[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 8, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2854-S2855]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Border Security
Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, over Memorial Day weekend, I spent a
chunk of it in Yuma, AZ. In Yuma, AZ, it is 107 degrees in daytime, 102
at sundown. Those of us from Oklahoma are not used to that kind of
heat, but it was very helpful to be there, to be on the ground and to
see what is happening at that particular border area.
You see, each area of the border is a little bit different. But what
we are experiencing right now on our southern border is a continual
rolling, chaotic crisis there.
I have people who will catch me occasionally in Oklahoma and will
say: It seems like things are going better because I don't hear the
media talking about what is happening at the border anymore. And I will
smile at them and say: Well, you remember last summer when the media
was focused on the southern border? We had 6,000 people illegally
crossing a day at that time. Now we have 8,000 people illegally
crossing a day--8,000. In fact, last month, we had a quarter million
people that illegally crossed the border in 1 month. That was a record,
by the way. The previous record for a 1-month illegal crossing was the
month before. Things continue to get worse.
But each area of the border is a little bit different. Now I had not
been to this particular border crossing in Yuma, AZ, to be able to see
how things are different there, but this is either the No. 1 or No. 2
most trafficked areas for illegal traffic across the entire southern
border at this point.
What you see first when you are in Yuma, AZ, when you get there to
the fencing area, you notice this: You notice in Yuma, AZ, that you
have got a port of entry there; and at that port of entry, you have
miles and miles of border fence and then a gap in the fence, where on
January 20, 2021, construction was on to be able to complete this, but
literally, that day, it stopped. And so that gap has never been closed,
and so border crossings look like this.
Another picture of it is a picture like this. This scenario where
there is a dam on the Mexico side, and on the American side there is
the fencing--or at least there was going to be fencing. There is
fencing on both sides of this. So individuals literally step over the
dam, walk over and walk right up into the country. And you ask, well,
why is this not complete? Is it because we ran out of materials?
Actually, if you go just a mile from that last picture, in the desert
you will see this: just stacks and stacks and stacks of steel, 30-foot
sections all cut and ready to go to be able to close those gaps. But
those gaps are not being closed because the Biden administration a year
and a half ago determined they were not going to close those gaps; they
were just going to leave them open. So there they sit open.
So that is one of the issues. That is different in Yuma than in some
of the other areas where they just literally left the steel sit
horizontally in the desert rather than being installed vertically--what
it was designed for.
The second big issue is in this area because of those gaps in the
fence, individuals, as they fly into Yuma--they are not coming in long
caravans to come in--they are literally flying into Mexicali, Mexico,
taking a charter bus that the cartels have organized for them, where
they will pick them up at the airport, load up into a charter bus. They
will drive them up to the gaps in the fence with the bus and allow them
to be able to step across the border. They were literally--I could see
it--they will literally step across the border and wait for the Border
Patrol to come and pick them up, like it's Uber XL coming to be able to
pick them up at their spot. And they know if they just stand here on
this side of the fence and wait long enough, Border Patrol will come
by, pick them up in a van. They will take them to the processing area
where they get processed and then within a couple of days released into
the country wherever they want to go.
These individuals are traveling from all over the world. In fact,
when I met with some of the leadership there in Yuma, AZ, I just asked
the question: How are things going? What is happening in different
spots? What are you seeing?
One of the folks there said: Well, last week--last week--we
encountered people from 50 different countries crossing just in this
spot.
Why is that? Because the border remains open and people from all over
the world know they can fly to Mexicali, Mexico, pay the cartels--and
the current rate is between $7,000 and $15,000 a person for that
section of the border. They get on the buses, drive up to the border,
and then they step across.
It is a different kind of thing. We see sometimes pictures of people
who have traveled 3,000 miles in a caravan. And by the way, there is
another caravan that is actually organizing through Central America
right now and coming through Mexico. The current caravan has an
estimated 6,000 people in it that are walking their way up and
traveling their way up through Central America and Mexico right now.
But the folks coming through Yuma, AZ, are not like that. They step
across
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the border, and they are carrying luggage with them. In fact, Border
Patrol has had to actually limit the weight that they can actually
bring in luggage to no more than 50 pounds. They come into the process
area. They are bringing their luggage with them. They are dressed in
nice clothes. They are clean. They just got a shower the day before.
They come across the border. They wait on Border Patrol. We take them
to the processing area. In fact, when I got to the processing area, one
of the Border Patrol agents walked up to me and said, ``Do you see the
lady behind you?'' And I turned around and said, ``Yes.''
She said, ``She is wearing a Versace dress.''
I said that probably should mean something to me as a guy, but it
currently doesn't. And my wife later explained to me, ``That is a
pretty expensive dress.''
Why are we seeing people like that crossing the border? Because it is
easier to come in illegally into the country now than it is legally.
Most years we have a million people a year that legally cross our
border--legally--that go through the process, fill out the paperwork.
We do a background check on those individuals. They come through and
come into our country, and we celebrate people who come legally into
our country and have for over two centuries. These individuals are
finding it faster and cheaper to just pay the cartel, fly to Mexico,
walk across the border. And when you walk across the border, you are in
the country not just for a few months. Right now, when you cross the
border and enter into this area, as you walk across the border you are
given a work permit and the ability to stay in the United States for 8
years until your asylum hearing comes up.
Why do we have people coming from all over the world? We have a
million people doing it legally, but last year we had 2 million people
do it illegally because it is faster to just illegally come into the
border.
Let me ask a simple question to this body: Do we really want a system
that incentivizes illegal activity as the entrance into the United
States of America, because right now the incentive is to come into the
country illegally?
Let me phrase it this way. For the individuals who come across this
border, we do not do a background check on these individuals. We have
no idea any criminal history they have in the country from where they
are coming. We do a background check with American records. We know if
they committed a crime here in the past, but we have no idea from any
of the countries that they are coming from. And let me remind you, in
Yuma, when I was there a week ago, the week before, 50 different
nations crossed that border that week. We have no criminal background
check on any of those individuals.
What else happens with this? Because of the chaos that is happening
here and Border Patrol are having to run their Uber XL vans to be able
to pick people up and take them to processing, and they have to come
off the line to be able to come into the processing center. What else
is happening? The open desert areas not far from here, where they know
the drug traffickers are actually moving large quantities of drugs,
they don't have enough agents to be able to patrol that anymore. They
can see them on cameras. They just don't have enough people to get to
it.
The checkpoints that are on the highways typically leading out from
this area to try to pick up the gun and drug smugglers coming in and
out of the country, those checkpoints don't exist anymore. Why? Because
they don't have enough staff anymore because they are managing this
chaos at the border.
We are losing our security presence on our southern border because
the President is incentivizing illegal immigration, and it is taking
everybody that is there for our national security to actually be on the
border to manage the check-in staff for people coming in.
This is a ticking time bomb. It is solvable.
Let me give you just some very basic things on this. No. 1, keep
title 42 in place. The Border Patrol that I speak to when I talk to the
folks on the line, their No. 1 fear is the Biden administration is
going to cancel title 42. Now, currently, the court is prohibiting them
from doing that, but their biggest concern is, if the Biden
administration cancels title 42, even more people will come across, and
this chaos will be even worse. That is their No. 1 issue. Keep title 42
authority in place.
The second thing is, stop giving people that cross the border between
the port of entry and illegally cross, stop giving them work permits
that incentivizes people to come between the ports of entry in an
illegal fashion. The administration can do that right now.
Third thing: Stop giving people a free pass to come into the country
for 8 years to stay in the country while they await their asylum
hearing.
Whoever is last in, first up for the asylum hearing, and do it right
there at the border. The asylum hearings can be done in less than a
month, and do it right there at the border so they have to remain in
place to have their hearing.
What happens is, these individuals cross the border, they cross the
border, they get their 8-year pass in the country, they get their work
permit. They snap a picture of it. They send it to their family back
home and say: I paid this cartel member this much money. I crossed in
this spot. I stood in this line. When I got there, I got into the
country. Come join me. And it keeps accelerating. That is a policy
decision that the administration could stop now, and they are choosing
not to stop now.
And the final thing on this. Again, it is not hard. Close that gap.
Why is this so hard? Close that gap.
We have fewer people crossing in California right now than we do in
Yuma. Why is that? Because the gap is closed in California. And while
many of my colleagues scream ``fences don't work,'' why do we have
fewer people crossing in California than we do in Yuma, AZ? Well, it is
because there is a functioning fence in California and a big, giant gap
in Yuma. This does work, and everybody knows it. That is why the Biden
administration leaves it open--because they are facilitating this. This
is something that is going to bite our Nation. It is a national
security issue, and we should not ignore it.
Again, I celebrate legal immigration. I want more of it in our
country. This is unchecked, illegal activity, and we had better pay
attention to it.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Baldwin). The Senator from Wyoming.