Remarks by President Trump in Roundtable on Border Security | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    U.S. Border Patrol McAllen Station  •  McAllen, Texas  •  January 10, 2019  •  1:14 P.M. CST

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. I appreciate it. And it's an incredible honor to be here and to meet. We just said hello to Reggie. And I've seen so much with Reggie and his incredible brother and family. And we're with you. You know that, right? You know that. And we're here to make a tour, in a little while, of the border. And we have fantastic people with us, including our great senators from the state of Texas. And thank you very much, John and Ted. Thank you very much for being here. And our Lieutenant Governor, who's been my friend for a long time. And I also hear your son is doing a very good job.

President Trump meets with Texas officials and border officials at the southern border: Above. (White House photo)     Click image to expand.

    LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR PATRICK: Working hard every day.

    THE PRESIDENT: I hear he's doing a good job. So I want to thank all of you for being here. And we're going to go around the table and say a few words. Attorney General, thank you very much for being here. Appreciate it. What a job you've done. A big victory you had recently, too. It was a very important victory. The individual mandate - we're going to see if that holds us, because it should. That was the excuse they had, and now we'll see if it holds up. Right? But I think you're going to be in great shape.

    I'm honored to be in McAllen, Texas with the heroes of Border Patrol. And they are heroes. You know, you have so much Border Patrol, ICE, and law enforcement generally. You take so much heat. You take so much abuse from people that don't know what they're talking about. I want to just say that you have a friend with this administration, and you have a friend with me. Nobody does a better job. (Applause.) Nobody does a better job.

    And I have to add that you have no idea how much you're loved by the public. Maybe not by the fake news, but you're loved by the public. (Laughter.) Beyond belief. And that includes my friend, Brandon. And, Brandon, thank you very much for being so great. You've been getting the word out, how important it is - border security. The wall or the steel barrier, they can have any name they want, but we have to have it. And it's going to happen.

    But law enforcement and ICE and Border Patrol, incredible job you're doing. The public loves you. The public - not like; they love you. And I just hope that none of you run for President because that - you may be the one people - person that we have a problem with, because you are highly respected in our country, and beyond our country. We know what you do with MS-13. We know what you do with the gangs. We know what you do with crime. And we also see what you do on the border.

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    Boy, I'll tell you what - it's tough stuff. But it could be a lot easier for you, and you could be spread a lot differently if we had the walls. And we'll get it. We'll get it. I think we're winning the battle in a very big way.

    So I just want to thank you all, in particular, for being with us. Thank you very much, fellas. Thank you very much. Really incredible.

    I want to thank, also, Secretary Nielsen and Commissioner McAleenan for being with us. We made the trip down from Washington. And again, Senator John Cornyn has been an incredible champion of what we're doing and a very popular man in Texas. And I think we're running, in two years, together. And that's very good for both of us, I hope. (Laughs.) I think it is. It's my honor, John, I want to tell you. (Applause.) The people of Texas love you.

    And we have another great friend of mine, Ted Cruz. And he is a friend of mine, except for about four or five months in between. (Laughter.) I was telling John that Ted and I, on the campaign, we liked each other so much. And I said, look, at some time that will end. Right, Ted? But we just - we actually - we'd do joint appearances together, and the press would say, "When is it going to end?" I said, it'll happen. Ted would say too, "It'll happen." We didn't know it would be quite that violent. But then the friendship is at least equal to what it was.

    And I just want to congratulate you, because I was here; we had that arena with about 22,000. That was the Houston arena. That was an incredible night, right? And we had, I think, 109,000 or 106,000 people wanting to come. They had thousands outside. And that was a few weeks before the election. And I said, "I think he's going to win. I think he's going to win nicely." And I want to just congratulate you. That was not easy. And now he lost and he wants to run for President. And I said, "I thought you had to win to run for President." Right? But you did a great job, Ted. We appreciate it.

    Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, who's led some incredible cases. Ken, thank you very much. And Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who's been, again, a friend of mine for a long time. I also want to thank the Governor. He's going on Fox tonight, and he sends his regards. And we're going to either see him later; he's coming into Washington. But the Governor, who just had a great campaign also, he's been fantastic and a big believer in what we're doing. So, say hello to him, and I'll speak to him later.

    Thanks also to Brandon Judd and the National Border Patrol Council. So, Brandon, I've known him from the beginning. And almost before I announced, he was for my ideas and he was for us. He was for me. And I appreciate it. And I appreciated all your guys coming up last week. They had a big impact. We said to them, "What do you want?" Who knows better than them? He knows better than all of us put together. And that group was fantastic that we had in Washington just a few days ago. And they went on television. And anybody that listened wouldn't even have a doubt about it. So, Brandon, thank everybody. We appreciate it very much. Done a fantastic job.

    The Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley Sector - who is from the sector? Do you have any specific guys here from - and ladies? Quite a few. Now, are you tougher than the rest? Are you just tougher than the rest? I don't know. Maybe. But I heard special - I heard special -

    PARTICIPANT: Our acting chief (inaudible).

    THE PRESIDENT: Oh, there they are. How are you? Come on over here. Come here. Come here. (Applause.) That's fantastic. And I've heard so much about all of you. And we're going to spend a little time, in a little while, together.

    I don't know if we're walking or flying, but either one is okay with me. We're going to see a lot. But thank you for being here.

    In a few moments, the American people will hear directly from our frontline border agents about the tremendous flood of illegal immigration, drug trafficking, human trafficking - a phenomena that has been going on for a thousand years or more, and that you'd think was something that modern society wouldn't have. And I hate to tell you that, because of the Internet, it's worse than ever before. Human trafficking - it's a horrible thing. And much of it comes - it's a world problem, not a U.S. problem only.

    And they come across the border, and it's a bad thing. And they drive. They just go where there's no security, where you don't even know the difference between Mexico and the United States. There's no line of demarcation. They just go out. And where there's no fencing or walls of any kind, they just make a left into the United States, and they come in and they have women tied up. They have tape over their mouths - electrical tape. Usually blue tape, as they call it. It's powerful stuff. Not good.

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    And they have three, four, five of them in vans, or three of them in backseats of cars. And they just drive right in. They don't go through your points of entry. They go right through. And if we had a barrier of any kind - a powerful barrier, whether it's steel or concrete - if we had a barrier, they wouldn't be able to make that turn. They wouldn't even bother trying because they can't go through the points with people. So we would stop that cold. We would stop it cold. And they can't fly in, obviously - for obvious reasons. So we'd stop human trafficking in this section of the world. I think it would stop it 90, 95 percent. A tremendous percentage would stop.

    And you also have the criminal gangs coming in. They don't walk through the points of entry. They come where nobody is around. And you're talking about hundreds and hundreds of miles. Two thousand miles. But we need 500 miles of border.

    One of the things that has happened is - and I was explaining to the two senators and to Dan, in the car - that one of the things that really is happening is, without saying it too loudly - and I told them; and Dan said, "Could you repeat that story?" When I say Mexico is going to pay for the wall, that's what I said: Mexico is going to pay. I didn't say they're going to write me a check for $20 billion or $10 billion. No one is going to write a check. I said they're going to pay for the wall.

    And if Congress approves this incredible trade bill that we made with Mexico - and Canada, by the way - but with Mexico, in this case - they're paying for the wall many, many times over. And Dan said, "Would you do me a favor? Say that." And I do say it, but the press sort of refuses to acknowledge it.

    When I say Mexico is going to pay for the wall, that's what I mean. Mexico is paying for the wall. And I didn't mean, "Please write me a check." I mean very simply: They're paying for it in the trade deal. And sometimes I'd say that.

    So, hopefully, people will start to understand. Now, if the deal doesn't get approved by Congress, which would be hard - because it's so much better than NAFTA; NAFTA was a horrible trade deal. One of the worst ever made. It really hurt our country. But now we have the USMCA, and it's a great deal. And I think that you're going to see some tremendous improvement for the farmers and for the people of Texas.

    So, law enforcement professionals at DHS, the men and women in this room, have told us what they need to secure our border. These are the people we went to. It's not only the wall or the barrier; it's the equipment for seizing the drugs. We have tremendous equipment today. It's expensive, but tremendous equipment that, when you do drive through one of the ports of entry, we have equipment that we'll be able to detect the drugs. And it's the finest in the world, and we're getting it ready. It's part of what we're asking for. It's not only the wall.

    And we've taken their recommendations straight to Congress, but Congress, as you know - the Democrats are holding us up because they don't want it. They think it's good politically. I think it's a disaster for them politically. But I'm not doing it for politics; I'm doing it because it's right. I'm doing it because it's right.

    And before, when I left Washington, I said they can't have a problem with crime, because the people that are coming in - the criminals, the gangs, the traffickers, the drugs - it's all crime. And the only way you're going to stop it is the way these people are strongly recommending that it be stopped, Brandon.

    So, hopefully - I hear we're making a lot of progress. I even hear certain members of Congress, the Democrats, are saying, "We better get this thing going. This isn't working out too well for us." Because nobody is going to win the battle of strong borders and no crime, as opposed to open borders and crime doesn't matter. Because that's what they're saying: Crime doesn't matter.

    We have people that have been so horribly hurt - families that have been so horribly hurt by people that just come in like it's - like just come into the United States, do whatever they want. In many cases, they leave and then they'll come back. Or in many cases, they stay. And we've done a very good job at the border, considering we're not given the right laws. We have laws that are so bad. They're archaic and they're horrible. And we don't have the barrier.

    So our plan includes drug detection technology at our ports; more officers and agents - far more; more beds to house the inflex of - the influx of unlawful migrants; medical support; closing the disastrous loopholes that incentivize child smuggling - the single biggest victims of what is happening at our border: our children. They're being used by the coyotes. They're being sold left and right. People are grabbing them to get in because our laws are really lousy. And if you have a child with you, it's easier to get in. These people know it better than anybody - far better than the people in Washington.

    And I think the biggest victims are children and women. Women would be right there with the children. These are the victims. And it's women mostly, in terms of the smuggling and what's going on with that. So we're going to take care of this problem. And to think anybody can even think about fighting it is ridiculous.

    So we're going to build a powerful steel barrier. They didn't want to use concrete. I said, "Okay, I'll use steel. It's stronger." It's also more expensive, by the way. But it's stronger. I'll use steel. So we'll call it a steel barrier. Now people should be happy. They said, "Concrete - we don't want a concrete wall." I said, "That's okay, we'll build a steel wall." I like it better, if you want to know the truth, Ted.

    And we'll call it a barrier instead of a wall. And I'm okay with that too. I don't care what you call it, but it's got to be there.

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    Democrats have refused to listen to the border agents, and they say this is a manufactured crisis. That's a new sound bite. All over, I turn the television. You know, I call it the opposition party. It's called the fake-news media. And what happens is, every network has: "Manufactured Crisis. "This is a man-..." Every one of them. It's like they send out to everybody, "Let's use this soundbite today." So it's a manufa- - but it's not.

    What is manufactured is the use of the word "manufactured." It's manufactured by them, every single of the negatives. But they're not winning, because it's common sense. It's common sense. They say a wall is medieval. Well, so is a wheel. A wheel is older than a wall. (Laughter.) And I looked, and every single car out there - even the really expensive ones that the Secret Service uses - and believe me, they are expensive - I said, "Do they all have wheels?" "Yes." Oh, I thought it was medieval. The wheel is older than the wall. You know that?

    And there are some things that work. You know what? A wheel works and a wall works. Nothing like a wall.
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