[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 29 (Thursday, February 14, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1356-S1358]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            BORDER SECURITY

  Mr. PERDUE. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about an experience I 
had this weekend that was extremely memorable to me.
  I used to live in Texas. I used to be involved in businesses in the 
Valley, as they call it there--from Brownsville to Weslaco, to 
Edinburg, to McCowan. This past weekend, a good colleague of mine, 
Senator Steve Daines from Montana, and I traveled to the southern 
border to visit the Customs and Border Patrol people, to visit with ICE 
people, and to see firsthand what goes on in a typical night. We were 
there overnight on Sunday night. We had a remarkable evening, and we 
saw firsthand what these people are up against.
  Before I make my comments, I want to say that from Deputy Chief Ortiz 
all the way down in the organization in that sector--the McCowan sector 
that we were in--the best of America is in uniform right now, every day 
and night, protecting our rights and privileges here in the United 
States. I was proud to meet these people and to be a part of this trip.
  What we saw this weekend is disturbing on many levels. We spoke 
directly to Border Patrol agents. We went to the retention center. We 
saw firsthand that we have not just illegal immigration there, but we 
have a national security crisis. We saw it firsthand.
  This is a situation that the border agents face every day, and it is 
a grim situation. It is shameful that we here in Congress have not 
given Border Patrol agents adequate resources to do their jobs.
  First, the real tragedy at the border is the dramatic increase in 
illegal drug trafficking. Even though the conversation in this room 
deals mainly with illegal immigration across that border, in this 
sector, the drug traffic increases are remarkable.
  This year alone, fiscal year 2018--this is from October 1 to today--
we had a 22-percent increase of heroin seized at the southern border, a 
38-percent increase of methamphetamine and a 73-percent increase in 
fentanyl.
  The amount of fentanyl seized by ICE so far this year is enough to 
kill every American citizen by overdose. Let me say that again. The 
tonnage of fentanyl seized is up 73 percent this year across the entire 
southern border, and that is not 100 percent of what is crossing that 
border. That is a 73-percent increase over the last year. The tonnage 
that has been seized this year is enough to kill every American citizen 
by overdose.
  What is so remarkable is the estimate that only 7 to 10 percent of 
the drugs that they are attempting to bring across the border are 
actually interdicted--less than 10 percent. That is consistent with 
what our SOUTHCOM combatant commander tells us repeatedly year after 
year. By the end of fiscal year 2019, CPB--Customs and Border Patrol--
will have seized 1.7 million pounds of narcotics at the border.
  The Border Patrol agents we spoke to estimate that they are only able 
to stop, again, about 10 percent, and that is because they don't have 
the resources.
  The movement of drugs from Mexico to the United States at the 
southern border is the greatest drug threat to our country. These drugs 
pouring across the border are destroying communities across the Nation. 
Congress has to act to give these Border Patrol agents and our ICE 
agents the infrastructure they need to address this dramatic spike in 
illegal drug trafficking.
  I know that the illegal immigration topic is a hot topic. I don't 
disagree

[[Page S1357]]

with that, but we are not talking about this at the level that we 
should.
  We have had historic opioid legislation. I was a supporter of that. 
Now we need to move on and make sure we secure the southern border.
  The second point I want to make is that agents on the ground told us 
how Mexican drug cartels just across the border use migrants--illegal 
immigrants coming up out of Central America--to camouflage what they 
are doing and to distract our border agents from the real war that is 
going on, and that is the intrusion of illegal drugs into the country.

  The cartels charge a toll for every individual who comes through 
their area of control. It is amazing right now. The charge is $8,000 
per person. There are some estimates that this toll business on illegal 
immigrants coming across the southern border is somewhere around $2.1 
billion in revenue for the cartels. These are the illegal cartels just 
south of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. This doesn't account for the 
billions of dollars these cartels earn from the drug trade every year, 
which is a primary business.
  There are some estimates that the $2 billion they get in tolls for 
illegal immigrants coming into the United States is overshadowed by 
tenfold, relative to the drug trade. Some estimates are $25 to $30 
billion of first cost value in revenue from the drugs that are coming 
across that border.
  Many of the illegal immigrants being exploited by these cartels are 
unaccompanied children and family units. We met some of these people. 
It breaks your heart. The number of these to claim asylum has surged at 
our southern border since 2014. This massive surge is due to loopholes 
in our asylum and immigration laws.
  These laws allow unaccompanied minors and family units to easily 
assert broad asylum claims. Again, the number of family units, 
individuals with children, and unaccompanied children has skyrocketed 
over the last 5 years.
  Due to certain provisions in the law and court rulings currently 
enforced, these children and individuals are released into the United 
States while they are theoretically waiting for their formal removal 
proceedings to begin months or years down the road.
  These loopholes, combined with programs like DACA, have led to a 
staggering increase in the number of unaccompanied children and family 
units at the border.
  In fiscal year 2019 to date, there is a 280-percent increase in the 
number of family units apprehended at the border compared to the same 
point in fiscal year 2018. From just 1 year ago, there is a 280-percent 
increase.
  The monthly apprehension numbers we are currently seeing even surpass 
those during the Obama administration. I think this chart shows it 
best. We see what happened over here, in blue, under the last 
administration. This is a dramatic increase in the number of illegal 
apprehensions at the southern border, primarily driven by catch-and-
release and the implementation of some of these loopholes we are 
talking about right now. That was a dramatic increase--more than a 2\1/
2\ times increase--250 percent in just 8 years.
  The word got out that the new President, who was elected in 
November--right here--said: Well, we are going to enforce the law. They 
began to do that, and we saw a dramatic decrease in illegal immigrants 
coming across the border--a dramatic decrease.
  Then there was a court case that said: Well, you can't really do 
that. That court case is being appealed, and what we have seen since 
then is that the cartels are back in business. This is one measure of 
the drug trade that we don't talk about. These are the poor souls who 
are coming across our border illegally right now.
  By the way, we are at a point now that is higher than at the peak 
during the Obama administration. People say: Well, you know, we don't 
have a crisis here. It is not a problem. Well, the numbers are down.
  I don't know what numbers they are looking at, but these are the 
numbers. These are facts. I believe right now we have a full-blown 
crisis at the southern border.
  I am not trying to define how we use money to put up a border wall or 
anything. That is not what I am trying to do in this speech. What I am 
trying to do is point out that we have a full-blown crisis of illegal 
immigrants and illegal drugs crossing the southern border. I saw it 
firsthand on patrol with our border agents over the weekend. I am 
contrasting that with years ago, when I used to go across that same 
border, when this was not a crisis.
  The last four Presidents have built 654 miles of barriers. We saw 
some of it in this sector. They have built 654 miles of barriers. Now 
we have 2,000 miles of total southern border. The four Presidents--from 
George H. W. Bush all the way to President Obama--have built border 
barriers because they all agreed that this is a crisis. It was intended 
to stop or slow down drug trafficking and the illegal incursion of 
illegal immigrants.
  President Obama built 135 miles. President Trump has 124 miles under 
construction right now. What we have been talking about here in the 
last few weeks is just 55 miles; we heard today it is an additional 55 
miles.
  The question is, Do these barriers work? Well, we have three areas 
where, over the last 30 years, border barriers have been built--San 
Diego, Tucson, El Paso--and we have actual numbers to show that the 
illegal crossing of drugs and illegal immigrants in those sectors where 
those barriers were put up dropped 95 percent. But what they have done 
is, they have pushed this traffic to areas that don't have those 
barriers. One of those was the McCowan district, which we visited this 
weekend.
  There are 250 miles of border across 19 counties. It is a crisis down 
there. Right now, what we have there is 55 miles of barrier with 35 
gaps in it. They have 55 miles that were built in 2006 in this sector. 
It is totally ineffective. The quickest thing we could do in that 
sector is close the 35 gaps. There were supposed to be gates, but there 
are no gates there. There is some litigation regarding that, but we 
need to fix that and make that barrier effective.
  The U.S. Capitol Police--who do such an outstanding job protecting 
Members of Congress, our staffs, the Capitol building, and several 
blocks around every day--employs about 2,000 officers. The Metropolitan 
Police Department here in Washington has over 4,000 employees to help 
protect an area of 68 square miles.
  Let's put that in perspective. There are 55 miles of barrier with 35 
miles of gaps in it, and only 3,000 agents in that entire sector. I 
think you can see where the problem might be.
  We have to give these men and women the tools they need to be 
successful and to protect our country. The longer we wait to take 
action, the more money cartels will make off drug trafficking, the more 
people will die, the more families will be destroyed, and the longer 
our communities will be in danger.
  Some estimates show that my home State of Georgia has over 70,000 
gang members in it--70,000. It is a destination for these people.
  There were Hondurans who were apprehended that night while we were on 
patrol. We asked them where they were going. One said New York; one 
said Miami; and one said Woodstock, GA.
  As we continue to debate this issue, I want to say clearly and 
unequivocally that Congress has to do better. We all must do better. 
For the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to 
protect our Nation's border, we must do better for our country.
  We can start by passing disaster funding for the people in Georgia 
and other States who are hurting from historic hurricanes and fires. It 
is outrageous that the funding package being considered here today does 
nothing to help these farmers and victims of these wildfires out west 
and of the hurricanes in the southeast.
  When President Trump came to Georgia to tour the damage after the 
hurricane, he said:

       Farmers really got hurt, especially in Georgia, but we're 
     going to get it taken care of.

  Vice President Pence said:

       We will rebuild these crops and these communities. We will 
     restore southwest Georgia. We will restore the Sunbelt region 
     bigger and better than ever before.

  We have a moment right now in time where Congress needs to act. Today 
we have to get this funding done and move forward. We have to get this 
disaster relief, I think, moved forward in a supplemental, if that is 
what we are going to do, but this has to happen immediately. Disaster 
relief should be considered right now--no more excuses.

[[Page S1358]]

  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.

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