On Friday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) spoke about the “Justice for Jocelyn” Act.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you very much.
00:27Everybody all ready?
00:28Good morning.
00:33My name is Andy Kahn.
00:34I'm the Director of Victim Services, Victim Advocacy for Crime Stoppers of Houston.
00:39I'd like to thank everybody for being here.
00:42I'd like to thank our local media, our Crime Stoppers staff, our CEO, Rania Mankarius,
00:51our Deputy Director, Nicole Kristof, our law enforcement team that's in the back.
00:59As someone who has worked with surviving family members of homicide for over 30 years and
01:09serves as a board member of Parents of Murdered Children, what happened with Jocelyn and her
01:19family is just another telling reminder of why we need to continue to do what we do.
01:29Thirty-one years ago, 14-year-old Jennifer Ertman and 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena were
01:37brutally murdered, sexually assaulted.
01:42When we found out what happened to Jocelyn, it just brought back a lot of memories, particularly
01:47for myself, in the very same types of scenarios.
01:52But I want Jocelyn's family to know that, like we were with the Ertmans and the Penas
02:00thirty-one years ago when we made sure that they got justice, in a very similar, unique
02:08fashion, Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena became catalysts for change.
02:15Change has happened as a result of that case.
02:19Your daughter, Jocelyn, is also going to be a catalyst for change.
02:27With that, I'd like to bring Jocelyn's mother, Alexis.
02:33Good morning, everybody.
02:45What happened to me and my family is something that I never want any family in America to
02:50ever have to go through.
02:52There are no words to describe the pain and the suffering that we have gone through these
02:58past few weeks.
03:01We shouldn't be burying our children.
03:04We shouldn't have to live our lives in the constant fear of someone taking our kids away
03:09from us.
03:11There are no words anyone can ever tell me to make me feel better, to make my suffering
03:16less.
03:18This is something that I'll have to carry on for the rest of me and my son's life.
03:23All I have now left is to fight, to fight for Jocelyn, to fight for justice, and that
03:29is why I'm here today.
03:32Because I refuse to let Jocelyn's memory fade, and I refuse to let her voice go unheard.
03:40Her voice now, so I will now never stop fighting for justice to be served for her.
03:46The two men who ripped my daughter away from me should have never been here.
03:50They should have never been roaming our streets freely, as freely as they were.
03:56They now get to live another day when my Jocelyn does not.
04:02I'm now supporting and fighting for Senator Cruz's Justice for Jocelyn Act, because if
04:07it had been in place, Jocelyn would be here with us today.
04:12She'd be living the life she deserves to live.
04:17I urge everyone to please support the Justice for Jocelyn Act.
04:23With it, we can really make sure that this never happens again.
04:27We can make sure that Jocelyn will never be forgot.
04:31Thank you for everyone who's here, and I'm going to go ahead and turn it to Senator Cruz.
04:42Thank you, Alexis.
04:43Thank you for your courage, being here.
04:46Kelvin, thank you.
04:48Thank you for being here.
04:49Thank you for standing with your daughter, standing for your granddaughter.
04:56What happened to Jocelyn was wrong.
05:00It was horrific, and it was evil.
05:04You know, we're standing here in the beginning of August.
05:08This should be a time when Jocelyn is running around with her friends, when she's going
05:15shopping for school, about to start, when she's thinking about what seventh grade was
05:21going to entail, when she's thinking about whether she's going to try out for the school
05:27play this fall, when she's wondering about the cute boy that sits three rows in front
05:35of her, if he's going to ask her to go to a movie.
05:41That's what Jocelyn should be doing.
05:43It's what every young girl and young boy should be doing.
05:49But what happened that night ripped that precious 12-year-old angel away from her mother,
06:01away from her little brother, away from her grandfather, away from a family.
06:09That hole will never be filled.
06:12The pain and agony, Alexis, I admire that you can stand here and speak for Jocelyn.
06:19That is not easy.
06:21I know a lot of you just wants to curl up and cry.
06:26But you're taking that pain, and we've sat in your living room, as you've told me about
06:30Jocelyn and what an amazing little girl she was.
06:33You're taking that pain that is ripping your heart to pieces, and you're using it to try
06:40to say, at least maybe we can stop another little girl, another little boy from being
06:47the victim of this.
06:51This is happening every day.
06:54Day after day after day.
06:58You pick up the newspaper, you look at the news, and we're seeing the same thing over
07:01and over again.
07:04Another person murdered.
07:06Another woman raped.
07:08Another child brutally assaulted.
07:12And the pattern in every one of these that is happening day after day after day is these
07:18are crimes committed by illegal immigrants who were apprehended and who the Biden-Harris
07:25administration chose to release.
07:28What is so infuriating about Jocelyn's murder is it didn't have to happen.
07:36It was utterly and completely preventable.
07:40These two Venezuelan illegal immigrants were in custody.
07:44They were in federal custody.
07:47All the administration had to do was follow the law, follow the law, and put them on a
07:51plane and fly them back to Venezuela.
07:56And Jocelyn would still be alive.
07:59She'd be laughing and playing, and she'd have her whole life in front of her.
08:06But instead, the administration made the political decision to release them.
08:12There were detention beds available.
08:15About 3,000 detention beds that were sitting there empty.
08:21But the administration made the political decision not to put them in a detention bed,
08:25but just to let them go, let them go into our community.
08:28And they came to our city.
08:33They came to Houston.
08:37And just weeks after they got here, they kidnapped and brutally assaulted and murdered Jocelyn.
08:52I've introduced the Justice for Jocelyn Act.
08:56This common sense legislation mandates that the administration detain illegal aliens who
09:04are in their custody while their cases are proceeding.
09:09That they no longer engage in catch and release, just letting go whoever comes into this country.
09:15It mandates that as long as there are beds that are available and detention facilities
09:19that are available, they must keep them there, and they must do every means necessary to
09:26ensure they keep them there.
09:30It also requires that if any individuals are released on ankle bracelets, that those ankle
09:38bracelets be monitored 24-7.
09:41And this is actually an idea Jocelyn's grandfather, Kelvin, came up with.
09:46The bill mandates that anyone on one of those ankle bracelets have a curfew.
09:53From 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., that they must be in their home and not out at night.
09:59Because tragically, we know from experience, the vast majority of these horrific crimes
10:03occur late at night.
10:06And the bill provides for any violation of those terms immediate deportation.
10:13This is a straightforward, common-sense step.
10:19It's something that makes sense.
10:23Those of us up here are wearing bracelets, justice for Jocelyn.
10:31I pray that these bracelets touch more than your wrist, that they touch your heart.
10:41Because not only are we grieving for Jocelyn, but we should be grieving for the little girl
10:46or little boy who's going to be killed tomorrow.
10:52And the day after that, and the day after that.
10:54Because as long as the federal government keeps doing what it's doing, every day, releasing
11:02illegal immigrants, criminal illegal immigrants who are preying on and murdering innocent
11:07people, we're going to see more little girls, more little boys, more women, more men subjected
11:14to hell.
11:18It's not right.
11:20And as a community, we can stand up and say enough is enough.
11:27I'd now like to recognize the district attorney and my good friend, Kim Ogg, who is taking
11:32the lead on prosecuting these cases.
11:35Thank you, Senator.
11:39Good morning.
11:46I'm Kim Ogg, Harris County District Attorney.
11:49On June 17th, Jocelyn Nungare's body was found tied, nude from the waist down, halfway submerged
12:03in a bio, murdered by two Venezuelan undocumented men who had been captured and released near
12:17El Paso, Texas.
12:19Unfortunately, they came to Houston, where after an afternoon of drinking, after construction
12:26work, which they were employed in, they encountered Jocelyn after 10 o'clock at night near a local
12:35convenience store.
12:36They lured her under a bridge and murdered her.
12:42Jocelyn Nungare did not have to die.
12:46And I want the Nungare family to know that every employee of the Harris County District
12:53Attorney's Office is committed to seeking justice for your child.
12:58Andy Kahn and Senator Cruz and I have been here before.
13:03In 1992, when the Peña-Ertman murders occurred by a group called the Black and White Gang,
13:11Jose Medellin was one of the murderers.
13:13He also was an undocumented alien who had lived here most of his life.
13:18Senator Cruz had the opportunity to defend the death penalty that he received from Texas
13:23jury while Senator Cruz was Solicitor General of the state of Texas.
13:28We share the experience of the Peña-Ertman families because we've known them.
13:35I've known them since it happened.
13:37So has Andy, I'm sure the Senator as well.
13:40These are real people who suffered unspeakable pain because of the murder of their children
13:49by murderers, one of whom was an illegal alien at the time.
13:58This case really had resonance for all of us because of the similar facts.
14:04And our commitment in this DA's office under my leadership is the same as it was under
14:10Johnny Holmes' leadership back in 1992 when the murderers of the Peña-Ertman girls were
14:16captured and prosecuted.
14:19So our commitment is to the same level of justice.
14:22We currently await additional evidence that we expect from testing.
14:28As you know, DNA testing is progressing each day and science and technology brings us closer
14:34to justice in this case each day as we wait.
14:38As soon as we have that news, we will share it, of course, with the family and then with
14:43you, the public.
14:45I'm here today not as a partisan, but as the top law enforcement official in Harris County
14:54to support the Justice for Jocelyn Act and to thank my fellow elected colleagues, Senator
15:01Ted Cruz and Congressman Troy Nels, for filing the Justice for Jocelyn bill because it will
15:11make us safer and because crime is bigger than partisanship.
15:20You know, if Justice for Jocelyn had already been the law of the land, there's a good likelihood
15:25that Jocelyn Nungare would be alive today.
15:29Had the two defendants never been released, of course, they wouldn't have had the chance
15:36to ever encounter, much less, assault and murder Jocelyn.
15:44Had there been a curfew and 24-hour monitoring of the ankle monitors, at least someone in
15:53government would have known they were no longer in the El Paso area to show up for their immigration
15:57hearing.
15:59And that likely would have been some violation of a condition of their release.
16:05But that didn't happen.
16:08And that's why we need the Justice for Jocelyn bill.
16:14It's an amazing thing to live in a city and practice law here and be involved in criminal
16:19justice long enough to see the same thing happening twice, more than three decades later.
16:25What is predictable is preventable.
16:32Without a way to identify undocumented individuals coming across the border, how are government
16:39officials ever supposed to know how to support the dangerous from the peaceful?
16:45And that's why we need every bed filled and a process that's legitimate in this country
16:52for people to enter.
16:55We have that.
16:56These individuals didn't follow it.
16:57Jocelyn Nungaray is dead as a result of it.
17:00And I am grateful to you, Senator, and grateful to you, Congressman, for trying to protect
17:06our children.
17:08Government's first responsibility is to protect us.
17:11This bill will help us do that.
17:13Thank you both.
17:18Thank you, Miss Hogg.
17:19Thank you for being here.
17:23The administration has been warned, they've been warned about this for over two years.
17:31And they've done nothing.
17:33I sent a letter to Secretary Mayorkas back in September of 2022.
17:40Border Patrol received an alert.
17:42They said, be on the lookout.
17:44Be on the lookout for Venezuelans coming through.
17:47These violent criminals, these violent gangs, they're coming through.
17:50Border Patrol, be on top of your game.
17:53Be on the lookout.
17:54They're coming.
17:58I sent a letter to Secretary Mayorkas.
18:00I said, sir, Border Patrol is receiving these reports.
18:04What are you going to do?
18:06What are we doing about this intelligence that stated that these Venezuelans are coming
18:12through?
18:13We've heard for many, many months that Maduro, obviously an illegitimate president, right?
18:19He has problems, poverty rates over 50%, inflation is over 220%.
18:27They're releasing individuals from their prisons, they're coming through on the caravans.
18:31I asked him all sorts of questions, Secretary Mayorkas, what are you doing?
18:37I hear nothing, nothing from the administration.
18:42In February 2024, Lake and Riley, murdered by a Venezuelan national.
18:51Recent report just came out that that killer's brother is tied to this horrible, horrible
18:57gang out of Venezuela, the Tren de Aragua, very, very bad people, murders.
19:08After Ms. Riley was murdered, I sent a second letter to Secretary Mayorkas asking him, hey,
19:14what are you going to do about this?
19:16You have been warned, Border Patrol is on alert.
19:19What is this administration going to do to protect the American people and make sure
19:24we have no more Lake and Riley's and others?
19:31They did nothing.
19:32I heard nothing from this administration on my second letter.
19:37Unfortunately, the warnings, my warnings went unanswered and it's costing Americans
19:42their lives.
19:43In June 2024, Jocelyn, brutally murdered by two Venezuelan nationals.
19:49They were released into this interior by the Biden-Harris administration.
19:55Our borders are, make no mistake, she is, she was, our borders are.
20:01Detention beds were available when they were apprehended crossing into our country.
20:06We have no way of checking these individuals as a former sheriff.
20:10People coming in here, we can work with other countries, Canada, Mexico and others, to determine
20:14if you're coming into this country, what kind of a citizen were you in your country?
20:20We don't have the ability to do that with Venezuela.
20:22Obviously, we have a very strained relationship.
20:25So people coming through, if you think I'm going to be able to, Border Patrol is going
20:29to know what type of person that was in Venezuela, can't get the information.
20:34We cannot get the information.
20:36And Maduro, he's very clever.
20:38He doesn't want them back.
20:40He doesn't want these bad hombres coming back into this country.
20:44He's releasing them.
20:45He wants them to come here, raise chaos.
20:48He doesn't want them back.
20:51Don't ever forget what Trump said in 2015.
20:54He said, I quote, they're not going to send us their brightest.
20:59June of this year, two NYPD officers were shot by these gang members.
21:04Two of them.
21:05And now what you hear this week, it's insulting when New Mexico has to alert Denver PD saying
21:14that this gang, that there is a green light, there's a green light now to kill officers
21:22in the city of Denver, a green light.
21:25Of course, I sent another letter.
21:28My third letter was just now sent to Secretary Mayorkas saying, what are you going to do
21:34when are you going to put America and its people first, not last.
21:42And as of this morning, I've heard nothing.
21:45I've heard nothing from this administration.
21:48Folks make no mistake.
21:50The Biden Harris administration is responsible for all of it.
21:56They do not.
21:57They're not concerned about our safety.
21:59The evidence is there.
22:01It's all there for the American people to see.
22:04And they put you and your family and the American people last.
22:09And quite honestly, I do not know how they sleep at night.
22:14I do not know how they sleep at night.
22:17Shame on them.
22:18I would like to now recognize our greatest Houstonian mattress man.
22:27Thank you, Congressman.
22:30Thanks, everybody, for being here today, for the support of the family, of Jocelyn.
22:40Alexis is here.
22:41Kelvin's here, her grandfather.
22:44And Jocelyn is not here.
22:46That's the sad part.
22:47Jocelyn is not here.
22:49So the Justice for Jocelyn Act will help keep these predators, and that's what they are,
22:56predators where they belong, in jail.
23:01The problem with something like this is the public has a short memory.
23:08I was reminded of me wailing about Centerpoint lists, and the people forgot about the problems
23:18once the air conditioning got turned back on.
23:21Well, we don't need to forget about Jocelyn because the pain of these two people behind
23:26me will be there forever.
23:30And to take away the innocent life of a young teenager and expunge her from the lives of
23:42her mom and her brother and her grandfather forever is absolutely unacceptable, especially
23:49in this country.
23:52The innocent life.
23:54So now I'll introduce my friend over here, Bryson, and Bryson's got a little story to
24:03tell.
24:04Come on up here, Bryson.
24:05How old are you, Bryson?
24:08Eleven.
24:09He's eleven years old, and I want to show you something about innocence.
24:15What did Mr. Feinberg teach you?
24:17He told me that if I be good in school, then the teacher won't be mean.
24:21He said, if you be good in school, the teacher won't be mean, right?
24:24I wish I'd have learned that.
24:25And what happened?
24:26And for the last week of school, if you got in trouble, you had no end of the year party,
24:31and I got in trouble.
24:33And at first I didn't have it, but then I did what Mr. Feinberg told me, and I was very
24:38good on the last day, and I got my party.
24:41So what did that teach you?
24:43It taught me that even in the worst scenarios, if you be good when you have the last chance,
24:51you may succeed.
24:53So how many days a week do you work at Galleries Furniture?
24:57Six to seven.
24:58And what do you do?
25:00I help Mattress Mac, I bake cookies, I do popcorn, and I also put out chips.
25:05And sometimes I help Mr. Mac do commercials.
25:08And what do you want to do when you grow up?
25:10I want to own my own furniture store.
25:12Uh-oh, you're going to put me out of business.
25:19How far do you live from where Johnson lived?
25:23Maybe half a mile.
25:25And after all this happened, did you go outside anymore?
25:32No, sir, I did not go outside anymore.
25:34Why don't you go outside anymore?
25:36You live half a mile from where Johnson lived.
25:38Because I'm afraid of getting kidnapped or killed or something worse.
25:45It doesn't really have to be that way.
25:47We're here to mourn these two, Jocelyn's mom, Jocelyn's grandfather.
25:55But you know, we'll go back to our lives, but they never will.
26:00That hole in their heart will be there forever.
26:03And so thanks to Senator Cruz for introducing the Justice for Jocelyn bill.
26:10We have to take action, we have to remember, we can't forget as time goes on
26:15because there will always be young people like Jocelyn,
26:20innocent young people like Bryson,
26:23who occasionally do things that kids would do at school.
26:28Tell them what happened that time at school.
26:30What did that girl call you?
26:32A girl called me a midget and I called her an oversized pig and I got rolled up.
26:38They're just children.
26:40They don't deserve any of this.
26:42We have to stand up for the children.
26:45And the Justice for Jocelyn Act will do that.
26:47Jocelyn is very much remembered in the hearts of millions of Houstonians.
26:52Get that box for me over here.
26:54So, take it out.
27:04The other day this customer came up and brought me this beautiful sweatshirt.
27:07This is how much they love Jocelyn.
27:09Give it to her mom.
27:18It's got Jocelyn's beautiful picture on it.
27:21That's how much this community cares about Jocelyn.
27:24Thank you Senator Cruz and Congressman for introducing this bill.
27:29Justice for Jocelyn.
27:31We need not forget, we need to remember and make it better
27:35for the innocent children like Jocelyn and Bryson
27:39who live here in Harris County.
27:45Thank you Mac, thank you for your friendship and tremendous leadership.
27:49Thank you Bryson, that was awesome.
27:51That was really strong.
27:53And Mac, you better watch out.
27:55He's coming for you pretty quick.
27:57Although you can find Mac any time of day at the store.
28:00You're going to work until the moment you fall over
28:03and go back to your good Lord, Mac.
28:08Look, we've seen the pain.
28:14We've seen the suffering.
28:16And we can act to prevent it.
28:18Alright, with that, let's open it up for questions.
28:30Well, what's next is to try to build support
28:33and to try to get other members, both in the Senate and the House
28:37to support it.
28:38So I've introduced it in the Senate.
28:40Troy's introduced it in the House.
28:42And it's a process of trying to get bipartisan support.
28:45I will tell you historically that has been a frustrating process.
28:49So, listen, this has been a battle.
28:52I've been in the Senate 12 years.
28:54I've spent all 12 years fighting to secure the border
28:57and dealing with these crimes.
29:00You know, Kim Ogg talked about
29:03Jennifer Erdman and Elizabeth Pena.
29:06When I was the Solicitor General of Texas,
29:09I argued the Medellin case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court twice.
29:14Prevailed both times.
29:16Ultimately, Jose Ernesto Medellin,
29:19who, along with his other gang members,
29:22committed unspeakable crimes.
29:25They gang raped and murdered those two little girls.
29:31And they reveled in it.
29:34Medellin wrote a handwritten confession.
29:36It's four pages.
29:38I've read it.
29:39I know Kim's read it.
29:40It makes your stomach turn.
29:43He was proud of what they did to those little girls that night.
29:46They kept as a trophy from that night
29:49a Mickey Mouse watch one of the girls was wearing.
29:58There is evil in the world.
30:01And so in my time in the Senate,
30:03I've consistently been fighting to secure the border.
30:06Now, we saw real successes when Trump was president.
30:11We worked very closely with President Trump to secure the border.
30:14And we ended up seeing illegal immigration plummet.
30:18By the end, by the last year of the Trump presidency,
30:21we had the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years.
30:24We had policies that worked,
30:26and Americans were safer.
30:27Texans were safer.
30:30I can tell you what is frustrating right now
30:33about the state of politics in Washington,
30:35which is much of politics in Washington is extreme.
30:39Particularly on the issue of immigration.
30:42A decade ago, there were Democrats in Washington
30:45who would work with you and say,
30:46let's secure the border.
30:48There are virtually none left.
30:51I'll give you an example.
30:53Somebody else who never should have lost her life
30:57is Kate Steinle.
30:59Kate Steinle was a beautiful 28-year-old woman.
31:02She was in California.
31:05She was walking on a pier one beautiful night with her father.
31:08When suddenly she was shot.
31:11Shot in the heart
31:14by an illegal immigrant
31:17who had been in and out of jail over and over and over again.
31:21He had been deported five times.
31:24And every time he was deported,
31:27he just came back and came back to committing crimes.
31:30I've talked with Kate's father.
31:35As Kate was dying,
31:38he held his daughter in his arms.
31:41She looked up at him.
31:44The last word she said, she said,
31:46Daddy, help me.
31:48And she died in his arms.
31:51That doesn't need to happen.
31:54In response to that, I introduced Kate's law.
31:57What Kate's law said is that anyone who is an aggravated felon
32:00who's a violent criminal
32:03who repeatedly enters the country illegally
32:06faces a mandatory minimum prison sentence
32:09of five years.
32:12Kate's law is another example of common sense legislation.
32:15You look at polling, 80-90% of Americans support Kate's law.
32:18That's true, by the way, among Republicans,
32:21among Democrats, among Independents.
32:24If you ask just about anybody with any sense,
32:27Kate's law is simple common sense.
32:30Well, twice I forced a vote on the Senate floor on Kate's law.
32:33Twice.
32:36Every single Democrat voted no.
32:39Kamala Harris voted no.
32:42Every member of the Democrat Senate voted no.
32:45That's infuriating.
32:48So listen, on the Justice for Jocelyn Act,
32:51I am going to fight to try to build support,
32:54but I don't want to overstate
32:57the likelihood I have heard no Democrats
33:00that I serve with
33:03even mention Jocelyn's name.
33:06We don't hear them mention
33:09Lakin Riley's name.
33:12We don't hear them mention
33:15Rachel Marin's name.
33:18We don't hear them mention
33:21Jeremy Caceres' name.
33:24The only way this changes
33:27is if the American people demand it changes.
33:30Because if it plays out
33:33as a simple party-line vote
33:36where no matter what provision you have
33:39to enhance common safety,
33:42every elected Democrat in Congress votes no,
33:45then the legislation doesn't move.
33:48And so my hope is,
33:51look, there is power
33:54in saying Jocelyn's name.
33:57There's power in saying
34:00Lakin's name and Rachel's name
34:03and Jeremy's name and Kate's name.
34:06These are real people with real families
34:09and every one of them could have been saved
34:12if officeholders cared enough
34:15to change the policies
34:18that are leading to their murders.
34:21Yeah.
34:24Senator, we're in this situation
34:27by, if I'm correct,
34:30by the use of executive privilege.
34:33We've seen increasing usage of executive privilege
34:36over the last, say,
34:3915-20 years.
34:42Does the Senate, does the Congress
34:45have the power to either
34:48overrule executive privilege
34:51or take such matters to the Supreme Court
34:54in the hopes of overturning executive privilege
34:57on matters such as where we are now?
35:00Look, it is a great question
35:03and you are right that what caused
35:06this border crisis was a series
35:09of unilateral executive actions
35:12and where we are today
35:15is unprecedented.
35:18So let's step back and have a little bit of history.
35:21I've actually joked that Joe Biden
35:24has done something I used to think was impossible.
35:27He made me miss Barack Obama.
35:30Now, to be clear, I disagreed with Barack Obama
35:33on a lot of policies
35:36but actually on immigration,
35:39he, by and large, followed the law.
35:42Obama, if you'll recall, deported millions of people.
35:45If you remember, the left got very mad at Obama.
35:48They called him the deporter-in-chief.
35:51What Joe Biden is doing, there is literally
35:54no precedent in the history of our nation for.
35:57He is simply defying the federal law.
36:00So the federal law provides,
36:03existing federal immigration law,
36:07in the United States Code,
36:10it provides for mandatory deportation.
36:13It says they shall be detained,
36:16they shall be deported.
36:19In the law, when Congress writes shall,
36:22it's a mandatory obligation.
36:25What Joe Biden is doing is simply ignoring it
36:28and releasing millions and millions of illegal immigrants.
36:31It's 11.5 million
36:34that have come into this country since he became president.
36:37That is larger than every state in America but eight of them.
36:40That is larger than the city of Houston.
36:43I spend a lot of time
36:46on the southern border.
36:49I go out on midnight patrol.
36:52Let me tell you what is happening right now.
36:55When you go out on midnight patrol with the Border Patrol agents,
36:58number one, they're not actually looking for illegal aliens.
37:01They're searching for them.
37:04When you go out on midnight patrol, within minutes,
37:07a group of illegal aliens will find you.
37:10They come find you and they turn themselves into you.
37:13They're all carrying with them,
37:16they have a baggie to protect it from water.
37:19They almost all have a cell phone.
37:22They almost all have some form of identification,
37:25a passport or a driver's license or a birth certificate.
37:28They almost all have a piece of paper with a name and phone number
37:31of someone in the United States they're supposed to call when they get here.
37:34They're being brought by Mexican drug cartels
37:37who are making billions of dollars
37:40trafficking these people.
37:43When these people arrive,
37:46I'll tell you, when you look at the women, when you look at the children,
37:49virtually every one of them has been sexually assaulted.
37:52It makes you sick to your stomach.
37:55When you look at a 10 and 11 year old girl
37:58who you know what the last six months of her life has been
38:01because these cartels, these human traffickers
38:04are vicious.
38:07And when they get there,
38:10the border patrol just installed a new app
38:13on their phones. I've seen the app, it's on their phones.
38:16It allows them to process an illegal alien in two minutes.
38:19The alien will pull out their
38:22identification card, they zap it with the phone,
38:25it populates all the different fields.
38:28And they ask them, what city do you want to go to?
38:31And one after the other they'll say, I want to go to Houston.
38:34I want to go to Chicago, I want to go to New York, I want to go to L.A.
38:37And Joe Biden and Kamala Harris
38:40put them on buses and put them on planes and they fly them
38:43to every city in America.
38:46That is directly contrary to the law.
38:49And I've got to say our Constitution
38:52frankly was not designed for a President
38:55that just flouts the law.
38:58Article 2 of the Constitution says
39:01the President shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
39:04When you talk to border patrol agents,
39:07I know many border patrol agents, they're frustrated out of their minds.
39:10They go risk their lives, they apprehend dangerous people
39:13and their political superiors say let them go.
39:16That's happening every single day.
39:19Now, here's the good news.
39:22This problem was caused by unilateral executive action.
39:25It can be largely fixed by unilateral executive action.
39:28There were three decisions that Joe Biden made
39:31the first week in office that caused this crisis.
39:34The first week in office he immediately
39:37halted construction of the border wall, number one.
39:40He reinstated catch and release,
39:43the disastrous policy where when you apprehend someone
39:46you let them go.
39:49And he pulled out of Remain in Mexico.
39:52Remain in Mexico was an international agreement.
39:55Trump had negotiated with the government of Mexico.
39:58It worked incredibly well.
40:01It caused our numbers to plummet.
40:04So that when Joe Biden came into office
40:07we had the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years.
40:10But instead he ripped up that international agreement
40:13and our numbers went from the lowest in 45 years
40:16to the highest in recorded history.
40:19Immediately.
40:22The good news is in terms of how you fix it
40:25if we have a new president in January of 2025
40:28the first week in office I guarantee you
40:31those three decisions will be reversed
40:34and we will secure the border again.
40:37Say enough is enough, what I hope will happen
40:40is that we see some congressional democrats
40:43who are willing to support common sense legislation
40:46to keep our children, keep our families safe.
40:49That will only happen
40:52if their constituents demand it.
40:55Senator, how do you incorporate
40:58background checks, criminal history to a bill like this
41:01people from Venezuela for example?
41:04I had the opportunity to talk to several family members
41:07childhood friends of these two individuals
41:10at least one of them
41:13the stories just add up.
41:16Several people can be telling me the same story
41:19that this person has a terrible criminal history
41:22in countries like Chile, Colombia.
41:25How do you incorporate that?
41:28I think it's important to know
41:31those affiliations as well as
41:34if one of them really does have kids
41:37because I know that was going to be a piece of information
41:40that was going to be used for a possible reduction of the bond
41:43and these stories just don't add up.
41:46There's no doubt we need much more vigorous vetting
41:49of the criminal history, of the gang affiliation
41:52of people presenting themselves at the border.
41:55I've introduced multiple pieces of legislation
41:59that address the border in a comprehensive way
42:02that secure the border, that put the resources we need
42:05that change the policy and include within them vigorous vetting.
42:08That is a very important part of what we need
42:11and by the way on immigration
42:14I for a long time summed up my views on immigration with four words
42:17legal, good, illegal, bad.
42:20There's a right way to come to this country
42:23which is you stand in line, you follow the rules
42:26you do vetting, you do a background check
42:29it is a process, we have millions of legal immigrants
42:32who followed that process, came to America
42:35because they wanted to be Americans.
42:38My father came from Cuba in 1957
42:41came to Texas with nothing
42:44couldn't speak English, he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour
42:47but my dad came to come to the University of Texas.
42:50That's the way the system is supposed to work.
42:53We need real and vigorous vetting right now
42:56that doesn't happen with illegal immigration
42:59it doesn't happen with open borders
43:02the people coming over, we don't know who they are
43:05and it's exacerbated, Venezuela in particular is a problem
43:08because Maduro is a thug and a tyrant
43:11he's illegitimate, he's trying to steal an election
43:14despite the fact that over 70% of the voters voted for the opposition
43:17and I believe Maduro is very systematically
43:20taking his jails and looking for the worst criminals
43:23in Venezuela and saying send them to America
43:26I think he is deliberately sending murderers
43:29he is sending rapists, he is sending child molesters
43:32it's the same strategy Fidel Castro employed
43:35during the Muriel boatlift in the 80's
43:38where Castro emptied out his jail
43:41and he emptied out his lunatic asylums
43:44he sent people that were crazy and that were violent
43:47he dumped them all on the shores of Miami
43:50and it resulted in massive crime
43:53it is a real problem, I'll tell you it's also a problem with terrorism
43:56look, we're sitting here
43:59just this week the news broke
44:02there were two illegal immigrants from Jordan
44:05who tried to breach the marine facility at Quantico
44:08they came in in a box truck
44:11they claimed that they were Amazon delivery drivers
44:14they were not, that was a lie
44:17when the guards wouldn't let them in they tried to drive the truck
44:20forcibly into the Quantico base
44:23thankfully the anti-vehicle barriers stopped them
44:26they were apprehended, they're both from Jordan
44:29we don't have the background on them
44:32we don't right now at least publicly know the motive
44:35we don't know if they're involved with terrorist organizations
44:38just this week the news broke they were released on bail
44:41one with a $10,000 bail
44:44the other with a $15,000 bail
44:47look, the risk we're having at our border
44:50number one of violent crime but number two of terrorism
44:53I believe today we're at a greater risk for a major terrorist attack
44:56than we've been any time since September 11th
44:59and so I think there is a national security
45:02and public safety imperative to secure the border
45:05we definitely need to do that
45:08but I want to say here what I'm focusing on
45:11with the Justice for Jocelyn Act
45:14is a much more focused solution, it's not a bill that would solve
45:17every problem at the border
45:20but it's a bill we drafted designed to stop
45:23this specific problem
45:26if these murderers had been kept in a detention facility
45:29which was there, was empty, there was no reason
45:32on earth they couldn't have been put in that facility
45:35Jocelyn would still be alive
45:38this ought to be something everyone can come together
45:41and that is my hope and prayer
45:44and I just want to, in closing, I want to say again to Alexis and Kelvin
45:47thank you
45:50I cannot imagine trying to stand up and make it through
45:53what both of you are making through
45:56and I know you are fighting for Jocelyn
45:59you're fighting because you love her
46:02and she's inspiring and every one of us
46:05we're praying for you
46:08thank you