[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 42 (Monday, March 6, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S649-S650]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, last Thursday and Friday, I hosted 
several of our Senate colleagues for a visit to Texas's southern 
border. As you can see, Senators Thune, Wicker, Fischer, Britt, and 
Ricketts joined me for a series of tours and meetings in the Rio Grande 
Valley. This followed a bipartisan visit that we made to El Paso and 
Yuma just a few weeks ago.
  So far, I have been happy to host, along with Senator Cruz, about 10 
separate delegations to the border. Each of those Senators saw a 
beautiful and vibrant region overwhelmed by the burden it has been 
handed by the Federal Government.
  Since President Biden took office, border communities and our entire 
State, for that matter, has been forced to carry the massive weight of 
a humanitarian and security crisis. Border communities are left with no 
choice but to provide food, clothing and shelter, medical care, and 
transportation for tens of thousands of migrants each week. And they 
are forced to use their local tax dollars toward costs that really 
should be borne by the Federal Government. And, of course, they are 
left to wonder how this crisis is impacting the safety of their 
communities.
  During our conversations last week, law enforcement officers shared 
their concerns about the security breakdowns along the border. Given 
the overwhelming number of people entering our country every day, 
Border Patrol has to respond and reposition with its limited personnel. 
As a result, highly trained law enforcement officers are shifted from 
the frontlines to pushing paper. Agents who should be arresting cartel 
members who attempt to traffic drugs in our country are now spending 
their days on administrative duties.
  And 108,000 Americans died just last year alone from drugs coming 
across the border. Of course, this isn't a coincidence; this is a plan. 
The cartels are smart. They are shrewd. They are scheming, and they are 
in pursuit of the almighty dollar. They orchestrate migration surges in 
specific areas to flood the zone and overwhelm law enforcement so they 
can take advantage of unpatrolled areas nearby.
  When we arrived Thursday night, we saw firsthand the sheer volume and 
diversity of migrants whom agents were apprehending, from a 6-month-old 
baby to single adult males. And previously, we had seen sections of the 
border, like Yuma, AZ, where migrants from more than 150 countries show 
up and claim asylum.
  Of course, this is part of the overwhelming strategy of the cartels. 
Their strategy is to distract and overwhelm. While professional law 
enforcement agents are busy processing and transporting migrants, 
cartels can smuggle heroin, fentanyl, and Heaven knows what else across 
the border. It is all part of a game plan by the cartels, and the Biden 
administration is getting played.
  But this isn't news to the people who live and work along the border. 
They have seen this happening for the last 2 years, but without the 
support of President Biden, they are powerless to stop it on their own.
  On Friday, we spoke with local, State, and Federal law enforcement 
about the far-reaching security impact of this broken border. The 
fentanyl that comes across the border doesn't stay in border 
communities. It moves to cities and towns across the country, mainly 
distributed by criminal street gangs that then battle each other for 
market share, for territory, and, of course, engage in a whole host of 
other crimes, too, but selling drugs is how they pay for much of it.
  These local and State and Federal officials weren't just concerned 
about this poison slipping across the border but dangerous criminals 
who come across too. Last year, Customs and Border Protection arrested 
more than 750 criminal gang members and 98 people who were on the 
terrorist watch list. We all remember what happened not that long ago--
20 years ago now, I guess--on 9/11, when fewer terrorists than that hit 
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing 3,000 Americans. But 
the Biden administration seems to be completely oblivious to the 
potential threat of people on the terrorist watch list making their way 
into the United States undetected. You can't help but wonder how many 
people are able to sneak into our country undetected while law 
enforcement is distracted caring for migrants--hundreds of thousands of 
migrants or what Border Patrol calls ``got-aways,'' people who are 
running away from law enforcement, and it doesn't take any imagination 
to wonder why.
  The current state of affairs is unsustainable, but President Biden 
continues to promote the false narrative that only Congress can fix 
this

[[Page S650]]

border crisis. During his State of the Union last month, President 
Biden even said:

       America's border problems won't be fixed until Congress 
     acts.

  But that myth is easy to debunk. Just compare what we are seeing now 
to what we saw during the previous administration.
  During President Biden's first 2 years in office, Customs and Border 
Protection encountered nearly 4.7 million migrants at the southern 
border, an absolutely unprecedented and astonishing figure. But during 
the first 2 years of the Trump administration, the Agency reported 
fewer than 950,000 encounters. From one administration to the next, we 
saw from 950 to 4.7 million. Congress did not pass any sweeping 
immigration laws in the interim. There hasn't been any major 
legislation that might have caused this dramatic increase or restricted 
the administration's ability to respond to it.
  Despite the fact that President Biden was dealt the exact same hand 
when it comes to his authorities at the border, we have experienced 
nearly 4\1/2\ times as many border crossings under his Presidency--4\1/
2\ times.
  So this crisis wasn't created by Congress, and Congress is not the 
problem when it comes to solutions. It is the Biden border crisis, and 
only he can fix it.
  We don't need to completely rewrite our immigration laws in order to 
fix the humanitarian and security crisis at the border. President Biden 
needs to do what other administrations have done: enforce the laws 
already on the books. The administration needs to get serious about 
things like expedited removals and ensure that those with invalid 
asylum claims are quickly removed from the United States. The 
administration needs to increase detention space so frontline personnel 
have the capacity to actually carry out their job. They need to stop 
paroling or essentially waving people into the United States to wait 
for an appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement that is 
years away because of the backlog.
  Time and time again, the Border Patrol tells me that what is missing 
now that existed previously were consequences--consequences with coming 
to the United States illegally or by exploiting our asylum system. 
There were consequences, and that offered a deterrent effect on 
millions of people who are now coming to the border.

  By taking a few simple actions, the Biden administration could send a 
clear message to anyone considering crossing our border: Unless you 
have a legitimate reason to be here, you will not be able to stay. That 
is the very essence of consequences. Deterrence is a key component of a 
safe and secure border, and until the administration starts deterring 
would-be migrants with frivolous asylum claims from crossing the 
border, we will remain in a constant state of crisis.
  To be clear, I am not suggesting Congress should just sit on the 
sidelines. We have an important role to play too. For one thing, there 
is obviously a need to improve border security. We need to strengthen 
the combination of technology, infrastructure, and boots on the ground 
that is the recipe for closing the security gaps that are being 
exploited every day.
  Last week, law enforcement told us, in no uncertain terms, that they 
need additional resources, and providing those resources should be a 
top priority. But Congress also needs to address the glaring problems 
with our asylum system that are being exploited massively.
  In the Yuma sector, where I traveled with the bipartisan delegation 
just weeks ago, the Border Patrol Sector Chief told us that 17 people 
from 176 countries, speaking 200 languages, were coming through the 
Yuma Border Patrol Sector and claiming asylum because they knew they 
would be released to the interior of the United States.
  That is a broken asylum system, especially when, once people 
ultimately do appear in front of an immigration judge, no more than 15 
percent to 20 percent of those will have those asylum claims validated, 
which means 75 percent to 80 percent or so are staying in the country 
awaiting a future asylum hearing without any legitimate claim to 
asylum.
  One of the places we visited was a Border Patrol processing center. 
You can see that here. We saw just how overwhelmed the Border Patrol is 
by the number of people they have to process. We discussed the growing 
backlog of cases and the fact that it will be years, if ever, that 
these cases will ultimately appear in front of an immigration judge. 
That is unfair to the individuals and families with legitimate asylum 
claims who have to live in a constant state of uncertainty for years 
because this system is simply so underwater and dysfunctional. It is 
also unfair to those who do not qualify for asylum and whose claims 
will ultimately be rejected. They will end up spending years living and 
working in the United States only to be told at some point in the 
future that they have to leave.
  But the dirty secret--and it is not a secret--is that many people 
will simply not show up for that future court date, knowing that, 
thanks to the Biden administration's open borders and nonenforcement 
policy, they will likely be able to stay in the United States, even 
though they don't appear in front of an immigration judge at some point 
in the future.
  There are a lot of problems that Congress can and should solve, but 
the current border crisis does not hinge on all those reforms.
  I appreciate my colleagues coming to Texas to visit our southern 
border, the ones who did last week and the many others who joined 
recently on a bipartisan basis. I think it is important for every 
Senator to see what is happening at the southern border. But the 
constant refrain I hear is because of the drugs being imported into the 
United States that are being distributed virtually throughout the 
country--what I keep hearing people say is every State is now 
effectively a border State, and every city, including Washington, DC, 
New York, and Chicago, where many of these migrants have been bused 
because that is where they requested to await their future hearing--all 
those are border cities, in effect, as well. The problem does not stay 
at the border. The problem is all across the country, thanks to the 
message that the Biden administration is sending that there is no 
reason not to come. In fact, if you do come, you are likely to be 
successful in staying.
  It is simply unfair to the professionals who work on the border who 
are overwhelmed by the burden they have been asked to carry and 
frustrated beyond belief by the lack of support that they receive from 
this administration. Essentially, what the Border Patrol has been told, 
in so many words, is: You hired on to do a job, an important law 
enforcement job, but we are going to shackle you and prevent you from 
actually doing the job that you entered the Border Patrol to do because 
we are not going to embrace the right policies, and we are not going to 
provide enough resources for you to actually do your job and succeed in 
doing your job.
  Communities across the U.S.-Mexico border are dealing with the 
fallout from the administration's policy failures and, as I said a 
moment ago, the Biden administration has tools at its disposal to 
address this crisis without any action from Congress, and it is time to 
put those to use.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.