During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) spoke about the environmental harm caused by illegal border crossings.
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NewsTranscript
00:00We will take members questions.
00:01I'm going to start out with my five minutes
00:03of questioning here.
00:05And first of all, though, I want to recount the visit
00:07a year ago that I made down to the Tucson region
00:11and south of Tucson, where we had the hearing
00:14in Sierra Vista.
00:16And as you can see, the picture to my right here,
00:19we found all kinds of trash, human waste.
00:24It's the reason, the genesis of the Trash Act
00:28that you see in this legislation
00:30that we're considering today.
00:32I find it amazing that we have allowed millions of pounds
00:37of trash to be spread across these areas
00:40like the Coronado National Forest.
00:42I believe Sheriff Cleveland, you commented about,
00:45you perhaps worked in that sector.
00:47And I find it amazing that this was simply allowed
00:51to happen under the Biden administration.
00:54My colleagues on the other side of the aisle
00:56talk consistently about protecting the environment.
00:59And if there's as much as a cap full of oil
01:02that spilled on a drilling site,
01:05there's an immediate reaction,
01:07yet we see this degradation that's going on
01:10on some of our public lands.
01:12And not a peep was said because it stood
01:17in the way of the narrative of the Holy Grail,
01:20which was to import as many people illegally
01:23into this country as possible.
01:26Even at the cost to our environment, I find it amazing.
01:29But I would point out one other thing on that trip.
01:32We happened to stop at a hotel that had been turned
01:35into a halfway house in Tucson by one of the NGOs
01:42that were profiting off from illegal immigration.
01:44One of the NGOs that was one of the vital links
01:50in the chain, as well as the cartels,
01:53the International Organization for Migration,
01:56and other entities that made illegal immigration
02:00a big business on both sides of the border,
02:04we found in that Tucson hotel
02:08exactly what was happening in Arizona.
02:11And we exposed it to the world.
02:13And it was amazing how the footage that we shot
02:17at that hotel in Tucson went viral,
02:20showing how many people were profiting off
02:23from illegal immigration, including some who claim
02:27to be doing it for charitable purposes.
02:29Hopefully, that day is gone now forever.
02:35To that point, are things changing?
02:38Sheriff Cleveland, we've seen a new administration
02:40since January 20th.
02:42Tell us, are things changing on the southern border?
02:45100%, it's a night and day.
02:47It's been a complete 180.
02:50I've anticipated activity in our county
02:52to start picking up.
02:53I'm not sure that I mentioned, but again,
02:56the activity we have in our area pales in comparison
02:59to many parts of the US-Mexico border.
03:00But between Del Rio, Texas to El Paso, Texas,
03:03we are the busiest county
03:04and the busiest border patrol station.
03:06And I anticipated with the plus up
03:09of Department of Defense personnel on our side,
03:11as well as the Mexican National Guard on the south side,
03:13it would push activity to our area
03:15because we're a more rural area.
03:17But we have seen very few groups.
03:20We've seen the numbers, less than 300 apprehensions
03:23made across the southwest border.
03:25What it shows, I know I've said before in interviews,
03:31a lot of times we say what a difference a year can make,
03:32but I'll tell you what a difference one person
03:34has made with President Trump's voice
03:36that has completely changed the dynamics
03:38on the southwest border.
03:40So, yes or no, things have completely changed
03:43on the southern border since 2024?
03:46Yes, completely changed.
03:47Mr. Perez, has Border Patrol seen a change
03:54since January 20th?
03:56100%, sir.
03:58Our posture has completely changed
04:00from a processing and facilitating workforce
04:04to a detecting and deterring workforce
04:06where we're out there doing the job
04:08that we wanted to do by protecting the border,
04:10having all of our agents out on the lane,
04:12forward deployed.
04:13Yes, sir.
04:15Border Patrol currently has to respect legal restrictions
04:20associated like with wilderness areas, is that correct?
04:23Yes, sir.
04:24Yeah, do illegal immigrants also respect
04:27those rules and regulations that are supposed
04:31to be down on the southern border?
04:33Not at all, they actually take advantage of it.
04:38My final question, I'm gonna save for Lieutenant Lopez.
04:41So, has legalization of marijuana
04:46made it less likely for the cartels
04:49to be growing marijuana in your state of California?
04:55It's not less likely, it's more likely.
04:57And are there, do you find a significant number
05:02of chemicals with marijuana grows?
05:03I think about it, it was happening in my state
05:06in Wisconsin, northern Wisconsin a number of years ago,
05:09and they found these very dangerous chemicals
05:12that were out in the environment.
05:13Do you find the same thing in California?
05:15Yes, sir, we do.
05:18With that, my five minutes are up
05:20and I wanna thank all of you for joining us.