Remarks by the Vice President Prior to a Discussion in Eagle Pass, Texas

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Here, let's sit down and chat for a little bit. I want to -- I want to thank you all for being here. I know Governor Abbott is going to kick us off here, but before -- before we send the press out and have a more private conversation, I just want to say, one, it's great to be here with the governor.

We took a helicopter ride over here, and we saw a big chunk of border wall. And I said, "Is that the federal government's border wall?" And they said, "Well, it was ordered during the first Trump Administration, but Joe Biden wouldn't let us actually build it." Governor Abbott, of course, was the one who actually helped us put a lot of that stuff up. And, of course, that stopped the flow in a -- in a pretty profound way.

We'll talk a little bit more in the press conference, but as you saw the president said yesterday -- I think it's maybe the most important part of his speech -- is that we -- we didn't need new laws to secure the border. We needed a new president. And thank God we have that.

I've heard already from a number of the folks that I've talked to in Border Patrol that all we needed to do was empower these guys to do their job. Thank God they have done their job. We're thrilled that they've done it. And now, we've seen, I think, just in this area, border crossings go from about 1,500 a day to 30 a day. That's simply the president of the United States empowering these professionals to do what they do so well.

So, thanks to all of you for being here. I want to gi- -- give a few shoutouts here because I know we've got our great attorney general in the state of Texas here. Ken, good to see you.

We've got, of course, Governor Abbott here. We've got -- I'm -- I'm proud to be joined by Representative Tony Gonzales, who represents this area.

And then our Secretary of State, Pete Hegseth; DNI Tulsi Gabbard.

And I know we've got some votes in the Senate, but as I understand it, Senators Cruz and Cornyn have sent representatives here too.

So, we're grateful to all of our great public leadership in Texas. It's an important part of getting control of our border.

And appreciate the press, but we're going to -- we're going to have a private conversation, so you guys get the hell out of here.

See y'all. (Laughter.)