Pres. Biden where am i going . Right over there. Pres. Biden again, thank you. As my mother would say, please excuse my back, i apologize. Folks. Good afternoon. Before we start id like to say a few words about the devastating wildfires that are scorching the texas up and downhandle and northwest oklahoma. Texas panhandle and northwest oklahoma. Yesterday, one of the biggest fire events in texas history, more than one million acres of texas land burned. From the start i directed my team to help protect people in the communities threatened by these fires. In response to specific requests from the state, weve already had more than 500 federal personnel here working on fire suppression. That includes depliment of 100 federal firefighters and more on the way. As well as dozens of Additional Fire engines, air tankers, small planes, helicopter, help fight the flames. And fema has already guaranteed that texas and oklahoma will be reimbursed for the cost of keeping folks safe. Were grateful for the brave First Responders risking their lives to save others. And we urge, we urge folks to listen to the warnings from local official, listen to them. Ive flown over a lot of these wildfires since ive been president. As a matter of fact ive been in a helicopter in the northwest, southwest, flown over more land burned to the ground, all vegetation gone than the entire state of maryland in square footage. The idea that theres no such thing as climate change, i love that, i love some of my neanderthal friends who still think theres no climate change. My administration is going to keep building on the progress weve made, fighting climate crisis, and were going to keep helping folks rebuild themselves in the wake of these disasters. We rebuild to the standards that are up to date standards. Building codes and the rest. Because a lot of if you fly over these arias that are burned to the ground youll see 20 homes that are just totally destroy. One home sitting there, it had the right roof on it. Anyway, since i took office, fema has given texas alone 13 billion. In Disaster Relief after fires and winter storms across the state. When disasters strike theres no red state or blue state where i come from. Just communities and families looking for help so were standing with everyone, everyone affected by these wildfires and were going to continue to help, respond and recover. Now turning to the purpose of my visit. I want to thank congressman gonzales, there you are, pal. [applause] thank you for the passport into the district. Hes been a great partner. I also want to thank the mayor for his partnership and county judge trevino requester over for over 30 and over 30 officials who yoind us here today. No one works harder for a safe, secure border than all of you. Secretary mayorkas has joined us today, hes joined by seven mayors in cities and towns across south texas. Four county judges from across the state. I told a county judge, i used to be a county official and its the hardest job in american politics, you know why . They think you can do everything and you dont have the budget. And state house leader Trey Martinez is here and state Senate Leader carol alvadero. To all the officials here, i want to say thanks. Folks, its simple. Its time to act. Long past time to afnlgt i received a briefing from the Border Patrol at the border as well as immigration and enforcement. Theyre all doing incredible work under tough conditions. Really tough conditions. They told me what you already know. We already know. They desperately need more resources. Say it again. They desperately need more resources. Immediate more agents. More officers. More judges. More equipment. In order to secure our border. Folks, its time for us to move on this. We cant wait any longer. On my first day as president i introduced a bill i sent to congress. A comprehensive plan to fix the broken immigration system and to secure the border. But no action was taken. Then months ago, my team began a serious negotiation with a Bipartisan Group of senators, democrats, republicans, it resulted in a compromise bill, the toughest set of Border Security reforms we have seen in thunt kri. Its pretty basic with this deal we could hire 1,500 additional Border Security agents. 1,500 additional officers. And between ports of entry, for the last four years, staffing has been roughly that. Flat. Just flat. Agents workingover time. Spending lon hours patrolling the border. Making major sacrifices. And i know it takes a big toll on them and their families. Thats why in december i signed a bill, finally getting Border Patrol agents, ive been pushed and reminded by congressman, wherever time they pay deserve. Finally getting overtime pay. Its ridiculous it took this long. It was long past time. I was proud to do it. But we need to do more. Its time to step up. Its time to step up and provide them with significantly more personnel and capability. We also need more Immigration Judges. Help handle the backlog. Two million cases. Backlog of two million cases. This would provide funding for 500 more Immigration Judges immediately and establish a new efficient and fair process to consider asylum claims for those arriving at our border. Today the process to get a decision on an asylum claim takes five to seven years yowch all know it down here but the people around the country dont understand i. Its far too long. You say i have a credible fear and we change that standard to make it harder, we want to make it harder and what happens . You say well ok. You can go in the country but come back in five to seven years. Maybe as many as eight years. And youll get a hearing. Come before a judge to determine whether you can stay. This will encourage more people this encourages more people to come to the country if they get by the first, say theyve got another five, seven, eight years before that to do anything. Because they know they cannot handle the case loads quickly. And theyll be able to stay in this country in the meantime. New policies in this bill, an additional 4,300 additional asylum officers will be able to reduce that process to less than six months. That would have a serious deterrent effect on those coming north. When the criminal gangs say well get you north, but its 8,000. You say let me get this straight. Im going to go north. Its going to cost me 6,000 or 8,000, probably closer to 8,000 equivalent. Im going to get there and in six months they may be able to get rid of me. I dont know. Six months, seven year two different things. The person thinking about sprg the United States understands, if a case that can be decided in weeks or months rather than five to seven year, theyre less likely to come in the first place. Theyre not going to pay the cartels thousands of dollars to make that journey. Knowing that, it will be turned around quickly. Look, we also need more inspection machines to detect and stop fentanyl from entering the United States of america a year ago i stood at a border in el paso and watched the machines at work. They were able to detect everything from ninlt to weapons to people. Being smuggled in cargo con tapers. This compromise bill would provide an additional 424 million for 100 more of these machines and can save lives in the process. This compromise legislation will also give me as president , or the next president , Emergency Authority to temporarily shut down the border between ports of entry. When the numbers of imgrans and migrants, excuse me, overwhelm the border. Starting straining the Border Patrolsable to process. At the same time, at our legal poforts entry, like here in brownsville, were making investments in infrastructure. My bipartisan infrastructure law is going to provaid nearly 4 billion new dollars to boost security to ease waiting times. At ports of entry like brownsville. I want to thank again congresswoman gonzalez congressman gonzalez helping me get that through, get that passed into law. Thats how you got the money from the gateway bridge from that fund. The bipartisan Border Security deal is a win for the American People. Its a win for the people of texas. Its for those its a win for those who have a legitimate right to come here. Its a winner in people of brownsville. I believe thats why the Border Patrol unit endorsed it. I believe thats why the National Chamber of commerce endorsed it. Not known as a Democratic Organization with a capital d. Thats why the wall street journal endorsed it as well. This is a truly bipartisan initiative. Thats why the bipartisan south Texas Alliance of cities endorsed it. Folks, i didnt get everything i wanted in that compromise bipartisan bill. But neither did anybody else. Compromise is part of the process. Thats how democracy works. Thats how its supposed to work. Compromise is a very positive step on a critical issue for the country. All those issues for the country. Folks here in brownsville and along the border know that. We need to have their backs. Your back. I want the people to understand clearly what happened here. This bill was went to the United States senate, on its way to being passed and was derailed by partisan politics. The u. S. Senate needs to reconsider this bill and those senators who oppose it need to set poll takes side and pass it on merits, not on whether its going to benefit one party or benefit the other party. Its whether it benefits the American People. Its what the American People deserve. The speaker of the house needs to put this bill on the floor. If he put it on the floor, unrestricted, it would pass. The majority of democrats and republicans, beau houses, support this legislation. Until someone came along and said dont do that, itll benefit the incumbent. Thats a hell of a way to do business in america for such a serious problem. We need to act. Its time for the speaker and some of my republican friends in congress who are blocking this bill to show a little spine. Pass the bipartisan bipartisan conservative leaders supported this. Border security bill. Lets remember who we work for, for gods sake. We work for the American People. Let me end with this. I understand my predecessors at eagle pass today. Heres what i say to mr. Trump. Instead of playing politics with this issue, instead of telling members of congress to block the legislation, join me. Or ill join you. In telling the congress to pass this bipartisan Border Security bill we can do it together. You know and i know its the toughest, most efficient, most effective Border Security bill this country has ever seen. So instead of playing politics, why dont we get together and get it done. Lets remember who we work for. We work for the American People. Not the democratic party, the Republican Party we work for the American People and lets remember who we are. We are the United States of america. I mean it. Think about this. Theres nothing, nothing beyond our capacity. Nothing. When we work together. And if all an of all things we should be working together on, its this. We have the formula to get it done. God bless you all. May god protect our Border Patrol and god protect our troops. Now id like to turn it over to secretary mayorkas. [applause] secretary mayorkas at the outset, i want to echo the president s words about the tragic fires in texas and oklahoma. We in the department of homeland security, especially our agency fema, are intensely focused on providing the support, resources, and assistance the impacted residents and communities need. We are grateful to the brave firefighters and other frontline Emergency Personnel as they combat the flames that continue to burn. Mr. President , thank you for visiting the men and women here at the border in brownsville, texas, who dedicate themselves to the safety and security of our country and the enforcement of our laws. The operational brief you received today demonstrated several crucial points. First, you were able to once again see up close the extraordinary talent, tireless dedication, and true heroism of our personnel who give so much of themselves every day, many at great personal risk, to secure our border, disrupt and dismantle dangerous cartels and smuggling operations, keep fentanyl out of our communities, rescue victims, and so much more. Im incredibly proud of the men and women in and out of uniform who serve our country through their work for our United States department of homeland security. Second, you heard about the dynamic and channeling phenom knob of the phenomenon of the migration we face as the hemisphere and world face the greatest displacement of people since world war ii. At times last year, 30 of the encounters across our entire Southern Land border occurred in this Rio Grande Valley sector. Today, we discuss the dramatic change ours partners in the south have helped bring about by increasing their enforcement before people reach the United States border. Third, you heard from d. H. S. Leadership about how resourcestarved we continue to be. Only congress can address our desperate need for more Border Patrol agents, Field Operations officers, Immigration Enforcement agents and officers, asylum officers, Immigration Judges, support personnel, facilities, and technology. You can see the impact these resources will have on our ability to strengthen our security, advance our mission to protect the homeland and enforce our nations laws quickly and effectively. Though congress has not yet provided the resources we need, d. H. S. Will continue to enforce the law and work to secure our border. We have listened to our work force and leveraging every available asset, equipped them with new technology, logistical support, innovative tools, 11 new processing facilities and hundreds of additional processing coordinators and support personnel. We are removing and returning historic numbers of mie grants who entered illegally and failed to qualify for relief. Just since mid may, we have removed or returned more such migrants than in any full fiscal year since 2015. We have provided asylum officers new authority to streamline the asylum claims process, implemented regulatory changes that incentivize migrants to follow safe, orderly and lawful pathways and so much more. The importance of passing the Bipartisan Legislation to fix our broken immigration system and add muchneeded resources cannot be overstated. Nor can the heroism of our personnel who accomplish so much for our country with so much less than what they need and deserve. Finally, mr. President , you heard about the difference that cooperation, collaboration, and communication between federal personnel and local officials can make in the efficient and effective enforcement of our laws. Unlike Texas Governor abbotts efforts to undermine federal border enforcement, the leads for the brownsville serve as a model of cooperation in addressing, together, the challenges that regular migration present. All in the service of this community and our country. Thank you, mr. President , thank you to the Public Officials here at all levels of government, and thank you to the extraordinary Public Servants of the United States department of homeland security. It is now my pleasure to introduce congressman vicente gonzalez. [applause] mr. Gonzalez thank you all so much for being here. This afternoon. Thank you secretary mayorkas. It is my honor to welcome President Joe Biden to the 34th Congressional District of texas. Lets give him a big, warm welcome. [applause] and we hope this is just the beginning of many more visits to our region, not only in this presidency but the next. We want to thank him for such critical conversations that weve had on issues that impact us here and across the southern border but i cant go by without celebrating the recent over 300 million of Infrastructure Investment we have received here to our Congressional District. When you travel across the valley you see massive infrastructure and roads and bridges but we have received a lot of resources in expanding our points of entry, our airports, 68 million to deepening and broadening the port of brownsville which will allow larger vessels to come in, and more projects to ensure we continue to compete globally in the next generation. Secondly, id like to thank folks who are here today who understand that Border Security is not democratic or republican problem. Its an american problem that requires real, bipartisan solutions. Thats why we enact legislation that enables us to hire more Immigration Judges, more infrastructure on our southern border and the bill that came from the senate side, the bipartisan Border Security package, would do just that. It would fix many of the problems that are urging our southern border today. We need to continue with ideas like that. We need to assure that one former president and a partisan rogue Group Members of congress dont stop this progress and dont alleviate the pressure on our southern border. I continue to urge safe zones in the congress to create safe zones in places like guatemala and panama and possibly colombia where migrants can process their asylum claim thousands of miles from our southern border. And it takes the pressure off our southern border. And it assures that cartels dont continue to enrich themselves by trafficking people to our southern border. However, we cannot do this without a bipartisan cooperation. We need to ensure we continue to nudge that small rogue Group Members of congress, of republican members of congress, not all of them, a small group, that are putting the stop on important legislation that could create take the pressure off our southern border and create improved conditions here in south texas and across our region. Rest assured that i will continue to work with President Biden and members of congress across the aisle to bring policies that will make things better for everyday americans, but also secure our southern border. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you to all the stakeholders that joined us this morning. I could not be more proud than to have all of you here today. God bless south texas, and god bless the United States of america. Do you bear any responsibility my name is john and i am the mayor of the city of brownville. Mr. President , thank you for euting our beautiful city. The largest city in the Rio Grande Valley. I believe i speak for all of the elected officials here when i say its an honor to have you here. We stand united in our commitment to protect our communities. Secure our border, and uphold our values. Im a member of the south Texas Alliance of cities. A group of mayors from south texas communities. We work in partnership with the federal government, local law enforcement, and nonprofits to address the challenges created by the border issue. We understand the complexities, diversity of thought on possible solutions, and the compelling need to ensure immigration is not a wedge issue. As local leaders, we are responsible for our communities. Our safety and wellbeing. We cannot play politics with this. I am proud of the work we have done in brownsville to help people entering the country. Our approach, called the brownsville model, is as compassionate and humane as it is efficient. It prioritizes dignity and care. For two years in a row, brownsville has been named one of the 20 safest cities in america. Mr. President , all of us here are overworked and understaffed. In brownsville we have assisted over 240,000 migrants since 2021. Our population is just below 200,000. From el paso to san antonio to brownsville we all need help. So do our federal partners. We cannot afford to wait. We need to pass the senates promising bipartisan border bill you have championed. We have studied it and it will give cities critical re Critical Resources to respond humanely to the migrant challenges. Its a big deal to have the president of the United States in the Rio Grande Valley. Thank you for visiting beautiful brownsville, texas. Thank you. [applause] mr. President , do you bear any responsibility for laken rileys death . [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2024]