[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 24, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1736-S1738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Unanimous Consent Request--S. 890
Mr. CRUZ. Madam President, I rise today to bring attention to the
serious humanitarian crisis at our southern border. Right now, as we
speak, thousands of children have entered the United States illegally
and sit in crowded detention centers wrapped up in emergency blankets,
hundreds, even thousands, of miles away from home. They are without
their families and without their parents. Many of them have been
trafficked and have been physically and sexually abused along the way.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that just last month
alone, 29,792 unaccompanied children came across our border, including
2,942 children under the age of 12. All of these children came here
without their parents, and they have come here in large numbers because
they know that President Biden is promising them amnesty.
The illegal immigrants coming across our southern border right now
are not just children. President Biden's Secretary of Homeland
Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, has said: ``We are on pace to encounter
more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20
years.''
In February, more than 100,000 illegal immigrants came across our
southern
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border, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which is 3
times the number of illegal immigrants who came through the southern
border in February of 2019, and it is almost 6 times the number of
illegal immigrants who came through our southern border in February of
2018.
The Biden administration refuses to call this a crisis, but that is
what it is. We have a humanitarian crisis, and we also have a security
crisis.
Of the over 100,000 illegal immigrants who came here in February, 71
percent of them are single adults, according to the Pew Research
Center.
The Biden administration's policy has been to welcome these illegal
immigrants and to halt or slow deportations as much as possible. When
Joe Biden became President, he immediately halted construction of the
border wall. He ended the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy, an incredible
foreign policy victory President Trump negotiated with Mexico, which
stipulated that illegal immigrants from Central America crossing
illegally through Mexico to seek asylum in the United States would stay
in Mexico during the pendency of their proceedings. President Biden
ended that, ripping apart that international agreement, and, instead,
he reinstated the failed policy of catch-and-release.
So now when we apprehend illegal immigrants, we let them go,
including illegal immigrants who are criminals and who are convicted
criminals guilty of violent crimes. President Biden's political
decisions have produced a crisis and a crisis that is growing.
What the Biden administration has made clear in the last 2 months is
that their priority is illegal immigrants and not American citizens.
That is why, in just a moment, I am going to propound a unanimous
consent request that the Senate pass Kate's Law. Kate's Law is named
for Kate Steinle, who was 32 years old when she was tragically killed
on a San Francisco peer by an illegal immigrant who had several felony
convictions and had been deported from the United States not once, not
twice, not three times, not even four times. He had been deported five
times. By the revolving door of our border, this violent criminal kept
being deported, and he kept coming back, and he kept coming back, and
he kept coming back. And beautiful Kate Steinle was shot and killed
because of our broken immigration system.
Kate's Law is commonsense legislation. It would amend Federal law to
impose a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years for any illegal reentry
offense. Kate's Law is critical to ensuring that illegal immigrants who
have been deported, especially those with violent criminal records, are
deterred from repeatedly entering the country illegally over and over
and over again. If the illegal immigrant, violent criminal wh killed
Kate Steinle had been in prison for illegally entering the United
States the fifth time, Kate would still be here today.
I have had the opportunity to meet Kate Steinle's family. They don't
understand why our system is broken. They don't understand why we keep
letting in violent, criminal, illegal aliens over and over and over
again. And I will tell you, the American people--roughly 80 percent of
Americans--agree with Kate's Law. This is commonsense legislation.
We are about to see a Democrat object to it because today's
Democratic Party doesn't care what the American people say. But if this
were in the realm of sanity, Kate's Law would pass 100 to nothing.
Look, we can have disagreements about legal immigration, about what the
rules are, but when it comes to violent, criminal, illegal aliens who
enter the country illegally over and over and over again, it ought to
be real simple. We ought to be able to come together as Democrats and
Republicans and say: All right, let's draw the line there. We don't
need more murderers in America.
I have spent a lot of time down in the valley and at the Texas
border. I have spent a lot of time with agents from the Border Patrol.
Tomorrow, I am going back to the border to see for myself what the
conditions are like right now. I am leading a delegation of 17 other
Senators, and we are going to go talk to Customs and Border Patrol
agents. We are going to meet with CBP leadership. We are going to meet
with law enforcement and community leaders. We are going to tour the
detention facilities directly.
Now, you may not see that on TV because the Biden administration is
refusing to allow the press to see the facilities. For 4 years,
Democrats went on and on and on about kids in cages. Now, those cages
were built by Barack Obama, and they are bigger and fuller under Joe
Biden. And the Biden administration doesn't want you to see the Biden
cages. So they have declared a media blackout, that reporters are not
allowed.
The Trump administration allowed the media to go to the border. The
Obama administration allowed the media to go to the border. The Bill
Clinton administration allowed the media to go to the border. The
George W. Bush administration allowed the media to go to the border.
But Joe Biden wants to cover up the crisis that his administration has
created, and it is a crisis that, sadly, Senate Democrats are complicit
in creating as well.
We have yet to have a single Senate Democrat willing to break with
the Biden administration on the unfolding humanitarian crisis on the
border. The worse it gets, the more kids who are abused, the more kids
who are assaulted, the more Americans who are put at risk of COVID, and
the more Americans who are put at risk of violent crime. At some point,
I hope and pray we will see Senate Democrats willing to say: Enough is
enough. It is time to stop being angry partisans, and it is time to
come together with common sense and protect the American citizens.
For that reason, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous
consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further
consideration of S. 890, and that the Senate proceed to its immediate
consideration; further, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be
considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. LUJAN. Reserving the right to object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. LUJAN. Madam President, there is not a single Democratic Senator
in this body who believes that someone who commits a violent crime
should not feel the full weight of the U.S. judicial system for their
crimes. I hope my friend from Texas would agree with that. I don't
think there is a Member in this body--Democratic, Republican,
Independent, the staff--not a one. I think the same holds true for our
colleagues who work just down the corridor from us in the U.S. House of
Representatives.
Now, we must do everything in our power to make certain that those
engaged in violent crimes face prosecution and feel the full weight of
the law. That is not just bipartisan; that is the right thing to do.
Where I disagree with my colleague is the assertion that immigrants
are inherently criminal. They are not. They are people whom our kids go
to school with, whom we work with, who grow our food in America, who
work to prepare that food or even stock the shelves, teach in
classrooms, serve in the U.S. military defending our freedoms in the
United States of America.
So to my friend from Texas, this seems to be a continuance of the
harmful proposals from the Trump administration. I certainly think that
many of my colleagues from the other side of the aisle in the U.S.
Senate also disagree with the hateful pronouncements from Steve Miller.
This feels like a continuance of that, to strike fear in Americans and
to breed distrust in immigrants.
Now, I agree with my colleague that we have to work together to stop
that false narrative. This false narrative must stop because it is not
contributing to fixing the broken immigration system we have in the
United States.
I agree with my colleague that we should come together and work in a
bipartisan way to learn from one another. I am new to this Chamber, but
I am not new to these challenges.
I certainly hope that my colleagues who are traveling to the border--
and I commend them for doing so because this is an important
conversation we should be having. I hope they travel to Matamoros. I
don't know if my colleague from Texas has done that. I did.
[[Page S1738]]
I traveled down there with a group of colleagues. We had a chance to
visit with the Border Patrol in El Paso. We had a chance to visit with
Border Patrol in Antelope Wells in New Mexico and Lordsburg in New
Mexico. We have had the honor of traveling down into the Rio Grande
Valley, down to Brownsville. We had a chance to visit with folks on the
frontlines, not just wearing the green uniform of our Border Patrol and
those working with the Department of Homeland Security but those who
are also providing humanitarian relief.
Those camps in Matamoros that I went to, they still exist. And one of
the questions that needs to be asked is, What are these kids going
through? What are they thinking about to travel thousands of miles
because of the concerns that they have for their own health and well-
being? I hope we can have that conversation and solve this problem. So
let's find a way to work together.
I have said it before, and I will say it again: We need to go after
criminals and felons, not children and families. In truth, I think we
can get there.
So as I close, I just say: Let's be a beacon of hope to the most
vulnerable. Let's make sure we go after these criminals and felons,
wherever they may be, and they feel the full weight of the law. But
when it comes to the broken immigration system in America, let's work
together to fix it.
Therefore, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
Mr. CRUZ. Madam President.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
Mr. CRUZ. Madam President, I appreciate the warm sentiments of the
Senator from New Mexico, but the American people can distinguish the
difference between talk and action.
The Senator from New Mexico suggested that all Democrats support
holding criminals to account. I would suggest the facts are precisely
to the contrary.
Just 2 weeks ago, on the floor of this body, we introduced an
amendment to provide that $1,400 government stimulus checks should not
go to criminals currently in prison. Every single Senate Democrat voted
against that. That amendment failed by one vote. If even one Democrat
had said ``OK, that is reasonable,'' it would have passed.
Yesterday, I introduced multiple unanimous consent requests to stop
money from going to convicted criminals in prison and to send the money
instead to the Crime Victims Fund. A Democrat objected.
I then said: All right, if you don't want to do all criminals, how
about murderers? Can we agree, if you were convicted of homicide, if
you killed somebody, let's not send you a government check; let's send
it to the Crime Victims Fund? The Democrats objected.
I said: All right, how about rapists? The Democrats objected.
I said: How about child molesters? Surely, we can all agree child
molesters are not worthy of a $1,400 taxpayer government bonus given by
the Democrats. The Democrats objected.
So with all due respect to my friend from New Mexico, it is not the
case that Democrats support holding prisoners to account.
Today, in the Rules Committee, the Democrats are pushing forward an
election bill, the Corrupt Politicians Act, which would allow every
felon in America who has been released from prison to vote. It would
allow murderers to vote, rapists to vote, child molesters to vote. So
it is not the case that Democrats are willing to stand up to violent
crime.
Now, there are a couple of things that the Senator from New Mexico
said that I wrote down. He said the only thing he disagreed with was
``the assertion that immigrants are inherently criminal.'' Well, I
challenge anyone watching this exchange to read the transcript.
I am glad he disagrees with that assertion. That assertion never came
from my mouth. I am the son of an immigrant who came from Cuba. We are
a nation of immigrants. I am not remotely asserting that immigrants are
inherently criminal. There is a right way to come, and that is to come
legally.
But case law isn't about immigrants generally; it only applies to
criminals. It is immigrants that have a criminal conviction, that have
an aggravated felony conviction. So when my friend from New Mexico says
that we need to focus on felons--and he closed his remarks with the
following: ``We need to go after criminals and felons, not children and
families''--the case law does exactly that.
If the Senator from New Mexico believes the words he said, the next
words out of his mouth would not have been ``I object.'' By virtue of
objecting, he prevented us from, in a bipartisan way, going after
criminals and felons. Case law is targeted at those criminals and
felons. It is not targeted at kids; it is targeted at criminals and
felons.
I would ask the Senator from New Mexico and every Senate Democrat:
What would you say to Kate Steinle's family? I have heard them testify
in the Senate Judiciary Committee. I have visited with them personally.
If you were looking them in the eyes, what would you say to a system
where Kate Steinle's murderer was deported five times--multiple
criminal convictions?
I am the original author of Kate's Law. We have voted on this on the
Senate floo multiple times. Every time we have voted, every single
Democratic Senator has voted against Kate's Law. You don't get to vote
against Kate's Law, you don't get to vote against stopping violent
criminals from repeatedly entering the country illegally, and then
claim you are against violent criminals repeatedly entering the country
illegally.
Actions mean more than words, and, unfortunately, the actions of
today's Democratic Party are extreme and out of touch with the American
people we were elected to represent.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from Florida.