WASHINGTON – Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, today announced his opposition to efforts to block President Trump’s emergency declaration, highlighting the crisis at the southwest border.

“To address this crisis we need an ‘all-of the-above’ approach to border security that includes manpower, 21st century technology, and barriers. With this approach, we will stem the flow of drugs that are devastating our communities,” Rogers said in a speech on the House floor. “We will stop human smugglers and others from crossing hundreds of miles of open desert with innocent children.”

Find Rogers full remarks below:

Today I rise in strong support of securing our borders. There is a crisis at our southwest border that can no longer be denied.

Changing demographics have created unprecedented challenges for the Border Patrol. Record large groups of women and children from Central American countries are overwhelming Border Patrol facilities, undermining the safety of migrants and staff.

Family apprehensions for Fiscal Year 2019 are already 800 percent higher than Fiscal Year 2013.

Customs and Border Protection statistics indicate that border apprehensions are on pace to hit a 10-year high. Human smugglers are exploiting loopholes in our broken immigration system and using children as “visas” to gain entry into the U.S.

Further, drugs are pouring through our porous borders.  In fiscal year 2018, Customs and Border Protection seized almost 900,000 pounds of drugs at the border, the majority of which was seized BETWEEN ports of entry.

That includes approximately two thousand pounds of fentanyl, which equals a lethal dose for more than the entire population of the United States.

To address this crisis we need an “all-of the-above” approach to border security that includes manpower, 21st century technology, and barriers.

With this approach, we will stem the flow of drugs that are devastating our communities. We will stop human smugglers and others from crossing hundreds of miles of open desert with innocent children.

Border security used to be a bipartisan issue. The President’s declaration is only necessary because Congress can’t reach a deal to secure our country.

I stand by President Trump’s actions to keep Americans safe and I encourage my colleagues to do the same.

Vote against this effort to override the President’s veto.