[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 31 (Wednesday, February 16, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S728]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, we are currently in the midst of the worst 
border crisis in our Nation's history.
  It is no exaggeration to say that the situation at our southern 
border is out of control. In December, U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection apprehended more than 178,000 individuals attempting to 
cross our southern border illegally--178,000 in 1 month--which is more 
than double the number of individuals apprehended by the Border Patrol 
the previous December.
  This is no isolated incident. Almost from the day the President took 
office, our Nation has been experiencing an unprecedented border surge. 
In fiscal year 2021, the Border Patrol encountered more than 1.7 
million individuals attempting to cross our southern border--the 
highest number ever recorded.
  The situation at our southern border is a security, enforcement, and 
humanitarian nightmare. Our Border Patrol officers have done heroic 
work this past year, but they are stretched incredibly thin and are 
having to spend too much time caring for migrants and not enough time 
patrolling the border. This heightens the chance that dangerous 
individuals--from terrorists to drug smugglers, to human traffickers--
will slip across the border into the country unnoticed.

  Drug trafficking across our southern border is a major problem and a 
problem that affects our entire country. There is a massive increase of 
fentanyl being smuggled across the border in States around the country, 
with total seizures up 134 percent and as high as 1,000 percent in 
South Texas. Alarmingly, fentanyl overdoses are now the leading cause 
of death for Americans aged 18 to 45.
  I have talked with local law enforcement officials in South Dakota 
who report that they regularly seize drugs that they can trace back to 
cartels trafficking them across our southern border. In other words, it 
is not just border States that are affected by security problems at our 
borders. Every State in our Union is threatened by lax border security.
  Addressing the situation at our southern border should be one of this 
administration's top priorities, but the President has been almost 
completely AWOL on this issue, as has his supposed border czar, the 
Vice President. He seems to be hoping that if he ignores this crisis 
long enough, it will go away. But it hasn't gone away. In fact, it 
shows no signs of stopping.
  It is hard to overemphasize the depth of the President's dereliction 
of duty on this issue. After all, it is the President's job to deal 
with national security and border enforcement. Yet the President 
continues to do essentially nothing to address the situation at our 
southern border. He can't even be bothered to visit the border. In 
fact, there is reason to believe that the President has never, never 
visited the border--not as President, not as Vice President, and not 
even as a Senator--beyond driving by it once on the way to a campaign 
rally in 2008.
  Of course, this situation isn't just a matter of the President being 
derelict in his enforcement duties. The President is partly, if not 
largely, responsible for the existence of this situation in the first 
place.
  Immediately upon taking office, the President took steps that 
weakened our Nation's border security. On his very first day in office, 
the President rescinded the declaration of a national emergency at our 
southern border. He halted construction of the border wall, and he 
revoked a Trump administration order that called for the government to 
faithfully execute our immigration laws. That was all on his first day, 
and that wasn't all.
  The President's Department of Homeland Security also issued 
guidelines that same day pausing deportations except under certain 
conditions. The effect of all this was to declare to the world that the 
U.S. borders were effectively open, and the administration hasn't made 
much of an effort to correct that impression. The President has 
significantly limited the ability of Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection to enforce immigration 
laws.
  Deportations dropped precipitously during fiscal year 2021, as did 
arrests in the interior of the country. And, of course, having a 
President who seems untroubled by the massive number of migrants 
attempting to cross our borders illegally hardly sends a discouraging 
message to those contemplating making the crossing themselves.
  There is simply nothing good to say about President Biden's record on 
the border so far. His policies are not compassionate. There is nothing 
compassionate about policies that invite illegal immigration and 
encourage individuals to undertake the dangerous journey to our 
southern border.
  He has betrayed the duty he owes to the American people who should be 
able to count on their President to care about security concerns, 
including border security.
  We just marked the anniversary of the President's first year in the 
White House, a year marked by disaster at our southern border. The 
President has a chance to change that record, to leave behind something 
other than border chaos to mark his time in office. But until we see 
real action from this administration, I am not going to get my hopes 
up.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.