[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 7, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S662-S663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Immigration

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, at the end of last week, I joined several 
of my Republican colleagues to travel down to our southern border. It 
was my second visit to the border during the Biden administration--my 
third overall. My first during the Biden administration was almost 
exactly 2 years ago, after border numbers started to soar in the wake 
of the President taking office.
  I would have to say unfortunately little has changed since my list 
visit. Thanks to the fact that President Biden spent the first 2 years 
of his Presidency refusing to even acknowledge this crisis, much less 
actually address it, we are still facing a disastrous situation at our 
southern border.
  I talked to Border Patrol agents who have spent 2 years dealing with 
recordbreaking numbers of illegal immigrants and are still looking for 
support from the Biden administration that never seems to come. Again 
and again, Border Patrol agents told me that not only do they not feel 
supported by the Biden administration, but they feel like the Biden 
administration has actually impeded their ability to do their jobs. 
``Just let us enforce the law,'' one agent told me. It is something 
that was echoed by other law enforcement officers that we spoke to. To 
give you just

[[Page S663]]

one example, we heard from the individual in charge of the border for 
the State of Texas, who told us that they have a number of panels for 
the congressionally mandated border wall that are ready to go into the 
ground. The State of Texas and law enforcement personnel would like to 
install these panels to help them stem the flood of illegal 
immigration--at their own expense, an expense of the State of Texas. 
But the Biden administration has, so far, refused to grant the 
permissions needed to do that. I can only imagine how much harder the 
jobs will get when the Biden administration ends title 42 border 
policies, coming up on May 11.
  I was also stunned to learn that President Biden's supposed border 
czar, Vice President Harris, has never spoken to the border czar for 
the State of Texas or to the leadership of the Border Patrol down 
there. That is right. The person who is supposedly in charge of 
addressing the chaos at our southern border has never spoken to the 
individual in charge of border issues for the State that makes up the 
greatest portion of our southern border or to the Border Patrol 
leadership in the State.
  Mr. President, from his campaign on, President Biden was fixated on 
distancing himself from the immigration policies of his predecessor and 
satisfying the open borders caucus that makes up a huge part of today's 
Democratic Party, so much so that, in his first week in office or so, 
he repealed somewhere on the order of 94--94--executive policies of the 
previous administration with respect to the border. The moment he took 
office, he set about dismantling those policies of the previous 
administration without apparently taking even a minute to think about 
what effect his actions would have.
  Well, we know now what effect they had. President Biden's actions 
declared to the world that the United States' borders were effectively 
open, and we have seen 2 years of recordbreaking illegal immigration as 
a result.
  In January, President Biden finally--and I say ``finally''--began to 
take some steps to address the crisis at our southern border, including 
reestablishing versions of some of the border security policies he did 
away with on taking office. Predictably, even the mild steps he has 
taken have garnered criticism from open borders Democrats who, 
apparently, think that border security and border enforcement are 
somehow uncompassionate.
  Well, Mr. President, do you know what is uncompassionate? The kind of 
lax border policies we have had over the past 2 years that have 
encouraged individuals to attempt to illegally cross our border; that 
have encouraged individuals to pay huge sums to dangerous individuals, 
to cartels, and smugglers for illegal passage; that have exposed 
unaccompanied children to the hazards of extreme weather and criminal 
activity or exploitation by sponsors once they arrive in this country.
  At least 853 people died attempting to cross our southern border 
illegally in fiscal year 2022--the highest number ever recorded. That 
is a lot of lives lost. There is nothing compassionate about the 
policies that encourage them to attempt the crossing.
  I think many people think of those attempting to illegally cross our 
border as economically disadvantaged individuals from Mexico or Central 
America. But the truth is that U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
apprehends individuals at our southern border from all over the world, 
some from hostile countries. One law enforcement official I spoke with 
said that the number of Chinese nationals attempting to cross illegally 
in the Rio Grand Valley Sector has increased by 488 percent year over 
year--488 percent. Now, I have no doubt that some of those were 
individuals merely hoping to relocate from communist China to a land of 
freedom. But it is equally possible that some were hostile agents of 
the Chinese Government, and that is a serious security concern.

  In fiscal year 2022, Customs and Border Protection apprehended 98 
individuals on the terrorist watch list attempting to cross our 
southern border. That is an average of one approximately every 3 or 4 
days. And that is just the individuals Customs and Border Protection 
managed to apprehend. There have been at least 1.2 million known ``got-
aways,'' which are individuals the Border Patrol saw but was unable to 
apprehend, since President Biden took over. Now, that is in addition to 
the almost 4.7 million--4.7 million--people whom they actually did 
apprehend trying to come across our southern border since President 
Biden took office.
  It is more than possible that terrorists or agents of hostile powers 
have been able to make their way into our country undetected while our 
Border Patrol agents have been struggling to deal with the 
recordbreaking number of individuals coming across the border 
illegally. The chaos that we have been experiencing at our southern 
border is an invitation to dangerous individuals, from terrorists to 
drug cartels.
  Our Nation is currently in the midst of a fentanyl crisis, which is 
largely being fueled by fentanyl trafficked across our southern border. 
And I would be very surprised if the flow of fentanyl into this country 
isn't being facilitated by the chaos at our border.
  Our current fentanyl crisis is also a good reminder that illegal 
activity at our southern border affects every State in our country. I 
have talked to sheriffs in South Dakota--about as far from our southern 
border as you can get--who are dealing with fentanyl that has been 
trafficked across the border from Mexico. Last year, Minnehaha County 
Sheriff Mike Milstead estimated that 90 percent--90 percent--of 
fentanyl and methamphetamine in our State--the State of South Dakota--
comes through Mexico and across our southern border--90 percent.
  Every State is a border State, and recordbreaking floods of illegal 
immigration at our southern border aren't just a problem for actual 
border States, like Texas and Arizona. They are a problem for every 
State in our country.
  For 2 years, the Biden administration has been missing in action at 
our southern border. While I am glad that President Biden is finally, 
at least halfheartedly, acknowledging that we are facing a border 
crisis, I want to see him follow through on actually enforcing our laws 
and doing what the Border Patrol agents are simply asking: Enforce our 
laws.
  He has all the authority he needs to secure or border, and he owes 
the American people nothing less.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.