome. Thank you. It's because of support from listeners like you that we can continue to produce podcasts like Heritage Explains and SCOTUS 101. And you can help us keep it up by going to www.org. podcast today to make your tax deductible gift.

We're joined today on the Daily Signal podcast by Congressman Brian Babbin of Texas. Congressman, thank you so much for being with us today. Great to be with you, Rachel. Well, you're here at CPAC, and you're talking about sanctuary cities and our open borders and how they reward lawbreakers. Can you talk a little bit about this and how this is happening? Oh, it's incredible. The open borders are absolutely, in my opinion, they're the greatest threat this country

faces. And in order for us to really do something about it and fix it on a permanent basis, we've got to have Congress to be helping our great president and securing our border. And yet we can't get the Democrats to do that. We've got over a million illegal aliens in this country who have already had their day in court, adjudicated cases, been given orders to be removed from the country, and yet the Democrats don't want to carry out the law. And they're so hypocritical that they say, no one's above the law in this country, especially Donald J. Trump, you know, and that's what they use during the impeachment proceedings. And yet, they're putting millions of illegal aliens above the law. You know, if you want to, if you want to have a nation that's

successful and with freedom and liberties, you've got to have a nation of laws. And you have, you can't just obey the ones you like and ignore the ones you don't like. And then you ask about sanctuary cities. This is probably the most ludicrous, insane policy that I've ever seen in my life, where you have elected officials, whether they're in cities, counties, or whole states that absolutely are putting criminal aliens ahead of their own voting, taxpaying citizens, and let me tell you, criminal activity, crimes that are committed by criminal aliens, those are preventable crimes. These people shouldn't be here to begin with.

And then when they are deported and they reenter, it's supposed to be a felony. And yet they're being shielded the sanctuary leadership, the elected officials are telling their law enforcement agencies do not cooperate with the federal immigration. so they get turned loose. New York City just a few weeks ago had a 92-year-old woman murdered, raped by a criminal alien who had been released in a sanctuary operation. And she would be alive today had they not had the sanctuary policy. So I think the American people are going to be really, really interested in seeing these types of policies abolished. And I'm so happy to report, Rachel, that the courts have just ruled that the president wanting to withhold funding to these sanctuary cities,

you know, to keep them from getting federal funds because of their violation of immigration law, that it has been upheld in the courts. So the president has been right. We've been right there with him the entire time. I've been a very staunch supporter of our borders. but the Democrats simply don't want to do that. But you know what? It's happening, and it's because we have a strong president that knows what to do,

and it does the right thing. Well, speaking of sanctuary cities, I just recently took a trip to the border in Arizona. In the city of Tucson, they recently, I believe it was in November, rejected becoming a sanctuary city. How in Texas are you seeing results or issues from sanctuary cities spill into your state? Do you see that at all in Texas? Yes, ma'am. We see it very frequently. And, you know, just a few short years ago, Rachel, the Democrats had a totally different line that they were telling.

They wanted to secure the border. They were, the labor unions did not want workers coming in from foreign illegals for taking American jobs. And yet now it's been a complete flip-flop. The Democrats don't want to stop. In fact, they want to legitimize illegal crossings. and they want to open border. There's no question about it. This is what the sanctuaries are all about.

And the reason they do is the very bottom line. The bottom line of having open borders is that they want people coming into this country being dependent upon the government from the very get-go. And then when they do become enfranchised to vote, they will vote Democrat. If they thought these illegals were going to vote Republican, I can tell you they'd be seeing a whole,

different tune. Already in several sanctuary areas, especially the state of California, illegal aliens are already voting in local and state elections. Did you know that? And incredibly, they offered a bill just a few weeks back to allow them to vote throughout the country in federal elections. Unfortunately, we're in the minority, the Republicans in the House of Representatives now, but fortunately, the Senate is still in Republican hands. So that is. is not going anywhere. Well, you mentioned how you are seeing effects of sanctuary cities in Texas. If there is one result from illegal immigration that you see most often most widespread in Texas,

what would that be? Well, I can tell you, in my district, in my district alone, in one of my counties, we have a school district there that has a, their student population has grown almost 400% in about five years. And it's simply due to illegal aliens. coming in to the area and the open borders down south. My district is probably 250 miles from the border and we're being impacted by it. And we have to educate these people. We've got to medicate these people. Every single one of the Democrat candidates for president have said they want to

give free medical care to people who are here illegally. And so I think the sanctuary cities and they're in Texas too Houston, Austin, there's a number of them. The criminal activity, the people who are being impacted negatively due to crimes and also the overwhelming numbers

and the costs of treating these people medically and educating them in our school districts. And this one school district is being overwhelmed. How are you seeing and are you seeing effects of drug trafficking in Texas when I was in Arizona, one of the sheriffs in Pinell County talked a lot

about the huge influx of illegal drugs they see coming across the border and how those are funneled into the country from the desert in Arizona where illegal immigrants come up from Mexico and come into Arizona. Are you seeing that in Texas? Yes, we are definitely seeing the results of an open border where we have an enormous number of illegal drugs coming in. I have voted repeatedly for anti-opioid, anti-drug smuggling legislation. And when we see that the percentage of these drugs coming in across our border, and 75,000 Americans dying of opioid overdoses and drug overdoses each year, it's just an incredible thought.

So that is another really visible aspect and result of our open borders. Well, the Democrats have a piece of immigration legislation called the New Way Forward Act. that you have a lot of thoughts on this. What do you think about this piece of legislation? It's the worst piece of legislation I've ever seen in my life. It is, and incredibly, I can't understand now anybody who is a United States congressman representing a district of the United States of America can offer a bill with a straight face that's this bad.

It would turn, we would go from having sanctuary cities and sanctuary states to a sanctuary nation. if this thing passes. And I think at last count, they had 44 to 50 Democrats are already on this thing, essentially open borders. And incredibly, they would, you know, if you commit a crime in the, in the country today is an illegal, you're supposed to be deported. If you're sentenced to a one-year prison sentence, if you spend a year, then you're supposed to be, you're eligible for deportation. And this would make it five years. Basically, you can hardly commit any kind of a crime that would have an automatic deportation. It's going to give an enormous amount of, you know, of jurisdiction and authority to immigration judges.

They can overrule deportation orders. The whole thing is just insane. And it's a prescription for disaster for the United States. Who wants Medicare for all to spend $3.2.20. trillion dollars a year, almost the amount of our whole budget just for, just for, for health care. Who wants the Green New Deal, which would eliminate fracking and oil and gas production, cattle raising? Unbelievably, this would destroy a number of states, including the great state of Texas. If you get rid of fracking, you get rid of, you're going to put about 7 million people out of a job across

this country you're going to cost you'll cost the gross domestic product at least seven to eight trillion dollars and it's just not going to work well there's a county in your state harris county and they recently approved a legal fund for illegals to give them defense funds what is your thought on that development another insane plan this came this was come up with by uh by our county judge down there uh judge hadago uh and basically what she's going to do is to have the citizen taxpayers of Harris County, Texas, that's Houston, to basically pay for legal representation for illegal aliens if they get in trouble with the law, deportation, immigration, anything. She's going to load that cost onto the backs of her own voting citizens

to pay for. It's insane. I'm hoping that the people of Harris County will certainly not appreciate what that is intended to do in a great county of Harris County and in my district. I represent part of Harris County. Well, the Trump administration had recently announced that they've reached 100 miles of border wall construction along the southern border with Mexico. What other measures, along with building a wall, do you think is necessary to really secure our border and reform and immigration system? You know, there's a number of things we can do. Certainly the barrier. We've already seen some of the walls been completed near El Paso.

Illegal crossings are down 80% where these barriers are. We've got to have more personnel. They've got to have more resources. We've got to devote. We have to start taking care of our border patrol and our CBP and all the federal agencies that are involved. We've got to start funding them like we do our military. This essentially is an invasion.

We saw in May of last year we had 144,000 illegals that just walked across the border, gave themselves up, and were turned loose into the interior of the country. And so when you have, and I mentioned this at the beginning of our conversation today, you've got well over a million illegal aliens, many of them criminals, who have already had their order, their day in court. the federal government has adjudicated their cases and given them orders to be removed from the country. If we don't, that's called, that's called interior enforcement. If we would start deporting these people, the Democrats don't want a single one of them out here,

even the criminals. It's incredible. But if we don't start carrying these deportations out of these criminals and these people that have already had their day in court, we will continue the green light, the welcome sign, to come in, incentivize, people from all over the world to come in into our nation. We can help, I can tell you, on the refugee program, not the immigration, but on the refugee program that we bring in a number of refugees each year. It's a United Nations operation, basically. We can actually help 12 refugees in their own countries for the price of bringing one

into the United States of America. Praisey we don't talk about that. They need to be talking. about it. And because, in fact, this is where Mrs. O'Barr, we're representative of O'Barr. She came in from Somalia. She was one of these refugees. Now she's sitting in the United States House for representatives and disparaging her adopted country, which is an amazing thing to me. We open our arms to her. But this is exactly what we have to start remedying. We've got to have some common sense. Our elected leaders are going to have to start doing things for the benefit of their

own people. We want to continue to be a compassionate Judeo-Christian country to help those that are downtrodden, that need help or oppressed, and we can do a much better job to help them in their own countries, and we have for many, many decades than to bring them in here and have them loaded on to the backs of our local estate, the taxpayer citizens, the federal citizen taxpayers as well, we've got to be smart. We want to be a sovereign nation, and we want to be a nation that is not broke.

That is very true. You mentioned you were talking about Customs and Border Patrol and the work that they do. And when I was in Arizona with the sheriff of Pinell County, He was mentioning that a lot of times border patrol ends up in other law enforcement agencies being a humanitarian response to people that are out caught in the desert, illegal immigrants that don't have enough water or food, and then they're being called out to help those people. Right. What is your perspective of how the work of the CBP is portrayed in media? A lot of times, I think it's not news that it's not favorable.

What is your thought on that? They're constantly criticized, demonized by the left. They even want to abolish ICE. I mean, that'd be like saying, you know, let's get rid of your local police department. You don't need those people. They just do bad things. You've got to have law enforcement. We have to be a nation of laws, as I've already said.

Absolutely. And the left just constantly criticizes them. I feel sorry for these people. I've met and worked with some of them. I've been on the border a number of times. I'm the House, the chairman of the co-chairman of the House Border Security Caucus. I've been to that border probably five or six times. It's been from Los Angeles, excuse me, from San Diego, California, all the way back to McAllen, Texas.

So I've been all up and down that border. And it's, as I said, in the beginning, I think this is probably the most serious thing that this country faces could lead to our demise, our bankruptcy, loss of sovereignty, and the Democrats simply want to open borders and pushing socialist programs. It's a prescription for the demise of our nation. We mentioned socialism, and we're here talking live at CPAC, and the theme this year for CPAC is socialism versus the American Dream. So as we wrap up, why is the American Dream the antidote the fix to socialism? Well, I think, you know, the American Dream has always been a lot.

alive and well. And that's one reason. I have 16 grandchildren, Rachel, and that's one reason I ran for office. I want to see this country continue to give the opportunity for the American dream to all young people, in fact, young and old that are that are entering our country. You know, our family were immigrants at one time as well. And so we have absolutely nothing but love for immigrants, but they have to do it the right way. And they also have to be immigrants that are willing to pay their way and not come up here and get on public assistance. And that will do a day's work and will love America and not come up here and fly their former nations. Flags are so good. Don't fly their flag. You know, fly the American flag. And I think this is what, this is what a lot of people,

they have a problem with. And it's nothing against immigration. It is, it's simply, We want people to come in here and make America a better country to love this nation and appreciate its history and what it is meant to the rest of the world. We have certainly, as Reagan said, we have been a shining city on a hill, a beacon of freedom, and we need to continue that. And if we go socialist and we have open borders, it won't last. Well, Congressman Babin, thank you so much for being with us on the Daily Single podcast. Great to be with you, Rachel.

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