RSC Hosts Press Conference with Angel Families Highlighting the Real Cost of Failed Border Policies
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Republican Study Committee (RSC) hosted a press conference alongside Angel Families and House Republican leaders ahead of the President’s State of the Union address, underscoring the historic success of the President's border policies, and contrasting the Democrats demands to defund border security and undermine federal law enforcement.
The event, titled “The Real Cost of Democrat Policies,” featured testimony from several family members who have lost loved ones to crimes committed by individuals unlawfully present in the United States or to cartel-driven fentanyl trafficking. The press conference comes at a crucial time as President Trump honored Angel Families at the White House, where he declared February 22nd as National Angel Family Day.
Angel Families in attendance included Robi Vollkommer, Sandy Snodgrass, Boni Driskill, Hailey Ferguson, and Agnes Gibboney.
The Angel Families were joined at the press conference by RSC Members Abe Hamadeh (AZ-08), House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (MI-09), Brandon Gill (TX-26), Byron Donalds (FL-19), Brian Babin (TX-36), Mary Miller (IL-15), Chip Roy (TX-21), and Buddy Carter (GA-01).
Key Quotes from the Press Conference:
Rep. Abe Hamadeh: “Today we celebrate the transformative achieved by President Trump and House Republicans so quickly. Our border is more secure now more than ever as we put American lives and safety first. Strong and secure borders save lives.”
Chairwoman Lisa McClain: “We all remember House Republicans and President Trump will always stand with our Angel Families. We are strengthening our country, and we will not stop until every American family is safe.”
Rep. Brandon Gill: "The Left's open borders were most stingingly, a part of a deliberate policy to influence our elections, even at the expense of American families, an attempt to flood our country with illegal aliens, to distort Congressional Representation, to provide a pathway for them to vote, all part of a political program that was not just deeply cynical, but absolutely grotesque, and the American people rejected it.”
Angel Mom Sandy Snodgrass: “They're sending more deadly fentanyl and more deadly combinations of fentanyl analogs into this country, carfentanil, ten times stronger than regular fentanyl, mass poisoning in Anchorage, Alaska, late November. This fight is far from over, and I will not stop fighting every time, every chance I get to talk about fentanyl and what the Chinese Communist Party is doing, what drug terrorist organizations, mostly out of Mexico, are doing to our country, intentionally killing our citizens, inside our sovereign bout, inside our sovereign borders, is not okay, And I know that President Trump feels the same two weeks after I was in his office when he signed Bruce's Law.”
Rep. Byron Donalds: “We were here during the Biden years, where our border was wide open for no reason at all except politics, and it was politics of the worst kind, politics that wanted to allow for more than 10 million illegal aliens to come into this country so that Democrats could have new voters and that they can play with our census and all kind of other crazy stuff. But what happened in our country is that. We had young girls and young boys have their lives snuffed and taken away from them because of the radical Democratic Left policies, policies, by the way, that they still support today. Donald Trump has done the job he was elected to do. He secured the border. He shut it down on day one. Now we're going through the hard work of having to deport criminal illegal aliens and other illegal aliens out of the United States.”
Rep. Chip Roy: “All of this stuff was created by the bedlam at the border that these ladies have articulated better than I could. It was purposeful, and you can't even put into words how people who are supposed to lead a country would do that to their own people. But that is what has happened. The president has secured the border. When they said that we needed legislation to secure it. No, we didn't. We needed a leader who would do it and would follow the law. The President secured the border. The President is now removing bad actors. And what does the left want to do? They want to side with the people that are coming here and creating harm. It's unconscionable.”
Angel Mom Agnes Gibboney: “Thank you, everyone, who supports us. I really appreciate it, and no parent should ever have to go to a cemetery to celebrate their child's birthday, like I do for almost 24 years, last month was my son's 53rd birthday, and it's horrible to take a little cake to to put on a grave site, to put a candle and wish my son Happy Birthday, not even be able to buy him a gift for his birthday, and just wonder what would life have been.”
Rep. Mary Miller: “I've had multiple families come into my office, and we've wept together. I've kept in contact with them, and as of yet, no Democrat has ever reached out to help or offer condolences. No parent, spouse or child should ever have to carry the pain that you live with, and we gather here today because your loved one should still be with you. The tragedy these families are enduring was preventable, tragic, and preventable. If sanctuary states like Illinois had upheld the rule of law instead of shielding murderers and rapists, lives would have been saved, and families would not be grieving.”
Angel Mom Boni Driskill: “We need help. I see other families who lose their loved ones in the most horrific ways, over and over and over, everything from rape, homicide, any other ugly thing you can imagine. Why do we have to keep seeing this? It's like a revolving door. Those borders need to be closed. People need to be arrested or sent back to the country of their origin, where they have prisons for them.”
Rep. Brian Babin: “You can hardly wrap your mind around it, but to think of any elected officials, Democrat officials, whether they be a city councilman, a school board member, a sitting U.S. Senator, or a Member of the House of Representatives, and then a President of the United States or the Vice President of the United States. How could anyone think that it would be good to keep criminal aliens in your midst that are killing your constituents, putting their welfare ahead of American citizens? You can't wrap your mind around that, folks.”