[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 24, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S62-S63]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            BORDER SECURITY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the Biden administration has spent 2 
years turning its back on the proven tools and policies that 
Republicans used to strengthen our southern border--2 years of a 
functionally open borders policy from Washington Democrats and 2 years 
of chaos and suffering as a result.
  Last week, Customs and Border Protection announced that an already 
recordbreaking year ended on a particularly catastrophic note. Illegal 
immigration apprehensions clocked an alltime high of more than 2.7 
million during the last fiscal year--by far the highest annual total 
ever recorded. But then December set an astonishing

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record all by itself at over 250,000 apprehensions. Last month was 
CBP's busiest month ever recorded.
  The American people are outraged at this willful failure. They rate 
immigration and the border as one of the single biggest problems facing 
our country, second only to the economy.
  Two-thirds--two-thirds--of the country disapprove of President 
Biden's handling of immigration and the border. That is a 67-percent 
supermajority of Americans who believe this administration is failing 
on border security.
  Our Democratic friends tie themselves in knots making excuses for why 
they can't simply do their job, enforce Federal law, and secure our 
border. Their far-left base makes them pretend that we can't enforce 
the laws on the books unless--unless--we find new ways to be even more 
generous to people who come here illegally. It is nonsensical.
  Even local officials who belong to the Democratic Party are rapidly 
losing patience with the Biden administration's border incompetence.
         
  The Democratic mayor of New York, Eric Adams, has spent months 
sounding the alarm on the catastrophic effects of this administration's 
functionally open borders.
  He said:

       This is a national crisis.

  He said:

       There is no more room in New York.

  Yet the far left attacks him, the mayor of New York, for pointing out 
the problem.
  The Democratic Governor of Colorado is taking a cue from Governor 
Abbott and Governor DeSantis and arranging transportation for illegal 
immigrants to various liberal jurisdictions that have self-identified 
as so-called sanctuary cities.
  There is a growing bipartisan chorus that is begging--begging--
President Biden to do his job and secure our Nation. It doesn't take 
new laws. It doesn't take some new, grand bargain or amnesty. The 
administration just needs to do its job: Secure the border, and let law 
enforcement enforce our laws. The Biden administration has all the 
tools and authorities it needs to tackle this crisis--if a solution 
were actually what they were after.

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