[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 100 (Wednesday, June 9, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4004-S4006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, today I come to the floor to talk about 
the crisis that is occurring at our southern border.
  Joe Biden has been President now for about 4 months. In this time, 
illegal immigration at the southern border has more than doubled. We 
are now on a pace this year--this year alone--for the most illegal 
immigration in two decades. The numbers that we see, based on last 
month, we are talking about 2 million people coming to America this 
year illegally.
  It seems to me that, on the first day in office, President Biden 
signed Executive orders that flipped on the green light that said: Come 
to America. He rolled out the welcome mat, and he sent a clear message 
that our borders are open. He shut down construction of the border 
wall, a wall that we have actually paid to have done, to be 
constructed. I have been there. The parts are lying on the ground and 
the workers stopped, on inauguration day, from putting up portions of 
the wall to close down the gaps.
  He stopped all deportations for 100 days. He brought back the program 
known as catch-and-release. And since he took these actions--and I have 
talked to the Border Patrol on the ground, and they say the border has 
been overwhelmed.
  Now, illegal immigrants are coming from all over the world. People 
say: Well, it is an issue between Mexico and the United States. The 
people coming here are coming from all over the world. At the time I 
was there, we heard that over 50 countries have been represented in the 
people who have been captured, including Romania, Armenia, Bangladesh. 
People are flying to Mexico who can't come to the United States because 
of paperwork, who they are, what their intentions may be. They aren't 
allowed to get tickets to come to the United States so they fly to 
Mexico to come into the United States illegally.
  The entire world knows that the border is open because that is the 
message sent out by this administration. And that, of course, includes 
criminals. Border agents have already arrested 95 convicted sex 
offenders. Border agents have arrested 95 convicted sex offenders 
coming into the country illegally, and this includes the last number of 
months.
  And I will tell you, the sex offenders include a man from El Salvador 
who was convicted of raping a child in Washington State. We are talking 
about people who have been convicted in the United States, who are now 
out of the country, coming back in--conviction in Washington State. It 
also included a man from El Salvador who was convicted of sexually 
abusing a 9-year-old girl. This abuse took place in New York City, 
which is a sanctuary city.
  This is what happens when our borders are open and the message is 
sent out around the world. And for the open borders crowd who like this 
sort of thing, some of whom are Members of the Congress of the United 
States, this is just collateral damage. It is all part of a political 
agenda.
  It has been more than 2 months since President Biden put Vice 
President Harris in charge of the border. She has found time to make it 
to the Canadian border but not time to make it to the border between 
the United States and Mexico.
  This week, and right now, the Vice President has been on her first 
overseas trip in the role as Vice President. She is going to Central 
America and to Mexico but not to the border. She has announced new 
gifts of American taxpayer dollars given to people from other 
countries.
  When reporters asked her--and she did; I saw the sitdown interview 
and the video of it--if she was going to the border, she actually 
laughed. She thought it was a joke. It was very disappointing to see 
the Vice President acting in that way. She said: ``I haven't been to 
Europe either,'' like it didn't matter. She hadn't been to Europe; 
there are a lot of places she hadn't been. The place the American 
people know she hasn't been is to the border between Mexico and the 
United States.
  In reality, she knows. She knows that if she goes to the border--she 
knows that if she goes to the border between the United States and 
Mexico,

[[Page S4005]]

she knows that the news cameras will go with her. She knows that the 
media would broadcast the crisis that they see at the border to the 
whole world. She knows that, then, more and more Americans will see 
firsthand the truth for themselves. That is why the Vice President is 
not going to the border between Mexico and the United States.
  The White House refuses to say it is a crisis. They refuse to say 
those words. They just want to use the word ``challenge'' instead of 
the reality of the crisis that I saw when I was there at the border 
with a group of Republican Senators. That is why they are doubling down 
on policies that caused the crisis.
  Two weeks ago, the President released his budget for the coming year. 
It is the biggest budget proposal by any President in American history. 
It would nearly double Federal spending over the next decade. Yet the 
President's budget for the Department of Homeland Security, the 
Department that is supposed to keep our Nation safe, is flatlined. The 
President likes to say--and he has said it time and time again. He said 
it when he was in the Senate; he said it as Vice President of the 
United States; and now he says it as the President. He said: If you 
want to know somebody's values, just look at their budget.

  Well, we have seen Joe Biden's budget, and we know his values. And 
his values are not those of supporting and promoting the security of 
our Nation through border security. The President's budget includes 
$800 million in aid for Central America. I don't know if Joe Biden 
thinks you can bribe people with our own tax dollars to not cross the 
border. It is an absolute surrender, and it leaves our borders wide 
open.
  Our southern border is in crisis, but the crisis isn't limited to the 
border itself. President Biden has also tied the hands of our 
immigration officials all across America. The Washington Post came out 
with a story, and they put it this way. I want to make sure I have it 
absolutely accurate so I am going to read it to you.
  It says: Under President Biden, ICE--Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement--``is an agency on probation.'' This is the Washington 
Post. It says:

       Biden has placed ICE deportation officers on a leash so 
     tight that some say their work is being functionally 
     abolished.

  That is the Washington Post on the President of the United States and 
what he has done with regard to our borders and our immigration 
authorities with his very flatlined budget for the Department of 
Homeland Security.
  The article goes on, and it says:

       ICE carried out fewer than 3,000 deportations last month. 
     The agency's 6,000 officers currently average one arrest 
     every two months.

  One arrest every 2 months.
  Hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens have court orders for 
deportation. Yet, despite these enormous numbers, deportations have 
never been lower, never been lower. No wonder the crisis is getting 
worse.
  I heard about it all last week over Memorial Day as I traveled around 
the State of Wyoming. People are very concerned about this disregard 
for our borders and for the support that our Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement officers need. So it is no wonder to me that the people of 
Wyoming are concerned, and I imagine that people all around the country 
are concerned. My colleagues heard it as well, as they traveled their 
home States just in the last week.
  The border really is one of the top issues that I am asked about 
every weekend in Wyoming. I will be heading home again tomorrow night 
for the weekend, traveling the State, and I expect to hear more and 
more about it this coming weekend. The American people want to keep the 
borders secure, and they want to be safe at home.
  We know what to do. We know what works. The border agents told 
President Biden's transition team before he was inaugurated what we 
needed to do to keep the border secure, what works, what wouldn't work. 
They say enforce the law, close the loopholes, the loopholes that 
encourage illegal immigration. They say finish the wall, the wall that 
we have already paid for. And they say bring back the policy known as 
``Remain in Mexico.''
  Until we take these basic steps, the crisis is going to continue, the 
border is going to remain open, and the American people will continue 
to come to us to say there is more that can be done and should be done 
and must be done because the American people know that when the border 
is not secure, that people of America continue to be at heightened 
risk.
  Thank you.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hickenlooper). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 1520

  Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I rise for the sixth time to call for 
this entire body to have the opportunity to consider and cast their 
votes on the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention 
Act. This commonsense reform would ensure that people in the military 
who are subjected to sexual assault and other serious crimes have the 
opportunity to get the justice that they deserve.
  Under the current system, fewer than 1 in 10 sexual assault cases 
that are considered for command action are sent to trial, and under the 
current culture, nearly 2 in 3 sexual assault survivors experience some 
form of retaliation for reporting that crime. That means a survivor of 
sexual assault is far more likely to face consequences than an 
assailant.
  When a 2016 Pentagon survey showed that 58 percent of survivors 
perceived retaliation for reporting their assaults, commanders said it 
was unacceptable, and Congress demanded action; but instead of working 
to change the system or the culture, the response was to make 
retaliation a specific crime, despite the fact that it already was a 
chargeable offense under title 10, section 1034 of the United States 
Code. It was nothing more than window dressing. We know that is true 
because, in 2018, when the same survey came out again, the perceived 
retaliation rate went up to 64 percent.
  The DOD estimates that 20,500 servicemembers are sexually assaulted 
each year. So you may wonder: How many documented prosecutions for 
retaliation did we see in the most recent year? The answer: One. Only 
one person has been charged for retaliation in the last year, and there 
have been zero convictions reported. To me, that seems more of a joke.
  Under our bill, the ability to charge and prosecute retaliation would 
move outside the chain of command, giving survivors more confidence to 
come forward in knowing the prosecutors would be free to protect them. 
Under the status quo and under the chairman's proposal, the ability to 
prosecute remains in the wrong hands.
  It is time to remove retaliation and other serious crimes from the 
purview of the chain of command. It is time to professionalize the 
military justice system to remove bias, protect our servicemembers, and 
deliver justice.
  The numbers speak for themselves, and every single number represents 
a person--a survivor, a family member. We owe it to our survivors--
those who have gone through the horrific experience of being assaulted 
only to experience retaliation from their fellow brothers and sisters 
in arms--to change this system. The Military Justice Improvement and 
Increasing Prevention Act will make the changes that they need.
  Every day we delay a vote on this legislation is another day we deny 
justice to our servicemembers--the people who do so much for and give 
so much to our country. There is no reason to make them wait any 
longer.
  Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent 
that, at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation 
with the Republican leader, the Senate Committee on Armed Services be 
discharged from further consideration of S. 1520 and the Senate proceed 
to its consideration; that there be 2 hours for debate, equally divided 
in the usual form; and that upon the use or yielding back of that time, 
the Senate vote on the bill with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?

[[Page S4006]]

  The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, in reserving the right to object, the 
chairman of our committee and I have both agreed that we need to be 
debating this during our markup, and we intend to do that.
  For that reason, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Iowa.
  Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, I rise to support my colleague and friend 
from New York in the call for the consideration of the Military Justice 
Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act. This is an effort whose time 
is well past due.
  For too long, our servicemembers have faced the threat and traumas of 
sexual assault in their own ranks. We must act to prevent these attacks 
and hold perpetrators accountable. Sixty-five other Members of this 
Chamber recognize the urgency of our servicemembers' plight. It is time 
for debate and consideration.
  I yield the floor.
  Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.