Mike Kennedy: 'There's Order At The Border Now Because We Have The Right President'

5 minutes ago

During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Mike Kennedy (R-UT) spoke about the border policies of the Trump Administration.

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Transcript

00:00And I'll recognize Mr. Kennedy for five minutes.

00:03Thank you, Mr. Chair.

00:04I appreciate the opportunity to have this hearing.

00:06I was just in Nogales, Arizona to witness the border

00:09for myself.

00:10And I will say, there's been, as I'm a freshman

00:13and as an outsider, there's a lot

00:15of talk about we need to pass legislation

00:17to control the border.

00:18And in fact, there's order at the border

00:20now because we have the right president.

00:22We need legislation as well.

00:23And I do think, and I'll compliment Congressman

00:26Siskimani for this legislation, I

00:28think it's a step in the right direction for us.

00:31And I'm a big fan of passing legislation.

00:33But it takes a president with the will to control our border.

00:36And we actually do have a president with that will.

00:38When I went to the border this weekend

00:40and witnessed what was there, there

00:42was essentially nothing there.

00:43Nothing was happening.

00:44Now, there's always something happening.

00:47And I was there for 48 hours.

00:49But it's impressive to see the order that has been brought.

00:52And I appreciate all of you for being here and being

00:55our witnesses to help us.

00:58I'll start with Sheriff Cleveland.

00:59Thanks for your testimony.

01:00And actually, I'll also point out to Mr. Lopez

01:03that I do want to, if you have any follow-up

01:06from your presentation, I understand you were cut short.

01:08So with my residual time that I hope to have,

01:12I'd like to turn that over to you.

01:13So if you'd prepare any comments you might have.

01:15But I'm a family practice doctor professionally.

01:18And I'm sensitive to the challenges

01:20that people can face when seeking medical care.

01:22And Mr. Cleveland, Sheriff Cleveland, in your testimony,

01:25you said Terrell County saw strains

01:27on the medical emergency resources

01:29as a result of the surge in border crossings.

01:32Has there been a rise in emergency room visits?

01:34And has it been to the detriment of your population?

01:37Can you tell me more about that?

01:40Since the new administration came in,

01:42we've had very little activity.

01:43And we've had only one deceased legal aid.

01:46And we assisted with the neighboring county with.

01:49But we've had no emergency medical calls

01:51that I can recall since this new administration.

01:53Congratulations.

01:54Previous to this new administration,

01:56what was that like for you?

01:58So again, we're a very large county.

02:00We're a very poor county.

02:01And there's not a lot of revenue coming in.

02:03So our Sheriff's Office, it's myself and two deputies.

02:06Fortunately, through Operation Lone Star,

02:08we've been able to hire additional two.

02:10And Operation Lone Star is Governor Abbott's

02:12response to the border.

02:14Like the Sheriff's Office, our emergency medical services

02:16only has one crew on at a time,

02:19which is made up of two people.

02:20So at times, if they're responding to border situations,

02:24it takes them out of service to respond

02:27to possibly situations that may be needed

02:29there in our county.

02:31You told us there were how many deaths in the past?

02:34The last four years, we had a total of 43 deaths.

02:3643 deaths.

02:37People trying to cross our portion of the border illegally.

02:39Tragic.

02:40Everyone is tragic.

02:41But 43 of those is extremely tragic.

02:44But Mr. Lopez, if we can,

02:47did you have any further comments you'd like to make

02:49that you didn't get to make earlier?

02:53I do thank you for your time, Timmy.

02:55I'd like to point out that part of my testimony

02:59would include the, it's called carbofuran,

03:04which is a highly toxic chemical.

03:08Used in the marijuana cultivation?

03:10Correct.

03:11And I'd just like to point out how that affects

03:12my county going forward.

03:14So according to research from the LA Times,

03:16illegally smuggled carbofuran from Mexico

03:19to the U.S. is used on 90% of marijuana grows

03:22on public land in California.

03:24Illicit cannabis contaminated with carbofuran

03:28from California is a significant source of marijuana

03:30in states where it remains illegal.

03:32As this problem proliferated throughout our region,

03:36San Bernardino County, some of our northern counties

03:39in California, like Siskiyou and Humboldt County,

03:43also saw the same thing because there were virtually

03:46no consequences in California under Proposition 64.

03:50Recently, Los Angeles Times tested 25 cannabis products

03:53that were purchased from California legal retail stores

03:57and had them tested at private labs,

03:59which showed concentrations of pesticides

04:02above levels that the state allows

04:04or at levels that exceed federal standards for tobacco.

04:08The contaminants include chemicals tied to cancer,

04:11liver failure, thyroid disease,

04:13and genetic and neurological harm

04:15to users and unborn children.

04:17These harmful pesticides, many of which originated

04:21from China, are being smuggled into the United States

04:25and used in illegal cannabis cultivation on public lands.

04:29Seized cannabis from illegal grows in San Bernardino County

04:31and Siskiyou counties has been traced

04:33to licensed facilities in Oregon and California,

04:37revealing a dangerous contamination risk.

04:39Many of these samples are coming back

04:41with these harmful pesticides

04:44that are originating on our public lands

04:47and inundating the legal market,

04:50created a public health situation

04:53where users of cannabis believe

04:54that their cannabis is legal and safe, but it is not safe.

04:58These pesticides have avoided detection by labs

05:01because the states like California do not require labs

05:04to test foreign-labeled pesticides.

05:07After all, we shouldn't be using them.

05:09This poses a severe public health threat

05:12and contributes to the environment degradation.

05:15Thank you, I yield back the time.

05:17Thank you very much, and I'll just conclude.

05:18Thank you, Mr. Chair, for this opportunity,

05:20but we're allowing this carbofuran to toxify our citizens

05:24while we claim that floating barriers

05:27are creating a muscle concern at the border,

05:30and I'll just point out that we wanna keep poisons

05:32out of our citizens' lives,

05:34and thank you for bringing up that testimony.

05:36I yield the remainder of my time, Mr. Chair.

Mike Kennedy: 'There's Order At The Border Now Because We Have The Right President'

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