[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 14 (Monday, January 23, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S48-S49]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Border Codel

  Madam President, over the past few years, we have seen proof that 
until President Biden and his administration secure the southern 
border, every town is a border town and every State is a border State. 
My colleague from Texas spoke so well about this issue and the impact 
that an open border is having on our communities.
  Tennesseans are suffering because of the open border agenda, 
particularly when it comes to the disastrous consequences of the cross-
border drug trade.
  Tennessee law enforcement officials are working overtime to take down 
the cartel kingpins who have set up shop in our State, just like they 
have set up shop in so many of our States. But drug overdoses continue 
to destroy families, they destroy lives and careers, and the Biden 
administration continues to look the other way.
  This month, I had the opportunity to see just how bad the situation 
has gotten right down on that southern border. Senators Hyde-Smith and 
Britt were kind enough to join me as we went to Eagle Pass, TX, where 
we witnessed firsthand the chaos that this administration's open border 
policies have created.
  As most of my colleagues know, the situation in Texas became so dire 
that the Texas officials decided to take matters into their own hands. 
In 2022, Operation Lone Star helped law enforcement apprehend more than 
336,000 illegal immigrants. That is just in Texas. They arrested more 
than 23,000 criminals--criminal illegal aliens, 23,000--just in Texas, 
and they seized 354 million doses of fentanyl--354 million doses.
  Now, these numbers are appalling. When you hear them stand-alone, 
they are appalling. When you talk to the Border Patrol and you realize 
that this is Texas, that this doesn't account for the other States, 
that this doesn't account for what is going on as every State becomes a 
border State and every town becomes a border town--when you hear these 
numbers, one would think common sense would tell you this Chamber 
should get busy saying: How do we secure that southern border? But that 
hasn't happened, and the cost of negligence is more crime and more 
death and more American citizens losing their lives and the cartels 
making more money. Yes, indeed, the cartels are running that border. 
You do not cross. Nothing crosses without paying the cartels.

  Now, we visited several locations in the Del Rio sector that are 
experiencing significant migrant traffic along the river. At every 
location, we found clothing, IDs, medication, and other personal items 
that the migrants dropped as they entered the country. What happened to 
those individuals is anyone's guess, because many of them don't want to 
be found out who they really are.
  Many of them are convicted criminal aliens. Many of them come from 
countries where they would be sent back, so they create a new identity 
once they touch U.S. soil. Then they can be here because we have catch-
and-release, because we do not have ``Remain in Mexico,'' because we do 
not have what the Border Patrol has been telling us for 30 years they 
need--a physical barrier and a better technology where they cannot have 
a physical barrier.
  In Eagle Pass we were able to witness firsthand two separate migrant 
groups crossing the river. One of those groups included a pregnant 
woman and several children. The other included children and an elderly 
woman who was clearly struggling to keep her footing while she was 
coming across that river. With this dangerous situation, with those 
freezing waters, the Texas National Guard troops could only watch and 
just hope that no one drowned.
  Now, that is what we saw in the early morning hours. But what we know 
is, during the night there were 57 other groups that crossed--a lot of 
them single adults. We know that the cartels, which are multi-billion 
dollar, multi-national organizations, work globally, and they are 
bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars a week. And they have 
brought along people from 150 different countries who are going to the 
cartel to come into the country because they think it is faster to do 
it that way.
  Or maybe they want to be the ``got-aways,'' people we see on 
surveillance who are known ``got-aways'' or the unknown ``got-aways,'' 
which are what the really bad ones are. They are going to completely 
different areas in crossing to bring in drugs, to bring in sex 
traffickers, to bring in human traffickers, to put people into modern-
day slavery. There were 57 more known crossings--known--that we did not 
see.
  Border agents told us that the day before our tour, there were 1,000 
arrests

[[Page S49]]

in the Del Rio sector. The day before we were out, it is important to 
note that there in Eagle Pass, there were 1,000 arrests. The President, 
on that very same day, was at El Paso. He saw no migrants. He saw a 
cleaned-up community. The visit had been sanitized so that he did not 
see what they were experiencing in the Del Rio sector and at Eagle 
Pass.
  Now, after we had been out with Border Patrol and were watching all 
of this, we made one more stop, and it was to the Harris Ranch, which 
is near Uvalde, TX. This area has seen significant migrant traffic. It 
has disrupted their entire community.
  I met with local officials--mayors, sheriffs, DAs, people that own 
businesses, farmers, ranchers--and they told us that sometimes people 
may need an ambulance, but many times they are unavailable to the 
people at Uvalde or Kinney County because they are too busy responding 
to migrant emergencies. The county attorney stated that he has 
prosecuted 4,000 criminal trespass cases--4,000--and since August of 
2021, he has prosecuted twice the number of people as live in the 
entire county.
  Now think about that: double the number of people in your county 
where you live. And think about that as cases that are going to come 
before your local court system. And who pays for that? That's right--
you do, the taxpayer. Every penny being spent, every penny is coming 
out of your pocket.
  And when you talk about the humanitarian crisis at that border--the 
loss of life, the abuse--the humanitarian cost is amazing. People are 
risking their lives because they are buying the lie of the cartels. 
They are physically, mentally, emotionally, sexually, and drug abused 
as they make this journey.
  Now, the Harris Ranch has about 30 miles of fencing around it; but 
even though they have that fencing, it doesn't stop the migrants from 
coming onto the property. The owner of the ranch told us that he 
regularly gets a call in the middle of the night informing him that a 
migrant is having an emergency somewhere on his land and has dialed 
911. Sometimes these calls come in too late or they don't come in at 
all. And we have all seen the news reports of these ranchers finding 
dead bodies on their property. And I will tell you that nothing in 
these reports is blown out of proportion. It is devastating. It is sad. 
It is a humanitarian crisis.
  Many of the migrants that the people at Harris Ranch have discovered 
got lost or they were abandoned by the smugglers. Others were dumped 
there by the cartels, and we know this because the ranchers have seen 
it play out on their security footage.
  I would encourage my colleagues to think about this the next time 
they are in front of the cameras and commenting about how compassionate 
they think the Biden administration policy is when it comes to open 
borders.
  Madam President, it is not compassionate when you talk to a young 
woman who, for 4 years, suffered at the hands of a cartel and sex 
traffickers, raped over 400 times, beaten with chains. It is not 
compassionate when you hear these stories of abuse, when you hear about 
cartels killing somebody who they think is too weak to make the 
journey. There is nothing compassionate about it.
  In December, according to Border Patrol and the Department of 
Homeland Security--which, by the way, is this administration's 
Department of Homeland Security--there were more than a quarter-million 
migrant encounters, which is the highest number of encounters ever 
recorded at the southern border. Putting that into context, that is 
more than the population of Knoxville, TN; more than the population of 
Chattanooga, TN.
  Part of the tragedy is month after month, year after year, this gets 
worse. It continues to get worse. And we have to remember, these are 
the numbers that we know. These are not the ``got-aways'' that they 
could see on surveillance camera. They think they have had, in the last 
year, a million--a million ``got-aways'' that are running into the 
country. Those are the known ``got-aways.'' We don't have a number on 
the unknown ``got-aways.'' And we have people that want to say this 
administration's policy is compassionate?
  They are bringing in drugs like fentanyl--16,000 pounds of it--enough 
to kill 3.3 billion people. They are trafficking women and girls and 
know that because we are hearing their stories. Our human-trafficking 
organizations are rescuing these women and girls. We hear about the 
gangs. We hear about crime in our communities, and we also hear from 
the Border Patrol.
  We can fix this. We can fix it. As I said, they have asked for a 
barrier. They have asked for better technology. They tell us keep title 
42. They tell us we need ``Remain in Mexico.'' They tell us: You have 
to end catch-and-release in this country, take away the incentives to 
come to the country illegally.
  It is time that we make certain that we secure that southern border. 
My hope is that my Democratic colleagues will put down their talking 
points and that they will pay attention to what is happening, not only 
in the border communities but in towns and cities and communities and 
in families who are experiencing adverse effects because of what is 
happening with this open border.
  It is time that we realize the cartels are taking advantage of an 
open border. They are taking advantage of a weak administration who 
will not stop them.
  It is time to secure that southern border. It is time to give the 
Border Patrol what they need to defend our southern border. It is 
imperative that we address these issues.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Hirono). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. DUCKWORTH. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Ms. DUCKWORTH. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 5:30 
vote commence immediately.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.