[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 64 (Wednesday, April 14, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S1911]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, shortly before Easter, I joined a number of 
my colleagues on a visit to the border to get a firsthand look at the 
crisis that we are facing. And make no mistake, this is a crisis. 
Customs and Border Protection apprehensions at our southern border last 
month were at their highest level in nearly 20 years--20 years.
  U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported more than 172,000 
encounters with individuals attempting to cross our southern border in 
March alone. And that is just the individuals they encountered. We 
don't know how many individuals came across without being identified 
and are currently residing illegally in our country.
  Nearly 19,000 unaccompanied children crossed our southern border in 
March alone, the largest number ever recorded in a single month. That 
is 19,000 children making an incredibly dangerous journey without their 
parents, at the mercy of smugglers, human traffickers, or any other 
dangerous individual that they might encounter.
  Needless to say, the surge at our border is having very serious 
effects. Border Patrol agents have been pulled off the border to deal 
with the influx of migrants and unaccompanied children, leaving the 
borders undermanned. And the government is straining to deal with 
processing the massive number of people who have come across the 
border. One facility that we visited was at 16 times its allotted 
capacity.
  The administration has had to deploy the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency--that is right, our government's disaster recovery Agency--to 
help deal with the influx of unaccompanied children. And the Department 
of Health and Human Services has been forced to open emergency shelters 
and ask the Department of Defense for temporary housing on bases.
  Despite the pandemic, adequate COVID safety measures have been unable 
to be maintained because the numbers needing to be housed have been so 
great.
  While the administration would like to attribute this crisis to the 
previous administration or anything but the current President's 
policies, the truth is, President Biden bears a lot of the 
responsibility for the situation. His Presidential campaign made it 
clear that border security was not going to be one of his priorities.
  And since taking office, what signals have he and his administration 
sent? On his very first day in office, President Biden rescinded the 
declaration of a national emergency at our southern border; he halted 
construction on the border wall; and he rescinded a Trump 
administration order that called for the government to faithfully 
execute our immigration laws, including removals for visa overstays and 
limiting funding to sanctuary cities--all on his first day.
  And that is not all. The President's Department of Homeland Security 
also issued guidelines that same day pausing deportations, except under 
certain conditions. The effect of President Biden's actions was to 
declare to the world that the U.S. borders are effectively open.
  That may or may not have been what President Biden and his 
administration intended, but it certainly has been the effect. The 
message received by prospective migrants has been, if you can make it 
to the U.S. border and claim asylum, whether legitimate or not, even if 
you illegally cross the border, you are in.
  Trump administration policies like ``Remain in Mexico'' and the third 
country asylum rule relieved pressure on our overburdened immigration 
casework and enforcement efforts at the southern border. They allowed 
for asylum claims to be vetted long before individuals reached the U.S. 
border, removing the need for people to uproot themselves and attempt a 
dangerous border crossing only to be sent back home again.
  But in his rush to distance himself from President Trump and appease 
the open borders wing of the Democratic Party, President Biden 
eliminated these policies, which has helped create the humanitarian 
crisis we are currently facing.
  Under the Biden administration, there is little deterrent or fear of 
punishment for those who seek to enter the country illegally, knowing 
that they can claim asylum and join the backlog of roughly 1.3 million 
cases while they wait in the United States. And the humanitarian crisis 
that we are seeing at the border is the result.
  President Biden and Democrats would like to present themselves as the 
compassionate alternative to the Trump administration, but there is 
nothing compassionate about policies that invite illegal immigration, 
that encourage people to attempt the dangerous border crossing, to run 
the risk of death or injury or exploitation or disease.
  Inviting the surge at the border also shows a significant lack of 
compassion or consideration for Americans, particularly those in border 
communities.
  While many of those trying to cross our borders illegally are simply 
looking for a better life, which is not an excuse for going outside our 
established legal pathways, there are also a lot of dangerous people--
dangerous people attempting illegal border crossings: drug traffickers, 
weapons traffickers, human traffickers, gang members. And when Border 
Patrol agents have been pulled off the border to help manage the 
immigration influx, it is not going to be too surprising if we discover 
that more of these dangerous individuals have made their way into our 
country. And that represents a real danger to Americans.
  Americans living in towns and cities along our southern border are at 
the greatest risk of having their communities disrupted by border-
related criminal activity, but the effects of drug trafficking and 
other criminal activity across our southern border are felt throughout 
our entire country.
  President Biden helped cause this crisis. There are no ifs, ands, or 
buts about it. And he could start ending this crisis today by making it 
clear that his administration will enforce immigration laws and that 
the way to come to this country is to come legally. He could also help 
by recommitting our country to serious border security along our 
southern border, including construction, continued construction of the 
border wall.
  For the sake of the unaccompanied children and all those trying to 
cross our borders and for the sake of the Americans who have been 
endangered by his policies, I hope--I hope that President Biden will 
take action.
  I yield the floor.