Graves: I stood in support of President Trump and the national emergency on the border

(From Sixth District Congressman Sam Graves)

We have a crisis on our southern border. Just ask anyone who has worked or lived there. Ask any Border Patrol agent or military personnel who has seen the crisis firsthand. Ask family members of those who have lost their lives to fentanyl or heroin overdoses. Politics can never get in the way of their facts.

Yet, the left, in their undying quest to deny the President at every turn and not address the unimpeded flow of illegal immigrants across our southern border, brought up a resolution this week to stop President Trump’s National Emergency declaration to deal with our border crisis.

During debate on the House Floor, I stood in support of the President’s declaration for several reasons.







We do have a national emergency. This has been acknowledged time and again by both sides of the aisle. Now that President Trump has officially declared it as such, suddenly some think it’s not an emergency.

However, the President is well within the bounds of his office to declare this emergency. The law allows him to declare it and direct troops and funding to the border to put an end to the crisis. He’s certainly not the first to make such a declaration.

In fact, multiple national emergencies have been declared over the years. Currently, there are 31 ongoing declared national emergencies. This will make number 32.

President Obama even recognized the threats at the border and declared a national emergency to deal with the drug cartels who wreak havoc on families and communities.

Some have said that because we intercept most illicit drugs at ports of entry, we don’t need a wall. If we’re intercepting so many drugs at legal ports of entry, can you imagine how many drugs are flowing across the open parts of our border? Locking and deadbolting your front door isn’t going to be very effective if you leave the back door hanging wide open. We must secure the border and the only way to do that is with a wall.

That’s why I’ve pushed for a wall from day one and we’ve built several parts of it. However, this crisis continues to get worse as we haven’t completed it. We will never stem the flow of drugs and human trafficking if we don’t take this crisis seriously. There’s no doubt that it rises to the level of a national emergency and the President was right to declare it. It’s time to set politics aside and do what’s best for the security of our communities and our nation.