[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 102 (Tuesday, June 18, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3642-S3643]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, it doesn't matter whether you are watching 
FOX News or reading the editorial page of the New York Times, the 
media--indeed the Nation--is in broad agreement that there is a crisis 
on our southern border, and the responsibility lies squarely with 
Congress to fix it.
  Month after month, the number of people crossing our border has 
ticked up and up and up, and the only people who seem unfazed by these 
mind-boggling numbers--144,000 last month alone--are House Democrats.
  Despite continued pleading from officials at the Department of 
Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, and 
some of our Democratic friends in the House, the leadership in the 
House of Representatives is still trying to absolve themselves of any 
responsibility to act. Well, it is getting harder and harder for them 
to ignore this crisis that continues to get worse on our border. The 
recordbreaking number of migrants who cross our border make a difficult 
and dangerous journey to get here. They travel in the company of human 
smugglers, appropriately known by most as coyotes. These criminal 
entrepreneurs do not view the migrants in their custody as human 
beings. They view them as cargo. It is really their meal ticket.
  Coyotes get their customers to the United States, but a safe journey 
is not part of the deal. Migrants, especially children, often arrive at 
our border in poor health, suffering from dehydration, exposure, any 
one of a number of infectious diseases, and, unfortunately, sadly, many 
are left for dead by their smugglers.
  Last week, Border Patrol found a young girl believed to be about 7 
years old from India, dead and alone along the border in Arizona. The 
area where she was found is a rugged desert, and the temperature that 
day was 108 degrees.
  Stories like this are heartbreaking and more common than many want to 
believe. Those who survive the torturous journey from Central America 
up through Mexico and into the United States often arrive in critical 
health. The national Border Patrol Council vice president, Jon 
Anfinsen, has been an agent for 12 years and is based in Del Rio, TX. 
He said the number of people in custody and the high rate of illnesses 
is ``unprecedented.''
  He has seen cases of scabies, chickenpox, mumps, measles, flu, body 
lice, and countless common colds. Overcrowded facilities make these 
illnesses spread like wildfire, and even the Border Patrol agents and 
people offering assistance to these migrants are getting sick too. That 
is because Congress has not appropriated the money for the facilities, 
funding, and for the personnel to manage these record-breaking numbers. 
They are obviously in dire need of our assistance.
  Last month, the administration requested $4.5 billion for the 
Department of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, the 
Department of Defense, and the Department of Justice to address this 
growing crisis.
  Two weeks after this request, the situation had grown so much worse 
than expected that the Secretary of Health and Human Services notified 
Congress that the Department would soon be running out of funding and 
that another $1.4 billion could be needed for humanitarian assistance 
alone. That brings the total to almost $6 billion. Since the funding 
request was submitted, more than 144,000 individuals have illegally 
crossed our border, adding to the growing weight these folks are 
feeling.
  Without providing the necessary funding, we are sending these 
dedicated law enforcement officials out on a losing mission. We are 
asking them to carry the weight of hundreds of thousands of migrants 
without giving them the tools they need to do so.
  Enough is enough. It is high time Congress steps up and come to an 
agreement to get much needed and long overdue funding to the men and 
women struggling to manage this humanitarian crisis not of their 
making. This critical funding is needed along the entire southern 
border but particularly in the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso sectors, 
which have been disproportionately affected by the dramatic increase in 
crossings.
  For months, communities in Texas have requested help in feeding, 
transporting, and sheltering these migrants. They have gone above and 
beyond the call of duty, diverting millions of dollars in local 
taxpayer funds that are traditionally intended for things like clean 
water and power for their own residents.
  Today I am sending a letter to the Appropriations Committee and 
asking them to include assistance to these communities. The 
Appropriations Committee is holding a markup tomorrow, and I hope they 
can come to an agreement to provide the Departments, Agencies, and 
local communities in Texas struggling to manage this crisis with the 
resources they need to be successful. To borrow a saying from Border 
Patrol Chief Carla Provost, the current situation is akin to holding a 
bucket under a faucet. It doesn't matter how many buckets you have if 
you can't turn the water off. The emergency funding is a bucket, and 
hopefully it will be a sufficient bucket, but we still have to get to 
the source of the problem.
  Last week, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan 
testified before the Judiciary Committee and said: ``I want to make 
clear that this crisis is unlike anything we've ever seen at our border 
and it, in large part, is due to the gaps in our immigration laws that 
are driving it, causing a dramatic demographic shift in the flow of 
illegal immigration into the United States that is placing children at 
unique and critical risk.''
  Of the more than 144,000 people who illegally crossed the border in 
May, 69 percent were either unaccompanied children or families. The 
number of unaccompanied children apprehended last month is larger than 
any monthly total from the surge in 2014, back when President Obama 
called it ``a humanitarian and security crisis.'' It is an 
understatement to say we lack the resources to properly care for these 
children.
  In addition to providing more resources and better care, we need to 
get to the ``why'' of these rising numbers. I have no doubt this surge 
in humanity is being driven by the pull factors in the immigration 
system, most notably the Flores settlement agreement. By ``pull 
factors,'' I mean the thing that attracts the migrants to attempt to 
make this dangerous journey from their homes into the United States.
  The Flores settlement agreement is one of them. In the beginning, the 
Flores settlement agreement provided additional standards of care for 
children, including a limit on the time they could remain in DHS 
custody, but a subsequent, flawed court ruling expanded this agreement, 
in effect applying it to families as well. That essentially turned 
children into a ``get out of jail free'' card for migrants, something 
which is now openly advertised by the coyotes in Central America.
  In other words, the coyotes--the smugglers who earn money off of each 
person they bring into the United States--are letting these people know 
that if you just come as a child or if you come as a family, you are 
going to be able to make it successfully into the United States, and it 
is a money-making proposition, obviously, for them.
  A recent Washington Post article quoted a man as saying the 
following:

       That is the thing that everyone knows now. If you go, you 
     need to bring a child.

  This has gotten so bad that Acting Secretary McAleenan said the 
Border Patrol is now running DNA tests and is discovering significant 
numbers of adults who are claiming a biological connection to a child 
that is not theirs. This is the ultimate ``get out of jail free'' card: 
Bring a child--anybody's child.

  This loophole has turned into a major pull factor, and single adults 
are using it to their advantage. Rather than arriving at the border 
alone, they are bringing kids with them so they can pose as a family 
unit and be released in 20 days. These aren't all legitimate families, 
as I said. It is no exaggeration to say that children are literally 
being kidnapped to serve as a

[[Page S3643]]

free ticket into the United States. That is a sad truth.
  If we want to stop this abuse of our system and of these children and 
bring down the skyrocketing numbers that are flooding across our 
border, we have to fix this expansion of the Flores agreement when it 
comes to family units.
  Last month, Congressman Henry Cuellar of Laredo, TX, a Democrat, and 
I introduced a bill called the HUMANE Act, which, among other things, 
would close this dangerous loophole--something Congress never enacted 
and never intended and which is being exploited by the coyotes.
  Our bill would clarify that the Flores agreement only applies to 
children, not to families, and would remove that pull factor and 
prevent single adults from exploiting them in order to gain entry into 
the United States. The HUMANE Act would make additional, targeted 
reforms to make our immigration system more fair and efficient and 
provide better protection for the children who are brought here.
  Perhaps the most important thing to note is that this bill already 
has bipartisan support--something that is tough to find when it comes 
to immigration reform these days. As our friend the majority leader 
said on the floor last week, ``The crisis at the border hasn't gone 
anywhere and neither has our resolve to address it.''
  I appreciate my friend and colleague Congressman Henry Cuellar for 
working with me on this bill. I hope the border communities in Texas 
and along the entire U.S.-Mexico border will call and write or go see 
their Congressman and say: Get on board with Congressman Cuellar in the 
House of Representatives.
  Let's vote on the HUMANE Act so the Senate can pass it and send it to 
President Trump for signature. I can't imagine how people can be at 
peace with their own conscience knowing what is happening right now and 
simply sitting on their hands and doing nothing to address this 
humanitarian and security crisis. We owe it to the dedicated law men 
and women who work to manage this crisis along the border who now are 
being overwhelmed by this influx of humanity. Our resolve to help them 
remains as strong as ever. Now what we need is a strong bipartisan vote 
to get it done.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cassidy). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.