[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 162 (Monday, September 20, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6542-S6544]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, the crisis along our southern border is 
bad and has been getting worse since Joe Biden became President.
  Last month, more than 200,000 migrants crossed our southern border--
the second month in a row that we have seen a number that high. Since 
President Biden raised his right hand and took the oath of office on 
January 20, Customs and Border Protection has stopped more than 1.2 
million border crossers. That is nearly triple the total number it was 
at this point in the Obama administration, and more than eight times 
the number of migrants stopped at this point during the Trump 
administration.
  These numbers have real consequences. Migrants are exploited, abused, 
raped, and some die on their dangerous trips to our border. Once they 
arrive, Border Patrol, local law enforcement, and nongovernmental 
organizations are expected to do a lion's task with a mouse's 
resources, and the surge of resources to migrants leaves serious 
security vulnerabilities that are exploited by cartels and criminal 
organizations.
  Even before this current crisis with Haitians, Border Patrol 
officials have told me, just to deal with unaccompanied children and 
the number of migrants coming to the border, that as many as 40 percent 
of the Border Patrol have had to leave the front lines of protecting 
the border, which means that the drug cartels can simply exploit those 
gaps in the Border Patrol's security line in order to move illegal 
drugs into the United States that, last year alone, took the lives of 
more than 90,000 Americans by overdose.
  As though things weren't challenging enough already, the city of Del 
Rio, with a population of 35,000 people, has been flooded by a group of 
nearly 15,000 migrants. Can you imagine? A city of 35,000 sees this 
huge human tsunami of 15,000 migrants almost exclusively from Haiti.
  By the way, this ought to demonstrate that this is not just a 
regional phenomenon. I know the Vice President went down to Central 
America and said that she talked to the Presidents of the Central 
American countries, of the Triangle countries, and said: Please don't 
send your people to the United States.
  Meanwhile, the green light was on at the border as a result of the 
refusal to enforce the basic security laws that were put in place by 
the previous administration. In fact, it looks like the guiding 
principle of the Biden administration was, whatever the previous 
administration did, we are going to undo it.
  They forgot to put an alternative plan in place, and so the people 
keep coming--1.2 million migrants, just so far, since the Biden 
administration began. Well, migrants have now set up a camp under the 
International Bridge in Del Rio, in 100-degree temperatures. And they 
have been so brazen that they literally have gone back and forth across 
the river to Mexico to purchase supplies--food, water, or whatever. 
They have been able to go back and forth virtually at will.
  Border Patrol and State and local officials have been working around 
the clock to ease the humanitarian crisis that President Biden and his 
policies created, and they are being overwhelmed.
  As I said, Del Rio isn't a huge city with unlimited resources. It is, 
roughly, 2\1/2\ times the size of the migrant group, and like other 
border communities, the city has experienced a one-two punch in the 
last year and a half because of COVID-19. First came the pandemic and a 
full range of new expenses. Then the strain was compounded by the 
restrictions on so-called nonessential cross-border travel, which has 
been in place for a year and a half.
  Pre-pandemic folks from Mexico, if they had the proper paperwork, 
would travel across the border to shop, to eat, and to visit family 
members, and they were huge economic drivers of our border communities.
  The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas estimated that, prior to these 
restrictions, between 40 to 45 percent of all retail activity in 
Laredo, for example, was attributable to Mexican nationals. That has 
dried up completely.
  Leaders in Texas, like the ones I met with in Brownsville last week, 
are struggling to understand the contradiction between the Biden 
administration's two different approaches. On the one hand, the 
administration is saying it is too dangerous for Mexican nationals to 
visit families in Texas or to shop in our stores because of the virus; 
but on the other hand, the administration is allowing 1.2 million 
migrants to cross our borders--untested, unvaccinated, most of whom are 
simply waved on through into the interior of the United States and told 
to appear at a future court hearing, which most of them will never show 
up for.
  We simply don't know what kind of risks these untested, unvaccinated 
migrants who are being waved into the interior of the United States 
could pose to communities in Texas or across the country.
  Just last week, the Department of Homeland Security Office of 
Inspector General found that, without stronger COVID-19 testing 
measures in place, the Department is putting everyone--migrants, Border 
Patrol agents, Customs agents, and the local communities along the 
border--at greater risk.
  Still, the Biden administration has refused to take any sort of 
serious action that would stop the flood of humanity coming across our 
border. Yes, they have paid lip service. They have said: Don't come.
  Meanwhile, the migrants are on the phone, talking to family in the 
United States, or they are simply watching American TV as the flood of 
humanity continues to come across the border without there being any 
real consequences.
  On Friday, the current surge of primarily Haitian migrants became so 
overwhelming that the Biden administration closed a legal port of entry 
in Del Rio, as well as interior checkpoints.

[[Page S6543]]

  For those of our colleagues who have actually been to the border, 
they know that Customs and Border Protection checks people as they 
enter the country at the border, but there are also interior 
checkpoints because we know many people aren't identified until they 
are found in an 18-wheeler trailer or embedded in some sort of hiding 
place or when the drugs that people are trying to smuggle into the 
United States are found often at the interior checkpoints.
  Because of the flood of humanity coming across the border because the 
Border Patrol at Del Rio was so overwhelmed, 400 Border Patrol agents 
were reassigned from other places, including interior checkpoints, to 
come help deal with the masses. That created a huge vulnerability for 
the drug smugglers and human smugglers. So-called nonessential travel 
was already shut down, but the administration bungled the entire 
situation so badly that they had to shut down essential trade and 
travel as well.
  Last Friday, I spoke with Border Patrol Deputy Chief Manny Padilla--
somebody I have known for years and who used to be the chief of the Rio 
Grande Valley's sector of the Border Patrol. He told me that the main 
focus at the time, of course, was trying to deal with the humanitarian 
crisis of getting food, water, and sanitation to these individuals. 
Once the most urgent humanitarian needs are met, the processing and 
potential removal of migrants will move more quickly.
  So far, a few thousand migrants have been moved to other Border 
Patrol sectors for processing. Again, because Del Rio's sector was 
overwhelmed, they had to bus them as far away as Arizona just to 
process people through the border. Some have already been returned to 
Haiti, and in the coming days, we can expect more flights to move some 
of the thousands of migrants back home.
  The Department of Homeland Security has claimed that they will use 
title 42, a public health authority, to expel the vast majority of 
migrants. But the administration needs to be honest with us.
  Will they use this title 42 authority--again, to protect the public 
health--to expel migrant families, too, and not just single adults? If 
not, will the Department use the expedited removal authority to swiftly 
remove these migrant families and, in doing so, deter others from 
coming? Or will they essentially continue to wave people through, 
encouraging even more migrants to make their way to the border? And 
will these migrants that they do have remain in custody until a removal 
decision is rendered?
  We know that catch and release simply doesn't work. It can be 
exploited to the point where people know that, if we don't detain them, 
we will give them this notice to appear--sometimes called, in Spanish, 
a permiso--and they will be sent into the interior of the United 
States, many of whom are never heard from again.
  The Department of Homeland Security and the administration need to 
back up their proposed plans of dealing with this crisis--and their 
public statements--with real and immediate consequences to cut off the 
flow and deter future immigration.
  There is a clear and urgent need for Congress to take action, and 
contrary to what our Democratic colleagues believe, blanket amnesty is 
not the answer. That will serve as an additional magnet for illegal 
immigration.
  Rather than address the crisis at hand, our Democratic colleagues 
have spent the bulk of this year figuring out how to bend the rules of 
the Senate to grant citizenship to millions of people who have entered 
this country illegally.
  Their plan would have provided legal status to people who entered the 
country as recently as this year, as long as they would have been 18 
years or younger when they had arrived. It would have turned our ag 
sector on its head by legalizing unlawfully present farmworkers with 
absolutely no provisions to ensure that our agriculture producers would 
have access to a stable workforce. And it would have legalized millions 
of people with temporary protected status without even addressing the 
fact that this temporary program has been in existence for three 
decades.
  There is a reason that Senate Democrats tried to pass a partisan bill 
by using the arcane budget procedures instead of the normal legislative 
process. These policies do nothing to alleviate the crisis that has 
existed on the border since Joe Biden became President. They fail to 
address the underlying reason people are unlawfully present and living 
in the shadows in the first place, and they literally reward illegal 
immigration. It is unfair to those immigrants who follow our laws and 
wait patiently in line.
  Yesterday, the Senate Parliamentarian confirmed what we already 
suspected, and that is that our Democratic colleagues will not be able 
to use budget procedures to grant citizenship to millions of 
undocumented immigrants in a purely partisan budget reconciliation 
bill. Our Democratic colleagues have said they have a plan B, and while 
I haven't seen any details about what that might entail, I seriously 
doubt it will succeed. I hope our colleagues will respect the decision 
made by the neutral, unbiased guidance of the Parliamentarian and avoid 
nuking the rules of the Senate to achieve a partisan political goal.
  In the meantime, there is a clear and urgent crisis on our southern 
border, and President Biden has proven that he is either unwilling or 
incapable of addressing it.
  But Congress also has a duty to take action that can only be done in 
a bipartisan way. It is not too late for our friends across the aisle 
to abandon their partisan amnesty plan and work with us on this side to 
address the actual crisis at hand.
  And I have a suggestion about where we can start. Last April, Senator 
Sinema, the senior Senator from Arizona, and I introduced the 
Bipartisan Border Solutions Act to address this unfettered flow of 
immigration.
  I have been proud to also work--we have both been proud to work with 
two friends and colleagues in the House--Congressman Henry Cuellar, a 
Democrat, and Tony Gonzales, a Republican. So it is literally a 
bipartisan and bicameral piece of legislation.
  Perhaps it is because the four of us live in and represent border 
States, we have spent time listening and learning from the men and 
women who safeguard our border and those who care for migrants and 
those who live in these border communities that are disproportionately 
impacted.
  There are a lot of people who talk about what has happened at the 
border who have never even been there. They inaccurately characterize 
border communities as unsafe and lawless. They villainize the Border 
Patrol and other law enforcement agencies for actually enforcing the 
laws that Congress has passed. And they propose blanket solutions to 
the complex challenges that exist, which would do far more harm than 
good.
  The fact is, the border is a beautiful, safe, and vibrant region. The 
men and women who lead and protect these communities are doing 
everything in their power to fairly and humanely respond to the crisis, 
but they are simply being overwhelmed and asked to do something that is 
the Federal Government's responsibility.
  That is why our legislation is important. It would streamline the 
processing of migrants in regional processing centers that would 
provide new protections for unaccompanied children, one-third of whom 
have been lost--lost--because they have been placed with sponsors, and 
when the Federal Government tries to follow up and find out how they 
are doing, a third of them never respond, and they are lost to the 
system.
  Our bill would also expedite legal proceedings and ensure that we 
have enough immigration judge teams, asylum officers, and staff to do 
things the right way. A number of groups have endorsed the bill, not 
partisan groups, and it constitutes a simple starting point that 
Democrats and Republicans should be able to agree on.
  Democrats cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the humanitarian 
crisis on our southern border. To borrow a phrase from a sign held by 
one Del Rio resident last week: ``No more optics. We want action.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, first, I thank Senator Cornyn for his 
remarks, particularly the points he made about the ruling of the 
Parliamentarian. I come to the floor to address the same issue.

[[Page S6544]]

  We received last night guidance from the Senate Parliamentarians 
regarding the unprecedented attempt to include wide-ranging immigration 
provisions in the upcoming reconciliation bill.
  Now, for the public at large, when they hear the word 
``reconciliation,'' it is a process by which you don't have to have 60 
votes in the U.S. Senate to get to finality on a bill. But 
reconciliation is something that has been used only twice, I believe, 
in the last 5 years. So it is not something that you just willy-nilly 
go to to get a lot of things done that you couldn't otherwise get done. 
But this looks like what the Democrat majority is trying to do in the 
reconciliation bill with the issue of immigration, and so I am thankful 
for the decision made by the Parliamentarian.
  That guidance by the Parliamentarian indicated that a proposal to 
legalize millions of undocumented immigrants is not appropriate for 
inclusion in a budget reconciliation bill.
  As ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, my office was 
deeply involved in the bipartisan discussions that took place with the 
Parliamentarian on this issue. I will say that I agree with the 
Parliamentarian's guidance. I think it reflects an obvious truth--
changing the law to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants is a 
major policy change with significant impact that reaches far beyond the 
Federal budget and not appropriate for reconciliation.
  More broadly, reform of our immigration laws is an important public 
policy issue. It is a topic that many Americans and many Members of 
Congress on both sides of the aisle care deeply about. It is an issue 
that inspires fierce debate, sharp disagreements, and great passion in 
people on both sides of the argument. It does so because, at its core, 
the issue of immigration is about the policies that we put in place to 
give people from all around the world one of the most meaningful and 
precious gifts that we can give--the right to legally establish your 
life here and, in many cases, pursue American citizenship. And whether 
you pursue citizenship or not, you have the right to the American 
dream.
  And you can see how important that coming to the United States is by 
just the hundreds of thousands of people so far this year breaking our 
laws to come into this country. It shows you how exceptional our great 
America is and the economic and the political and the social system we 
have that is so endeared to people all over the world that they want to 
come here, even breaking our laws to get here.
  And, of course, whether it is citizenship or the American dream, that 
is not something that can be boiled down to a Congressional Budget 
Office score. It is not something that can be reduced to a line item in 
the Federal budget. I think everyone here in Congress and Americans 
around the country already knew that.

  That is what made this most recent attempt to abuse the 
reconciliation process by the Democratic leadership even more obvious.
  As ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I look forward 
to continue working with my colleagues on measures to secure the border 
and improve our immigration system, but those measures need to be 
pursued in a way that complies with the rules of the Senate, not the 
subterfuge of what we call reconciliation.
  The recent proposal put forward by Democrats in the Senate clearly 
was not, and I hope we can engage in a more productive legislative 
process moving forward on the subject of immigration.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.