Remarks by President Trump at the American Farm Bureau Federation's 100th Annual Convention| New Orleans, Louisiana | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    Ernest N. Morial Convention Center  •  New Orleans, Louisiana  •  January 14, 2019  •  12:45 P.M. CST

    THE PRESIDENT: That's such a great song. We should just let it play, right? (Laughter.) We had a little luck with that song. And he's terrific - a good supporter. We appreciate it.

    We really appreciate this, too. I know you have a record crowd; that's nice. It's always nice to set records. And I want to thank Sonny. And he's setting records. We're setting records together for farmers and for agriculture. We've had so many good weeks and good days, and it's only going to get better because we're doing trade deals that are going to get you so much business, you're not even going to believe it. Your problem will be: "What do we do? We need more acreage immediately. We got to plant."

President Trump engages his constituents in New Orleans: Above. (White House photo)     Click image to expand.
    But I will say, we are doing some things with trade that are going to have a tremendous impact. You're going to be doing business with Canada, you're going to be doing business with places where it was very, very difficult to do business. It was very unfair. And a lot of great things are going to happen.

    So, I want to really thank everybody here, and I want to congratulate a very, very good and exciting football team that I watched yesterday, the New Orleans Saints. (Applause.) You know, it's - I can see there's a little group over here. I know who I'm talking to. The rest of the room is going like, "Eh, I don't want to talk about that." (Laughter.) But you have to say, Drew Brees - he's one hell of a quarterback and it was a tremendous game. And so congratulations to the folks from this area and from this great state. (Applause.) It's a great state.


    I'm thrilled to be here in a state that I've had a lot of luck with - and I love a lot of people in this state; I know a lot of people - for, really, a truly historic occasion. This is the 100th annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation - 100 exactly. If it was 99 - although, I was here for 99, too, I have to be honest, right? I like the farmers. What can I do? I like farmers. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.

    For 100 years, this organization has faithfully represented the men and women who are the backbone of our country, truly.

    Let us all show our appreciation for a very dear friend and a leader - a great leader - Zippy Duval. Where's Zippy? Zippy. (Applause.) Where is, Zippy? What a job he does. He only called about 100 times to make sure I'm coming. (Laughter.) Thank you, Zippy. Great job.

    On this special anniversary, we gather to celebrate America's proud farming heritage. Through your sweat, through all of your work, the strength of your hands, and the faith in your hearts, the American farmer feeds, and fuels, and sustains our nation. So true.

    We are joined today by Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards. Thank you, Governor, for being here. Thank you. Thank you, John Bel. (Applause.) Thank you. Along with many members of Congress who are true champions of American agriculture.

    An incredibly talented man, a great doctor - he knows more about healthcare than anybody, and he's somebody that - he's really helped us out in so many different ways. And he's yours: Senator Bill Cassidy. Bill? Thank you very much, Bill. (Applause.) Appreciate it.

    A woman who had a tremendous victory - she came in for a short period of time. She was appointed, and it's always hard when you're appointed. If you look - I don't know about this, Cindy, but you take a look - they don't do too well. You did very well. You won in an incredible state: Mississippi. Cindy Hyde-Smith, thank you. That was a great win. (Applause.)

    A brilliant guy - he's very deceiving. My wife said, "I love watching him on television." And I said, "Who?" "John Kennedy." I said, "John Kennedy? I don't know." But, you know, I thought maybe she was talking about the other John Kennedy. She was talking - this is a man who is totally brilliant. You know, I don't know if you know what this means: Oxford. Right? He went to Oxford. Oxford is a very - I'm very much into the world of schools. Oxford - you have to be very, very smart to go to Oxford. And he's very smart.

    He also loves this state. He loves the people. We gave a rally the night before he won that was incredible. And I looked - and I looked at that crowd. We had to have 40,000 people or more at a hangar - an airport hangar. I said, "You know, John Kennedy? You're going to win." And he won and he won big. And he's my friend. John Kennedy. Thank you, John. (Applause.) Oxford. "Oxford John." (Laughs.) Great.

    Congressman Ralph Abraham. Thank you, Congressman. Where are you? Congressman? (Applause.) Great job you do. He does a great job.

    Congressman Garrett Graves. And you know Garrett. Thank you, Garrett. Good job. Young, strong, smart. (Applause.) We got a lot of good politicians down here.

    And the legend from Louisiana - a man who's got a lot of courage. He was playing second base and it didn't work out so well for him that day, but I have never seen anybody with more strength and really more courage than Steve Scalise. Steve Scalise. (Applause.) He got hit hard. He got hit hard. He never even thought about quitting.

    He - I was there the night, in his hospital. And they didn't think he was going to make it. And I looked at him; he wasn't looking too good, I have to tell you. This is the first time I'm telling you this, Steve; you weren't looking too sharp. And his wife loves him, because she was a mess. She had tears pouring down. I'll tell you a couple of these little facts. Your family loves you, Steve.

    But all of a sudden, he started making a little progress, a little more. Worked so hard. And then, a few months ago, he was in a baseball game. And it was the Republicans against the Democrats. He's playing second base. And he didn't have great mobility, to be honest. In other words, moving like a foot to his right, a foot to the left - that was about it. And he gets the first pitch of the game. This is in a stadium, and a lot of people watching, and it's on television. And they put him at second base for one play.

    And the first hit is a smash - ground ball - hit at Steve. And I'm pretty good at this stuff; I look, I say, "Oh, that's going right to second base." It went right in him - right at him. He bent down, stopped that ball, threw it to first. The place went crazy. And he then walked off the field in great triumph. (Laughter and applause.) Who could have done that but my Steve, right? (Applause.) That was incredible. That was incredible.

    He's a courageous guy. He's a great guy. He's also a really fine person. So, Human traffickers - what you've been through, Steve, is incredible. And congratulations. Incredible job.


    As you all know, there is currently a tremendous humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border. It's tremendous. It's been there for years. It's been there for decades. But because of what we're doing and because of how well our country is doing -

    And please sit down. Please. I'm just looking - and then the media - the fake news - they'll say, "He got no standing ovations." You know why? Because everybody stayed standing. (Laughter.) Wait until you see that. It's true. Oh, they'll do it. They'll figure something out. (Applause.) That's true. (Applause.) That's true. (Laughs.) (Applause.) That's true. They can figure it out.

    They can take the best thing - I go home, I say, "Darling, I did such a great job. Wait until you see the news tomorrow on something." (Laughter.) North Korea, China. We're doing great in the trade deal. China - this, that. They can make anything you do look bad.

    But I was watching as you're standing. And I said, "You know, if they sit, it's probably better for me, because every once in a while, they'll stand." (Laughter.) The other way, they'll say, "The crowd did not appreciate him. They didn't give him one standing ovation." (Laughter.) Anyway, thank you very much.

    Women and children are being ruthlessly exploited at our southern border by vicious coyotes - who would think of this? Human traffickers. Now, when you hear the words "human traffickers," you think about 1,000 years ago, 2,000 years ago. You wouldn't think it's worse today in the world - this is a world problem - than it's ever been.

    And the reason it's worse is because of the Internet. They target young women. They target young children - the Internet. And they come in through our southern border into our country. And they'll have women taped - their mouths with duct tape, with electrical tape. They tape their face, their hair, their hands behind their back, their legs. They put them in the backseat of cars and vans, and they go - they don't come in through your port of entry because you'd see them. You couldn't do that.

    They come in through our border, where we don't have any barriers or walls. And they drive right in and they have no problems. And we'll get that stopped. We're going to have a wall. We're going to have a barrier. We're going to have something that's going to be very strong. (Applause.) One of the most important things.

    And I've built a lot of wall. You saw it the other day. They kept saying, "You didn't build wall." I said, "I built wall." So I actually decided I'd better put a picture for you to see. But we built a lot more than that. And we renovated a lot of pretty good stuff that we made good again. It was in very bad shape.

    But we've done a lot. We want to finish it because, you know, you can't have openings. Because if you have an opening, they go here and they just sort of go over this way. They find the open spot, they come in. And we have to build - what we have to build - probably a total of 550 miles including the renovations.

    And we've done a lot of work. People don't talk about it. I don't talk about it because, until we're finished, the big thing is we have to get it done.

    And we've had great support from John, your senator; Bill, your senator; from everybody. We've had tremendous - Steve is working hard in the House. Your congressmen are working really hard. Really hard. Because it's common sense. What we're talking about is common sense.

    Last month alone, 20,000 migrant children were illegally brought across our borders. Twenty thousand. One in three women are sexually assaulted on the journey up from Honduras or Guatemala or El Salvador. Think of that. Think of that. Hard to believe.


    Vast quantities of lethal narcotics are being smuggled across the border. Most of the drugs coming into our country come in through the southern border - and much of it comes through areas that are not your portals - including meth, and cocaine, and heroin, and fentanyl. Heroin alone, if you look at the heroin epidemic - it's an epidemic - heroin alone kills 300 Americans a week. And 90 percent of it - at least - crosses our southern border. It comes in through our southern border.

    And I've spent a lot of time with Secret Service and with Border Patrol and ICE - incredible people - and they show me the methods that they use - how they hide it. They put it in hubcaps. They put it in engines. They put it in areas you wouldn't believe. They're brilliant, in many ways. They're brilliant. You wouldn't even think of what they do to get things in. And we can stop it. But we can't stop it if we're going to play politics. And the numbers you're talking about are peanuts compared - you'll make the money back numerous times a year.

    In 2017, drugs killed over 70,000 of our fellow citizens - think of that, that's like a football stadium loaded up - and imposed costs on our society in excess of $700 billion dollars.

    In the last two years, ICE officers arrested 266,000 illegal aliens - think of that - with criminal records, including 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 violent murders or killings.

    The crisis of illegal immigration impacts all Americans - threatening public safety, overwhelming public resources, straining our local schools and hospitals, undermining U.S. workers, and claiming countless innocent lives. And I will tell you, I want people to come into our country, but they have to come in legally. They have to come in through a process. (Applause.) Thank you.

    As President, the defense of our nation is my highest and most important duty. And this is the defense of our nation, just like we prepare for other nations that you think more traditionally is what that sentence refers to.