[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 182 (Monday, October 18, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7024-S7026]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, for the past several months, the 
Biden administration and their officials have devoted their time to one 
of two things: They have blamed Republicans for problems that they, the 
Democrats, created, or denying those problems exist at all.
  As my colleague from Texas said: Don't believe what you are seeing.
  That seems to be a common refrain.
  Just last week, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain retweeted the 
former Chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers when 
he dismissed rising inflation and collapsing supply chains as ``high 
class problems.''
  Apparently, he thinks those sky-high prices at the grocery store only 
affect the rich. How wrong they are.
  On this same day Ron was scrolling through Twitter, White House Press 
Secretary Jen Psaki insisted that the American people just started 
paying attention to their finances this year. Never before this year 
have they looked at their finances. She stood in front of the entire 
press pool, dismissed serious economic pain as a passing concern, and 
tried to spin the memory of the prepandemic, pre-Biden economy out of 
everyone's memory.
  Last week, I saw firsthand the consequences of this policy of 
deflection. Let me tell you, if you want to see what it looks like when 
our government undermines and abandons entire communities, you need 
look no further than our Nation's southern border.
  What I saw during my recent trip to south Texas was a humanitarian 
crisis, a healthcare crisis, and a national security crisis. And make 
no mistake, nothing that is happening down there is the result of some 
unfortunate accident.
  This is no everyday failure of leadership. If our so-called border 
czar cared

[[Page S7025]]

at all about doing her job, she would know that every single Border 
Patrol agent needs to hear from her. Law enforcement officers, they 
want to hear from her. And property owners in the area believe with 
absolute certainty that this issue on the southern border--this is a 
fixable issue. It is fixable.
  Our Border Patrol agents want to do their job, but they are 
undermined every step of the way by the official policies of an 
administration that has spent billions of dollars canceling 
construction of the border wall.
  That is correct. They are spending your money--your taxpayer dollars, 
your hard-earned money--canceling contracts, canceling contracts, 
canceling construction of the border wall.
  And they have stripped resources that the Border Patrol needs, 
pulling back resources like surveillance technology, pulling back 
funding that could help pay overtime for Border Patrol officers.
  They have pulled all of that back from the Department of Homeland 
Security, doing it even as the number of migrants who are surging the 
border is increasing, even as the apprehensions at the border are 
increasing. They are reducing the resources that the Border Patrol 
agents have.
  During conversations with these agents, we all came to the conclusion 
that most Americans have no idea how truly serious this problem is, 
which is the logical conclusion of another Biden administration policy 
of blocking press access to key areas of the border.
  They do not want you to see or hear about what is going on. They 
don't want you to see the chaos they have created. And they surely 
don't want us to see the trail of destruction left by this flood of 
illegal immigration. So they don't the press down there. They don't 
want them to get the message out about what is happening, how our 
southern border is being overrun and our Border Patrol overworked.
  At this point, not only me, but many of my colleagues--and there are 
some on both sides of this aisle--have documented for the record the 
horrific journey migrants undertake from Central America to the United 
States. And, yes, migrants are coming from 150 different countries 
through Central America and Mexico to our southern border. We know that 
the cartels are in complete control of that border on the Mexico side.
  And do you know what? The cartels, you have to pay them--got to pay 
them--in order for them to get you here. You get to the river, you got 
to pay the river tax to a coyote who works for the cartel in order to 
cross the river. The cartel controls who gets into the United States of 
America. Yes, it is illegal entry, but think about this: The cartels 
are in control.
  In South Texas, there are three cartels that are working that 
border--different parts of that border. It is big business for these 
cartels. And, yes, we know about drugs and weapons and sex trafficking 
and gangs and human trafficking. In South Texas, they have caught 
members from 88 different gangs--88--who are moving their people into 
this country. They are not coming here for a better life and a job. 
They are coming here because, gangs, they carry out crimes.
  But what many Americans haven't seen and witnessed is the impact all 
this has on your average border community. When I was in Texas, I had 
the privilege of speaking to ranchers and other property owners dealing 
with the nightmare of regularly discovering the remains of dead adult 
migrants, sometimes discovering children.
  Traffickers abandon these individuals while they are crossing some of 
the ranchers' and the property owners' property, just abandoned, 
abandoning these people right there on the property.
  These property owners are also forced to spend time and energy 
repairing damage that is inflicted to their property by the trespassers 
who are trying to avoid the checkpoints that are north of the border.
  We are talking about an emotional and a practical toll that has crept 
outward from the border, away from those remote ranches and outposts, 
and into communities all across this country.
  Administration officials started all this with their open border 
rhetoric, but they could also put a stop to it.
  How? By holding themselves accountable to the people who are stuck 
trying to control this chaos--people like Hector and Chris and their 
fellow Border Patrol agents, who risk their lives every day to keep us 
safe.
  They said: You know, it is like doing your job with one hand tied 
behind your back.
  And then they say: OK. We are going to try to strap down the other 
hand a little bit.
  That is right. That is what it means when you talk about removing 
resources, removing surveillance, pulling back money so they can't go 
do the job that they want to do, that they signed up to do, to keep 
this country safe.
  Everybody in this administration should spend a few minutes talking 
with property owners like Susan and like Richard and think about what 
it must feel like to constantly wonder if somebody has died of exposure 
in your backyard. This is what they are dealing with every day.
  The Federal Government is not out there repairing fences that have 
been torn down. The Federal Government is not out there cleaning up 
trash. The Federal Government is not there replanting a sugarcane 
field. No. Ranchers, property owners, they are paying for this out of 
their pocket because this is happening on their property.
  The status quo that this administration has created on this border 
can't last much longer because it is running people ragged, whether 
they are working the river, working the border; whether they are trying 
to work their ranch, their cattle, their crops. This is out of control.
  The other thing that I have noticed as I was on the border and then 
talking to a lot of Tennesseeans, hearing from people: The American 
people are afraid. The spin doctors in the White House and in the 
mainstream media would have us believe that fear is due to racism or 
xenophobia, but those accusations are misstatements. They are 
inaccurate.
  Americans are not afraid of those who seek refuge in our country. 
Americans are afraid of the documented rise in drug trafficking and 
gunrunning and sex trafficking. They are infuriated to see their own 
fellow citizens throwing in their lot with the drug cartels and 
participating in these trafficking rings. People in their communities 
are choosing blood money over gainful employment, and they hold these 
cartels responsible. And they fear the hold the cartels have over some 
of their neighbors. It terrifies them.
  But what terrifies them most of all is the knowledge that President 
Biden, his Cabinet, and his allies in Congress know this, and they 
refuse to help. We know the problem is fixable, as the Border Patrol 
agents told me. This is fixable. There are solutions. We know the 
administration has the power to do it. It is pretty simple.
  And this is what they have said: Enforce the rule of law. There are 
laws on the books. Enforce them. Illegal entry is illegal. They say: 
Start by building the wall. Build it; finish it; get it finished. They 
need it. They have been saying it for 30 years: We need a wall. We need 
a wall. Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies have been 
asking for this barrier for a long time. And if you were to go down 
south, you would see for yourself. Everything you need to build that 
border is there: the equipment, the panels. It is all there. Build the 
wall.
  Part of it is up, but we need to fill it in so that we secure that 
border--and additional funding for security and infrastructure and 
manpower. Build that wall. Get back to work on it.
  Next, the administration must stop waging war against President 
Trump's successful ``Remain in Mexico'' policy. The Border Patrol, law 
enforcement, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the National 
Guard--they will all tell you: Yes, get back to building that wall, and 
while you are at it, go back to ``Remain in Mexico.''
  You know what? They want this because it works. It works. Isn't that 
amazing? It works. So go back to it. We cannot afford to allow the 
operatives at the helm of the Democratic Party to dictate security 
policy. We know ``Remain in Mexico'' works, so embrace it. Say: We are 
doing this because Federal employees, the Border Patrol, are asking us 
to do this.
  We must also eliminate catch-and-release and embrace the removal 
authority granted under title 42. Those are things that we know work. 
Those are

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the things at the top of the list with our local law enforcement, with 
Texas DPS, with our Border Patrol. Those are the things that they say: 
These could be done right now. Go back to building that wall; go back 
to ``Remain in Mexico''; stop this catch-and-release; and abide by 
title 42.
  Today, President Biden, who hasn't been to the border, should go and 
say: You know what? This Nation is a sovereign nation; we are going to 
protect this Nation; we are going to protect our citizens; and, 
therefore, we are going to take these measures because the Border 
Patrol says this is what works.
  The time for treating these policies like political footballs has 
come to an end. The border crisis doesn't exist in a bubble, and it 
doesn't just exist at the southern border. What we are seeing along 
that border is loss of life and loss of livelihoods, and it is 
happening on a daily basis.
  How would you feel? How would you feel if they were running across 
your crops? How would you feel if they were on your ranch? Think about 
that one.
  It is clear by now that the White House values their ``woke'' talking 
points, but there is nothing ``woke'' about the death and destruction 
we are seeing tear through this border. There is nothing ``woke'' about 
allowing the cartels to overwhelm law enforcement and leave innocent 
people entrapped by those cartels to die in the desert. There is 
nothing ``woke'' about allowing a crisis to fester to make the 
political case for open borders.
  Until President Biden and the Democrats prioritize safety and secure 
the border they abandoned on the day that they took power and control, 
every town--every town in this country will be a border town, and every 
State will be a border State; every community will exist under the 
threat of cartel violence, and every person in America will bear 
witness to the desperation and loss of life that their President has 
seen fit to ignore.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.