Remarks by President Trump on the National Security and Humanitarian Crisis on our Southern Border | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Sheriff, please.

    SHERIFF LOUDERBACK: Mr. President, thank you so much for a very necessary veto to support public safety in this country. The sheriffs and men and women of law enforcement in this room and across this nation owe you a debt of gratitude for something that we've been waiting for, for decades. Our hats are off to you again, sir. It's an honor to be here. It's an honor for sheriffs to be involved in this, and it's an honor for law enforcement, as we fight the drug trade every day in this country, and all the things that go along in our business, in our profession, from an insecure border. So, again, sincerely, we thank you, sir.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you for being there with me all the way. (Applause.) I appreciate it very much.


    Sheriff, what would you like to say? Thank you.

    SHERIFF LEWIS: Mr. President, I can't thank you enough on behalf of America's sheriffs. As you well know, there are men and women in law enforcement across this country that are fighting a battle every single day. They are in the trenches.

    While we Americans only make up about 7 percent of the world's total population, about 68 percent of the world's total drugs are consumed here in the United States every year. This is not political propaganda. We have a dire crisis on our southwest border, and America's sheriffs stand behind the President of the United States, 100 percent. He has had our back. He's had the Americans' back. And we stand behind you solidly for what you're doing here today.

    This is unprecedented for a President to take this type of action. And we commend you, we applaud you, and I salute you, sir.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. (Applause.) Say something, please. What you've been through - what you've been through is terrible.

    MS. MENDOZA: My son was killed in 2014 by a repeat illegal alien criminal allowed to stay in this country. He was police officer in Mesa, Arizona.

    And Angel Families come forward to tell their stories not because we've created a manufactured crisis but because we want to tell the American people and share with you our heartache and let you know what is happening on our doorsteps, what's happening to your neighbors, what's happening to your fellow Americans. And there is a way to prevent this, and it's not by continuingly lying to you and telling you that there isn't a problem. There is a problem. It's a national emergency. And thank you -

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.

    MS. MENDOZA: - for following through on your promises. (Applause.)

    THE PRESIDENT: Please. Go ahead. Please.

    SHERIFF LAMB: Mr. President, I echo the sentiments. Thank you for all the support. This has been something we're not used to for the last several years, to have this kind of support.

    This is - what we say in Arizona is, this isn't about immigration anymore; this is about drug trafficking and human trafficking into this country. If you care about human rights, you should absolutely care about border security. Human beings are being - their rights are being violated on that border every day.

    And I know I speak on behalf of the Arizona border sheriffs that I challenge our congressmen and women and senators to come down and see firsthand what we're dealing with. See it for yourselves before you cast your vote. And you'll see that we do - we are dealing with a crisis. And we're fighting every day alongside our federal partners, our local partners, sheriff's officers to take care of this.

    So thank you, Mr. President.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. Great job.

    Sheriff?

    SHERIFF HODGSON: Mr. President, I've been a sheriff for 21 years, and I've been dealing with Congress for 21 years on this issue of immigration. A lot of people have listened over 21 years, but Mr. President, you are the first person who has taken action. And you have given us back our footing in law enforcement, but you've also given the American people back what they deserve, which is to be protected.

    And signing this today, I can't tell you how much it means to all of us in law enforcement. But, importantly, Mr. President, when I hear people say, "You know, this is all manufactured. It's all this and that" - no, it's not.

    In my county alone, one city, we have on average, on second shift at our hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts, 15 to 20 overdoses on second shift every day. And this is going on - that's one example. This is happening all over the country.

    But, Mr. President, you have stood up and you've taken the action. And the American people are behind you and we're behind you. And thank you and God bless you for what you're doing.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Sheriff. Thank you. (Applause.)

    Is Thomas Murphy here? Where's Tom? Tom Murphy. Tom? Where's Thomas? You had a horrible ordeal that you just went through with your son.

    MR. MURPHY: Mr. President, I'd like to tell you and tell the public that if you don't think it can happen to you or your family, I have a quick story.

    I've been with state police for over 30 years working narcotics and gang task forces, and supervised those for 22 years. My son grew up with depression issues and some mental health concerns. He self-medicated with marijuana. At 18 - and his father, me, had him arrested a few times along the way.


    When he turned 18, he moved out the day of his birthday, when he turned 18 years old, because he knew Dad had rules, and one was: no drugs in the house. He moved out, stayed with some friends, got a job. He had a work-related injury where he severed four fingers, and he was introduced to opioids. So he was battling two things, actually: mental illness and the opioid addiction.

    Afterwards, he finally came to me and, for the first time in his life, he said he needed help. We sent him to a rehab facility for only 30 days because that's what our insurance would pay for at that time. He came out of rehab. Everything was fine for approximately three months. The craving was too much for him, got a hold of some heroin that was laced with fentanyl, and he died on December 13, 2017.

    So I'm here to say: As far as stigma goes in narcotics and "It's not going to happen to me, it's not going to happen to my family" - my father is a retired minister of 45 years. My sister is in the medical field. My brother is in law enforcement. No one even smokes in our family. No one has ever been arrested. It happened to me. It happened to our family. So, it can happen. That's how horrific and addictive this drug is.

    So anything you can do to help us and families like us is greatly appreciated.

    THE PRESIDENT: And it's coming through the southern border, folks. All through the southern border. Thank you very much.

    SHERIFF JENKINS: Mr. President, thank you very much, sir.

    THE PRESIDENT: Yes, please.

    SHERIFF JENKINS: This is the first real step in confronting the heroin drug crisis in this country. We're going to make real strides after this. I'm the sheriff of your home over at Camp David, Frederick County.

    THE PRESIDENT: That's right.

    SHERIFF JENKINS: We suffer the same problems there. And I'm convinced, without what you're here doing today, every county becomes a border county. Thank you, Mr. President.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Sheriff. (Applause.)

    So let's get this signed, right? On behalf of your great loved ones, right? I always said, "They will not have died in vain." Did I tell you that a long time ago? Three years ago.

    MS. DURDEN: Yes. You told me that four years ago.

    THE PRESIDENT: Right? When we first met on the campaign.

    MS. DURDEN: Yes. Four years ago. Yes.

    THE PRESIDENT: When they said, "Oh, Trump is not going to win." You said Trump was going to win, and I said, "And they will not have died in vain."

    MS. DURDEN: That's right. You told me that.

    THE PRESIDENT: And that's true. I say it today with even more meaning. It was a big step.

    (The veto is signed.) (Applause.)

    Thank you very much. Thank you. That's a big - a big step. We're building a lot of wall right now. It's started. A lot of people are saying, "Well, gee, you took down wall and you're building new." Well, we took down wall that almost didn't exist. It was like paper. And we're replacing it with, in many cases, 30-foot bollards. And, in many cases, we're replacing it with 18-foot wall.

    But we have a lot of - we have many miles under construction right now, and we're going to be signing contracts over the next couple of days for literally hundreds of miles of wall. And it's being built in the right places, and it's doing the job. It's doing the job.

    And it's interesting - it's like a little bit like water. As we do - we did San Diego. You know, California is very interesting because they keep talking in California - "We don't want wall." I see a new candidate who is in the mix; he wants to take down the walls. Try that sometime. You'll see what will happen. You'd have tens of millions of people coming in.

    You see - take a look at Tijuana. Take down that wall. You want to see a mess? Take down that wall; you'll see what will happen. Right now, we have thousands of people who are in Tijuana trying to get in. They're not getting in.

    So as we build it, it gets better and better. But it gets really to a point, and they come through a point. But you can control that point. And this is serious stuff. This is - we're able to do it cheaper, better. It's better wall. It's different from what you've been watching going up. We had to take the old plans. We didn't want to stop, so we took the old plans. We didn't like it.

    This wall is a beautiful-looking structure. It's much stronger. And you can build it faster and cheaper. Other than that, what can I say, right?

    It's a - it's going to be great, and it's going to have a tremendous impact.

    And on top of that, I have to thank the Secretary and all the people that have worked so hard, because what you do on the Border Patrol - what you do, what those patrol agents and what the ICE folks do, and taking people out of the country that nobody wants to talk to. Even some of the sheriffs there - you know, if you can get ICE to do it, you don't mind if they do it. Right, Sheriff? As tough as you are.

    These are tough people and they're great people. These are people that - the ICE folks take such abuse from Democrats and some others. They love our country as much as anybody loves our country.


    So we're building a lot of wall and we're taking good care of our people. And we're doing, at point of entry, a tremendous amount of work. We're already in contract to buy - they make pretty incredible new equipment for drug detection where you can find out what's in the wheel of a car, where it is, where it's in the engine, where it's in the hubcaps. I mean, we have some incredible stuff.

    Plus, we have - also, we're getting dogs. More dogs, believe it or not. I still say - is that still true? There's nothing that replaces a good dog. Is that right?

    PARTICIPANT: Absolutely.

    THE PRESIDENT: Buying this equipment for very expensive. But we haven't been able - it's true. We haven't been able to match the dog.