[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 198 (Tuesday, December 20, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7806-S7808]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              IMMIGRATION

  Ms. SINEMA. Mr. President, I rise today as border communities in 
Arizona and across our country are in complete crisis. This crisis is 
not new. It is one that has progressively worsened year after year, 
administration after administration, due to the Federal Government's 
repeated failures to address our broken border and immigration system.
  As a native Arizonan, I have seen firsthand how these failures fall 
squarely on the shoulders of border States, risking the safety of our 
communities and endangering the lives of migrants themselves.
  Right now, we are experiencing a dangerous tipping point. The 
combination of an insecure border, an overworked and underresourced 
Border Patrol and protection force, and never-before-seen levels of 
illegal immigration, asylum seekers, and coordinated smuggling efforts 
have completely ruined an already broken system.
  To make matters worse, title 42, the public health order that stops 
some migrants from entering our country, may soon expire, allowing 
thousands of migrants to enter Arizona, Texas, and other border States 
without the proper procedures, plans, or infrastructure in place.
  Let me be clear. This is a humanitarian and security nightmare. 
Already, our border towns can barely keep up with the demand from the 
overwhelming levels of immigration. In San Luis, a small community of 
roughly 37,000 people right on the Arizona-Mexico border, the fire 
chief recently told us that three of his five ambulances are used 
solely to care for migrants in need, leaving only two ambulances for 
the entire local community on any given night. The city of Tucson has 
already accepted over 15 percent of its total population just in 
migrant releases since April of this year. In Yuma, the threat of 
street releases persists every single day, including today.
  With thousands of migrants coming to our border and seeking asylum, 
our overwhelmed Border Patrol agents are now additionally tasked with 
processing asylum seekers, taking the agents away from their important 
work of patrolling the border, apprehending illegal crossers, and 
stopping cartels, drugs, and smugglers. The consequences are plain to 
see. The mayor of San Luis even recently reported seeing migrants 
traveling along inner-city highways because Border Patrol was too 
overwhelmed to apprehend them closer to the border.
  While towns like San Luis, humanitarian organizations across our 
State, and our brave women and men in blue, green, and brown shoulder 
the burden of a failed system, Washington continues to politicize 
solutions. Politicians are retreating to their partisan corners instead 
of examining the problem for what it is, not what one party or the 
other party wishes it was, and focusing on finding meaningful 
solutions. Some refuse to acknowledge the need for increased security 
measures at all, while others have a singular view of what kind of 
security is sufficient. Some want to welcome all who come to the border 
into our country, while others want to keep everyone out, and a few 
want to defund the very agencies that are tasked with enforcing our 
immigration laws or underfund the very humanitarian organizations that 
provide vital services and care for the asylum seekers our country has 
always pledged to help.
  As someone who has seen all the challenges at our border my entire 
life, I know these are all false choices. That is why I rejected the 
partisan echo chamber and partnered with my good friend Senator Thom 
Tillis on a bipartisan proposal to help solve some of the real problems 
our border communities and immigration system continue to face. Just as 
we have on a number of complex issues--from gun violence to marriage 
equality and religious freedom--we focused on our shared values and 
shared goals. Before we could tackle the issue of a backlogged asylum 
process, employment visas, or the status of undocumented residents, we 
knew we had to focus first on securing the border.
  A problem as big as our broken border needs a smart, comprehensive 
solution, and that solution starts by investing in the brave men and 
women who keep our border safe. A robust, well-trained, and well-
resourced Border Patrol, Office of Field Operations, and Air and Marine 
Operations force are critical to secure the border, to keep our 
communities safe, and to ensure the fair and humane treatment of 
migrants. Senator Tillis and I focused on boosting pay, increasing 
force sizes, and providing our agents and officers the equipment and 
the technology they need to do their jobs safely and efficiently.
  Beyond supporting our men and women in blue, green, and brown, we are 
committed to reasserting control of our border. Senator Tillis and I 
understand that to secure our border, we need physical barriers where 
they make sense but that relying only on physical barriers is a 17th-
century answer to a 21st-century problem. The fact is, the majority of 
illegal drugs seized coming into our country arrive through our ports 
of entry.
  This past October, our Office of Field Operations officers reported a 
73-percent increase in fentanyl seizures compared with just 1 year ago.
  And just 2 weeks ago, the Office of Field Operations officers at the 
Nogales Port of Entry seized over 1.5 million fentanyl pills in less 
than 5 days. A wall alone can't stop these drugs from finding a way 
into our country and killing our friends, our neighbors, and our loved 
ones.
  We must supplement security barriers with innovative technology 
solutions, we must boost our border protection and patrol forces, and 
we must update the policies governing our border to meet the moment.
  For years, our asylum system has represented the promise of America--
welcoming those fleeing persecution to find freedom and safety. Today, 
though, our asylum system is broken, our Border Patrol isn't able to do 
their jobs and catch dangerous criminals, and our border communities 
cannot keep up.
  In order to uphold the promise of protection and freedom and ensure 
that our asylum system works for those who seek to serve, we must 
acknowledge that the status quo is no longer functional. Our 
immigration courts and asylum officers remain completely backlogged, 
with simple cases taking years to resolve, sending a message that 
America does not take this process seriously and that our system can be 
manipulated.
  In Arizona, the impact is clear. Small towns along our border like 
San Luis, Nogales, Naco, Yuma, and Ajo are overwhelmed daily, 
struggling to care for their own residents while managing an increasing 
influx of hundreds of migrants every day.
  With our asylum system broken, more migrants make the arduous and 
often devastating journey to our border. When they arrive, they risk 
not being able to access the care and medical attention they need.
  Now, Arizona's humanitarian organizations do incredible work. They go 
above and beyond every day to avoid street releases and to ensure that 
migrants are treated fairly. But they can only do so much. For example, 
the main humanitarian organization in Tucson, Casa Alitas, has been 
operating over capacity for over a month,

[[Page S7807]]

serving an average of 600 asylum seekers a day. And Yuma's Regional 
Center for Border Health now is contracting hotel rooms and buses due 
to the large number of migrants coming to that small city.
  With the snowbird season and farming season well underway, hotels are 
increasingly limited, placing even more strain on Yuma's already 
overwhelmed public health and emergency response system.
  So Senator Tillis and I understand we cannot address the border 
without also fixing our asylum system. Our bipartisan plan creates an 
orderly system for those wishing to claim asylum. By streamlining the 
asylum process in a manner that respects American values, we will 
quickly and fairly adjudicate claims and remove those who do not have a 
valid claim of asylum, sending a message to those in other countries 
that our asylum system will no longer be manipulated.
  The crisis at our border represents an immediate threat, but those of 
us from border States know--and we have seen up close--that strong 
border security, healthy cross-border trade, and a fair immigration 
system all go hand in hand. We can--and we must--achieve all three.
  In 2019, over $2 trillion worth of goods were traded through our 
ports of entry, and the Nogales port alone handles over $1 billion of 
produce every year. The goods and services traded between Arizona and 
Mexico power jobs across our State; and often, immigrant workers are 
the very ones fueling our cross-border trade and keeping this sector of 
our economy strong.
  To ensure that our border States' economies continue to grow and to 
ensure our Nation's economy continues to thrive for generations to 
come, we need a robust workforce. And that is why our bipartisan 
proposal fixes a wasteful loophole in our current employment visa 
system. For years, hundreds of thousands of visas have gone to waste.
  By righting this wrong, we will increase our country's 
competitiveness and make sure America has the workforce it needs to 
power our economy and compete on the world stage. I believe the future 
resilience of our country also depends on the full inclusion of 
millions of young people, often known as Dreamers.
  In America, we don't punish children for the actions of their 
parents. And millions of young people have been brought to our country 
through no fault of their own. These kids have grown up in our 
neighborhoods, attended our schools, graduated, gotten jobs; they have 
served in our military; they have contributed to our economies--all 
while making our communities more vibrant and great places to live.
  But now, they are stuck in limbo, casualties of Washington's 
inability to solve our broken immigration system. And that is why 
Senator Tillis and I have said: Enough is enough. We call on our 
colleagues to join us in a bipartisan plan to give these young people a 
chance to be recognized as Americans.
  Look, our proposal is tough, but it is fair. And I am certain that it 
will make America a stronger and safer place for all of us.
  I stand here today disappointed, as we come close to closing out the 
117th Congress, that Washington has chosen yet again to retreat to its 
partisan corners instead of doing the hard and necessary work of 
finding the lasting solutions when it comes to the crisis at our 
border. And in Arizona, we will continue to shoulder the burden.
  Now, part of the problem is that many in Washington have never taken 
the time to really see our border up close. And without seeing it for 
all of its diversity and its challenges, it can be easy to rely on the 
partisan talking points instead of focusing on the meaningful, 
realistic solutions.
  That is why when we come back to Congress in January, one of the 
first things I will do, with Senator Tillis, is convene a bipartisan 
group of Senators who are willing and committed to get something done. 
We are going to bring them to the border. We are going to see what 
Arizonans see every single day, because a crisis this big should not 
and cannot be ignored. And in Arizona, we cannot afford for this crisis 
to continue much longer.
  Over the past 4 years, I have been privileged to work with colleagues 
in this body on both sides of the aisle to solve some of our country's 
toughest challenges. Through honesty and collaboration, we have shown 
America there is so much more that unites us than divides us. We have 
shown America what is possible when we listen to one another, not to 
respond or debate, but to understand.
  There is no challenge more intractable, more difficult to bridge, and 
more dire for us to solve than our border and immigration crisis. And I 
believe that we can come together and earnestly solve this challenge. I 
am willing to do this work. And I couldn't be more grateful for 
partners like Senator Tillis, who is also willing to do this work. And 
today, I call on my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join us. 
Put down the politics. Let's get this done.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I first want to thank my colleague Senator 
Sinema for her comments. I think that she has framed a lot of the 
challenges that we were seeking to address that are going to persist 
into the next Congress now.
  I think one of the things that we have to do, if we are able to 
achieve bipartisan consensus in the next Congress, is to get more 
people to recognize, just as Senator Sinema stated in her first few 
lines of her comments just before me, we have a crisis at the southern 
border. And it is a crisis where the border States--the southern border 
States--bear the brunt of it, but it affects everybody in the United 
States. Every city, every State, every community is being affected by 
the crisis at the border.
  I think this administration has to recognize--it is interesting if 
you watch the news coverage--how suddenly one end of the spectrum says: 
Now it is time for Congress to act. The crisis at the border--2 million 
illegal crossings in each of the last 12-month periods, for a total of 
4 million people illegally crossing the border.
  We dodged a bullet this week when title 42, which is a policy that 
allows expedited removal for a certain group of those crossing the 
border illegally to be returned--but tomorrow or next week or in the 
next couple of weeks, that policy is going to come off the books. Then, 
Border Patrol says, they will no longer have control over the border. 
They already have said that they can barely keep up.
  The vast majority of people who are Border Patrol agents who should 
be responding to illegal crossings are now working in the aftermath of 
2 million people coming across the border over the last 12 months. They 
are providing housing, transportation. They are not actually doing law 
enforcement. If title 42 goes away, that 2 million is estimated to be 3 
million over the next 12 months. And it could go up from there.
  Ever since President Biden has taken office--we have to keep in mind 
that this is just an objective observation. In the 12 months before 
President Biden came into office, there were about a half million 
illegal crossings--in the 12 months before. In the 12 months after, 
there were 2 million. And the 12 months after that, there were 2 
million. And now we have the threat of 3 million and continuing.
  On the one hand, when you see somebody risking their life to come 
into this country, you have to kind of take it as a compliment. They 
want to realize the American dream. And I admire that. One of the very 
reasons why we are so attractive as a country to come and live and 
prosper is because we are a nation of laws. We have order. Now we have 
disorder at the border.
  And even though it is a huge problem to have 2 million crossings 
every year, it is an even worse problem to have 50,000 got-aways. The 
way it works down at the border--I have been to the border several 
times--the vast majority of the people that cross the border, 
immediately, you literally see at the northern side of the Rio Grande 
an arrow that points you to where you can go to be processed. They know 
they are going to be treated respectfully. They will be given housing. 
They will be given food. They will go through the process.
  What is concerning is that there are some 50,000 per month who 
intentionally evade apprehension. Now, why on earth, if you have got a 
valid asylum claim or you don't have a criminal

[[Page S7808]]

record, would you run the risk of evading Border Patrol rather than 
presenting yourself, getting in line, being processed and being 
released within a few weeks? The reason for that is that many of them 
have criminal background records.
  We had 750 recently apprehended who were documented members of gangs 
in their country of origin. These are people that are coming to this 
country and quickly going to the communities that they are most like 
and making those communities less safe for the people who are legally 
present or the people who have been relocated over the past couple of 
years with the flood at the border.
  You also have to understand that the cartel--the reason the 
administration has to recognize this is a crisis is the cartels made an 
estimated $800 million over the last 12 months paying a toll to come to 
this country. If you are in a Latin American country or South American 
country, you are paying an average between $5,000 to $7,000 per person. 
If you are from China, you are paying about $35,000. These cartels have 
set up a marketing function. They go to these source countries and say: 
If you pay us a fee, we will get you to the United States, in spite of 
the fact that they have may have passed through other safe countries 
that they could seek asylum.
  That is what we talk about when we are talking about abusing our 
asylum system. Our international treaties say that if somebody comes to 
you and you have a credible fear for your life or your family's life in 
the country that you live, relocate to a country that can grant you 
asylum and go through the process. But what the cartels are saying: Pay 
us a fee. We don't care where you are in the world--literally--and we 
will get you to the United States. And you will pass through several 
countries where you could have applied for asylum in between.
  And then when you get here, the cartels have coached them on exactly 
what to say to make you think that they have a credible asylum claim, 
in spite of the fact that with hundreds of judges--Democratic judges, 
Republican judges, Independent judges--80 percent of those asylum 
claims are deemed not to be credible. So the asylum system is broken. 
It has to be fixed. It is one of the foundations of any kind of 
framework that I could support.
  The border has to be secured, and we need more technology and more 
enforcement at the legal ports of entry because those same cartels who 
are making $800 million a year are spending that money to then send 
truckloads of fentanyl and dangerous drugs poisoning and killing 
Americans.
  I hope that in the next Congress, we can recognize, No. 1--hopefully 
the administration will recognize that we do have a crisis at the 
border and it can't be solved on partisan grounds. We have to have a 
conversation. Both ends of the political spectrum need to recognize 
that you have to move to a point where we can produce a solution. 
Otherwise, Americans are going to be poisoned to death, and people 
trying to cross the border are going to die in the hundreds. It is a 
moral obligation that we have to get out of our political comfort zone 
and get something done. Otherwise, the deaths, the blood of the people 
who die as a result of inaction, will be on the hands of everybody in 
this room.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.

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