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

    The government is shut down because Democrats will not fund border security. Plain and simple. And again, more than just the walls. Their open borders agenda threaten all American families, including millions of legal immigrants throughout our nation.

    In the last two years alone, our courageous ICE officers - many of whom are with us - arrested criminal aliens charged with or convicted of 100,000 assaults - just in the last year - 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 violent killings.

    We're deeply moved to have with us Reggie Singh, whose brother Ronil, Ronil Singh - incredible guy. I mean, I watched and I've rarely felt worse in watching news of our nation than watching your family and the love that you have for your brother. I could see that, Reggie, the way it came through. It came through loud and clear.

    And there are so many other people who have the same. Nobody covers them. You know, when they talk about how unfair, how this, how that - nobody talks about how unfair it is to the victims of the brutal killings. And, by the way, over the years, there's thousands of them. I don't mean hundreds. I don't mean in the teens. I mean thousands of them. And these officers can all tell you about them.

    And I'd like to, if I could - because I watched a family, right around Christmastime, and I watched them suffer - and I'd like to ask if, Reggie, maybe you could say a few words about your incredible brother, the job he was doing. He was so beloved by the people in the department, and beyond the department. And maybe you could say a few words about your brother. Please.

    MR. SINGH: So, Ronil Singh, originally from Fiji Islands, he always wanted to be in law enforcement. So, legally, we migrated to America to fulfill his dream to join the law enforcement. After - English is our second language - he worked on that, got his education, applied for a law enforcement agency. And he was asked to get his citizenship. He worked towards that. And he became a cop - K-9 - a corporal K-9.


    And the way he was killed, what my family is going through right now, I do not want any other family, law enforcement person to go through that. Whatever it takes to minimize, put a stop to it, my family fully supports it.

    At 33 years old, Ronil Singh was cremated, and I had to pick up his remains. It breaks my heart. And no one should ever, ever go through that. Looking at the five-month-old baby looking for his dad - no one should ever go through that on Christmas Day.

    That's all.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) So, we're with you. And you know what, right?

    That was a tough one, too. That was a tough one for a lot of people, not only the family. For a lot of people in this country, that was a tough thing to watch.

    Also with us, Marie Vega, whose son, Border Patrol Agent Javier Vega Jr. - who is another person who was loved by so many in the department, on the Border Patrol. We had so many people talking. They're still talking so much about him. It happened in 2014. He was out fishing with his wife, his parents, and his kids.

    And, Marie, I'd like to maybe have - say a little bit about your son, because he is so loved and respected, still, in this room. Please. Thank you. Thank you.

    MS. VEGA: My name is Marie Vega. We have two sons, my husband Javier and I. I'm very proud of both of them. Both of them Marines. Harvey, at a very young age, expressed a love for law enforcement. And like, you know, the parent that wants the child to grow up and be something, and be a productive human, we supported him. And he showed interest in the police force. Numerous times he rode with the police officers around our town - surrounding towns.

    When he was in high school, he told us that he wanted to be a Marine. And, of course, I was like, "Okay, you want to be a Marine? You're going to start this. You're going to follow through. And you're going to finish it." And that's what he did. He became a Marine.

    Upon leaving the United States Marine Corps, he went to college, became a biomed engineer, and almost immediately after graduating, he was offered a job at CHRISTUS Spohn in Kingsville. While working at CHRISTUS Spohn, because he was surrounded by agents and saw how they worked, and still with that love for law enforcement in his heart, he came to me, came to my husband, and said, "Mom, Dad, I want to be a Border Patrol agent."

    And, of course, again, you know, "Okay, you want to be a Border Patrol agent? Then you're going to be a Border Patrol agent." And he became an agent. I always worried about him, you know, like I worry about our family now. I want them to go to work, be safe, come home to their families safely. And I always - every day, I was scared that I would lose my son. Never in my wildest dream did I ever imagine my son dying at a family outing. It was supposed to be a peaceful, fun, fishing afternoon, and it didn't happen that way. It didn't happen that way because we had a criminal, illegal alien that killed him.

    He came thinking that he was entitled to one of the two vehicles that we had there. No family, like Mr. Singh said, should go through this. No one. No family should suffer the loss of a child. A parent should not have to bury their child.

    We need the wall. And when I say we need the wall, I don't mean just build the wall. There's other things that we need to do also. We need to enforce immigration laws. We need tougher judges. We need the wall itself. Our Border Patrol agents need to have what they should have - the equipment, the materials they need to do their job.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. And you're 100 percent right. Thank you. (Applause.)

    He's very proud of you right now. Thank you very much, Marie. What Marie said is right; it's more than just the wall. We have to give these incredible people the tools to work with. We're not doing that. Politicians in Washington are saying, "Oh, you don't..." - they don't know the first thing about - they've never been here. They don't know the first thing about what we're talking about.

    So we're going to hear from a couple of our landowners, a couple of the folks that live in the area and areas that we're discussing. I think I'd like to start off with our Texas leaders - and they are indeed leaders - and say a few words about what we're here for and what we support, and what's going to happen. And we have no choice.

    And maybe we'll start with John Cornyn, Senator Cornyn. Say a few words, please?

    SENATOR CORNYN: Well, thank you, Mr. President, for being here and for hearing firsthand from not only the people who suffered at the hands of the crime that occurs as a result of people who don't come here to achieve their American Dream but people who come here to cause death and destruction and human misery.

    Before you, you see - maybe we'll have somebody go through some of the things that are in front of us. But I see here, for example, heroin and methamphetamine that's been seized. You see bulk cash - $362,000. And when the drugs are sold in the United States, they have to get the cash back across the border to the cartels. And you see the sorts of weapons that are used by the drug cartels and others, and you can imagine the violence that goes along with that.


    And so when I - when people like Ted and I hear our colleagues in Washington say that this is a manufactured crisis, we kind of wonder what planet they've been living on. Because this is not just about economic migrants. This is about people who exploit the vulnerabilities in our border. This is about the 70,000 people who died of drug overdoses in America. Just last year, a substantial portion was from the heroin that comes from Mexico. Ninety percent of the heroin that is used in the United States comes from Mexico.

    And as you point out, the human tragedy associated with human trafficking, sex slavery, modern-day slavery, all of that is associated with our inability to control the way we need to control our southern border.

    So, thank you for being here. Thank you for your concern. And I want to particular thank Mr. Singh and Ms. Vega for their willingness to come and tell their story and their courage.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, John, very much. Senator Cruz?

    SENATOR CRUZ: Well, Mr. President, welcome back to Texas. Glad to welcome you to the Valley. And one of the things you said a minute ago about the men and women here of Border Patrol and ICE is you referred to them as heroes. And that is exactly right. These are brave, courageous leaders. I've been out on midnight patrol with the agents here in the RGV Sector. And they have a difficult job that they do each and every day. They risk their lives.

    All of us, Mr. Singh, our prayers are with your family. The tragedy you endured, nobody should have to endure. Ms. Vega, we love you. And Mr. Vega is sitting back here as well. And this whole community loves the Vega family and has mourned their son's loss alongside them.

    Illegal immigration produces tragedies every day: human smuggling, drug smuggling, children being abused, women being sexually abused, opioids that are destroying. Last year, 72,000 people lost their lives to drug overdoses. More than car accidents in this country. And much of those drugs are flooding across the southern border.

    And so I just want to commend you for standing up and fighting this fight. One thing there's not a lot of in Washington is backbone. And I want to commend you for helping infuse some more backbone in Washington. This is a fight the people of Texas and the American people want the border secured. They want the federal government to have the backs of the men and women in this room that are risking their lives to keep us safe.

    And so thank you for highlighting this crisis. When we see politicians go on TV and say the border is secure and there is no crisis, they are ignoring reality. They're ignoring the lives that are jeopardized each and every day.

    So thank you for leading this fight, Mr. President.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Ted. I appreciate it. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you.

    Dan, if you could say a few words. Also, I'd like to have somebody get up and give us, just for the media, a little definition of exactly what's in front of us, because it looks pretty brutal. This is not a manufactured deal, as you say. This is the real stuff. And this is nothing compared to what they have. This is actually nothing compared to what they have.

    So, is somebody going to be able to explain this to us quickly?

    MR. RODRIGUEZ: Yes, I'm Carlos.

    THE PRESIDENT: Good. Carlos, please, go ahead. Please. Thank you. Thank you, Carlos.

    MR. RODRIGUEZ. Mr. President, welcome to South Texas. I'm Carlos Rodriguez, and I'm the Port Director for the Hidalgo/Anzalduas port of entry.


    Before you, you see some narcotics that have been seized by the men and women of CBP. As you can see right here on the two tables to my far right and left here, these are 117 kilograms of methamphetamine, and 12 kilograms of heroin that were seized in a commercial conveyance that was making entry at a port of entry.

    Officers noticed some discrepancies. The conveyance was referred to X-ray technology, and it was - during the exam, they were able to identify anomalies within the conveyance. With the use of our K-9 detector dogs, we were able to seize this merchandise.

    Right here at this particular one, these are fire extinguishers. These fire extinguishers were intercepted at the Port of Progreso, Texas. It was a male that was driving into the United States, and the two fire extinguishers were used in the importation of methamphetamine and heroin - 100 grams of heroin and 8 kilos of methamphetamine as well.

    Also, we have some weapons that were seized at our ports of entry, also with the assistance of our federal partners and state partners as well.

    So we have three colt handguns that are gold-plated, encrusted with diamonds. Those were seized at the Laredo port of entry. You have a AR-15 that was seized with the assistance of our state and local partners, with the taskforce officers. You have an AK-47 that was seized by the officers at the Hidalgo port of entry, going southbound. During a southbound inspection, there was nervous behavior that was displayed by the driver. Subsequently, the officers were able to find the AK-47 hidden in the backseat.