[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 68 (Tuesday, April 26, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2136-S2137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the Biden administration's bad 
decisions have brought many crises upon our country. One of the worst 
is the collapse of law and order on our southern border.
  Last month, Customs and Border Protection reported over 221,000 
apprehensions. That is up 33 percent just since February. It is the 
highest monthly total in 22 years. We have already hit more than 1 
million encounters in just the first half of this fiscal year. But, 
alas, this could still be just the beginning. The Department of 
Homeland Security is bracing for an even bigger surge in the weeks and 
months to come. Authorities are steeling for the possibility that we 
could see 18,000 new people showing up every single day.
  In 2020, President-elect Biden said that ``end[ing] up with two 
million people on our border'' would be ``the last thing we need,'' but 
his own policies went on to produce exactly that outcome.
  In 2021, on President Biden's watch, 2 million people from at least--
listen to this--160 different countries were stopped along our southern 
border, and now immigration officials are anticipating totals that 
could more than triple--triple--last year's record.
  Against this backdrop, with illegal immigrants and deadly fentanyl 
pouring into our country, any administration living in reality would be 
working overtime to actually secure the border. Instead, even now, 
President Biden is trying to throw away what little security still 
exists.
  For 2 years, since the start of the pandemic, a legal authority 
called title 42 has empowered the government to simply turn around a 
large share of the people they catch and send them right back where 
they came from. Every

[[Page S2137]]

month, CBP uses this tool to keep tens of thousands of illegal 
immigrants out of the catch-and-release pipeline and send them back to 
their home countries, but now, unbelievably, President Biden has 
announced he is going to cancel these legal authorities. He wants to 
rip off the one remaining bandaid that has preserved at least some 
shred of law and order.
  The Biden administration is claiming the pandemic is over and 
finished on our southern border. Now, they don't believe the pandemic 
is over, however, for American citizens--oh, no. Democrats actually 
want Congress to approve more funding specifically because COVID is not 
finished. The Biden administration's official position is that the 
pandemic is over for illegal immigrants but not for the American 
people.
  Every day brings more confusing spin from President Biden and his 
staff. Their latest claim is that Congress needs to fix their problem 
for them--that if these title 42 authorities end after President Biden 
has announced he will end them, it will somehow be Congress's fault. 
That is absurd. The administration has the discretion. The legislative 
branch has already given them the tool. It is the same tool they have 
been using this whole time. They just need to have the courage to tell 
the radical left to take a hike and keep sending these folks back to 
their home countries. Apparently, that is asking too much.
  The Biden administration is stumbling through this core governing 
responsibility with no vision, no plan, and backward priorities. 
Democrats would rather appease their radical base with functional open 
borders than conduct the bare minimum--bare minimum--in enforcement.
  The administration's decision is so obviously crazy that even a 
number of our Senate Democratic colleagues who have been marching in 
lockstep with the President for more than a year are now scrambling to 
make it look like they are breaking ranks.
  Well, I welcome our colleagues who are finally making angry noises 
about this border crisis. The problem is that their lockstep, 
Democratic votes for over a year have helped, actually, to produce it. 
For over a year, Senate Democrats have rubberstamped every single 
aspect of the Biden administration's failed border policy. Not a single 
Senate Democrat opposed the confirmations of the heads of DHS and HHS, 
who have presided over this crisis. Not a single Senate Democrat voted 
for commonsense Republican amendments to do things like preserve the 
``Remain in Mexico'' policy and defund sanctuary cities, and the cost 
of their bad decisions gets worse every day.
  Last week, a heroic American servicemember paid the ultimate price. 
Specialist Bishop E. Evans of the Texas National Guard had been 
assigned to help contend with the flow of immigrants across the Rio 
Grande. He lost his own life in trying to save people who had gotten 
into deadly trouble. And the White House's response? Their spokeswoman 
was asked yesterday about this tragic loss. She brushed it off. She 
said he was there on behalf of Texas, not the Federal Government. That 
unbelievably tone-deaf response perfectly captures the administration's 
failure to take responsibility.
  Democrats have built this border crisis by letting the radical left 
run the show for more than a year. If my friends across the aisle 
really have experienced a conversion of heart and now believe in border 
security, they will have to do a lot more than issue indignant press 
releases and call it a day.
  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. DURBIN. 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.