[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 188 (Monday, December 5, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6949-S6950]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, 2 years into the Biden administration, 
the Democrats' approach to illegal immigration and our Nation's borders 
has failed the American people.
  Last week, one news organization reported that daily crossings along 
our southern border have remained near record highs. Last fiscal year 
alone, more than 2.76 million illegal immigrants came across our 
southern border, absolutely smashing the previous record-high by more 
than a million. That is almost the equivalent of a full 1 percent of 
our total national population encountered on our southern border in 
just 1 year. The problem actually keeps getting worse. Reported 
estimates say that more than 73,000 new ``got-aways'' dodged Border 
Patrol and escaped into our country in just this past November alone.
  Absurdly, the response to this crisis from President Biden's team is 
that everything is fine--everything is fine--and going according to 
plan. Secretary Mayorkas said last month, ``What we are doing is 
precisely what we announced we would do in April of this year, and we 
have indeed been executing on the plan.''
  Now, everybody else in the country calls our functionally open 
borders an emergency and a crisis, but apparently the Biden 
administration calls it mission accomplished. And bear in mind, the 
terrible and unacceptable status quo has come with some emergency COVID 
measures still in place. All the crisis-level numbers I just ran 
through have come with these extra border controls--called title 42--
actually still in effect.
  Now, one Federal judge is trying to force the Biden administration to 
do what the far left has wanted for months and actually repeal the 
policy. So the unacceptable crisis-level status quo may only be the 
warmup act compared to coming attractions. One immigration expert told 
a reporter, ``It is definitely, at least in the short run, going to 
result in many, many more people being released into the United 
States.'' Congressman Gonzales, who represents Texas's 23rd District, 
says it would be a ``hurricane'' for border communities.
  Of course, the Biden administration officials who claim they have a 
plan to cope with the removal of title 42 are the same people who 
brought us recordbreaking illegal immigration even with it in place. So 
make no mistake, a choice between the current border situation with 
title 42 and an even worse situation without title 42 is a choice 
between a disaster and a catastrophe.
  Democrats need to stop shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic and start 
looking to the tough, proven, successful policies that allowed the 
preceding administration to get a handle on the issue, and they need to 
drop the forgiving attitude to illegal immigration that draws more and 
more men, women, and children on the dangerous journey to our border 
every single day. It is inexcusable that the Biden administration cares 
more about getting protested by far-left activists than they do about 
providing a basic level of order and security.
  Everyone knows what steps would improve the situation. The playbook 
from the prior administration is right

[[Page S6950]]

there. All the Democrats need to do is pick it up.