[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 99 (Wednesday, June 7, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1997-S1998]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, the White House and the Department of 
Homeland Security released a press release yesterday to talk about what 
is happening on the border currently, especially on our southwest land 
border. I wanted to read just one line from the press release that was 
put out by Homeland Security yesterday, where they state in their press 
release:

       The administration's plan is working as intended. [The 
     administration's plan is working as intended.]

  Now, what they were referencing was what is happening on the 
southwest border and the number of people who are crossing our border 
that are being ``encountered'' at the border. That is the new term from 
Homeland Security for the number of people who cross our border 
illegally. They are ``encountered.''
  In the past, those individuals--and what I mean ``in the past,'' I 
mean the past 2 years. Those individuals crossed our southern border 
and asked for asylum because they were told by the cartels what to say. 
The cartels would say to each individual as they crossed and paid the 
fee to the cartel: Tell them you are afraid in your country.
  They would cross the border. They would say the words, ``I am afraid 
in my country.'' They would be given an asylum hearing date in the 
future. That date is anywhere--depending on where they go in the 
country--between 3 years and 7 years in the future. And they are told 
they can go anywhere in the United States they want to travel during 
that time period.
  Now, that is what it used to be. The administration came forward and 
said: We have a whole new plan. Our new plan post-title 42--that is the 
end of the pandemic restrictions--our new plan is that we are going to 
tell people there is a rebuttable presumption that you don't qualify, 
so don't come.
  So here is what has happened. Now you cross the border--and there are 
two ways you can cross the border. Now, this is the new plan: You can 
either fill out the paperwork before you come or, when you cross, we 
will fill out the paperwork for you.
  If we fill out the paperwork for you, it will take longer for you to 
come into the country and cross the border or you can fill out the 
paperwork before. What is that called? It is called CBP One. It is an 
app that now you can download from anywhere in the world, fill out your 
paperwork ahead of time, and when you cross, they will quickly expedite 
you into the country for your asylum hearing anywhere between 3 and 7 
years in the future or, if you cross between ports of entry, then it is 
going to take you probably another 8 hours or so for them to get all 
the paperwork filled out for you, and then you will still be released 
into the country and have a hearing 3 to 7 years in the future.
  What does the administration mean when they said the administration's 
plan is working as intended? They have now split up the numbers, and 
they have announced: Look, our numbers are less than 4,000 people now 
who are crossing the border illegally.
  It was just 10,000 people 2 weeks ago. Of course, what they didn't 
say was the week before that, it was right at 5,000. But what they are 
not saying is they have actually taken--if you fill out on the app 
ahead of time, they don't count those numbers anymore.
  Here is what has happened. We have the same number of people 
illegally crossing our border this week that we had 3 weeks ago and 
that we had 3 weeks before that.
  The administration now has just split up the numbers, how they are 
counted. If you fill out the app in advance or we fill it out for you 
when you cross the border, those are now two separate sets at the 
border, but they are still the same exact people who are crossing into 
the country. Except when I was at the border just 2 weeks ago and asked 
how all of this is working, I asked a very simple question: What are 
you noticing that is different now than what was different before?
  The response from CBP was: Well, it is the same. People are still 
moving in. They are allowed to be able to come into the country between 
ports of entry or at ports of entry, that is the same. But what has 
changed is a dramatic increase in the number of non-Spanish speakers 
who are coming.
  And the first words that I had from several different individuals I 
spoke with, both from nongovernmental organizations and from our 
Federal law enforcement when I was there last, was that we are worried 
for our national security. In fact, Federal law enforcement used the 
exact term. We have military-age, single adult men coming into our 
country from non-Spanish-speaking nations in the Middle East, West 
Africa, Russia, and China now in much higher numbers than we had 
before.

  Just to set the context of what is happening now while the 
administration is saying the plan is ``working as intended,'' here is 
what has happened: In the first 2 weeks of the end of title 42, we had 
1,000 men from Mauritania, West Africa, come across our border--1,000. 
Exactly none of them do we have criminal background information on--
none of them.
  Let me just compare 2 years ago to this year. So far this year, and 
this year is not over--if I look at Mauritania, we had 90 people 2 
years ago from Mauritania; so far this year, 4,300--so far this year. 
By the way, that doesn't include the May number that I was just saying. 
That is 1,000 more. So we are well in excess of 5,000 this year so far 
from Mauritania.
  From Iran, it has gone from 62 to almost 300.

[[Page S1998]]

  From Syria, and we have no background information on any of the folks 
coming in from Syria, we have had right at 200 people come in from 
Syria so far this year.
  From Pakistan, we have had over 500.
  From Somalia, we have had over 1,600.
  From China, we have had right at 10,000 people this year. If I go 
back 2 years ago, from China, it was 450.
  Yes, there is a huge shift that is actually occurring of Middle 
Eastern men, North African men, men from Russia and from China who are 
accelerating across our southern border, because right now apparently 
the administration's plan is ``working as intended,'' and we have 
thousands of people who are still crossing our border.
  I have heard even some recent reporting in the news on this that the 
numbers are way down. The numbers are way down. But apparently the 
press doesn't take the time to be able to look and see that the numbers 
have actually been split out into two different categories. The numbers 
are not down. In fact, the numbers right now would average somewhere 
around 450,000 a month--right now.
  The highest month during the peak of the immigration surge under the 
Obama administration, the highest month that happened during that time 
period when there was chaos and cameras that were focused on the 
Southwest border--the highest month was 69,000. The administration is 
now saying ``Our plan is working'' when there are 150,000 a month 
coming across the border.
  It is not working. It is fudging the numbers. It is trying to tell 
the American people: Look away. It is trying to say ``We are doing a 
whole new set of enforcement on the border'' when really what is 
happening is that people are being released into the country the same 
as they have always been released into the country for the last 2 
years. The difference is, they are told: Hey, if you show up for your 
hearing 3 years from now, we may be more strict to you. But at the 
border, they are moving through just the same, being waved through.
  I bring this up to this body to ask a simple question: Have we 
learned nothing from 9/11? Thousands of Americans died because a group 
of individuals overstayed their visas here in the United States. No one 
went to check on them. No one went to track them and just ignored the 
realities of what could be there.
  We have a huge national security risk, and God forbid we have a huge 
terrorist attack again just because we want to tell everyone ``The plan 
is working as intended. Look away. The numbers are down'' when we 
literally have people coming in from all over the world who may be 
coming to work here or may be coming in for nefarious reasons. We don't 
know. We literally don't know if these folks are fleeing poverty or 
fleeing justice because we have no criminal history on these 
individuals coming in from around the world--none.
  In fact, as frightening as it may seem, right now the current policy 
happening at the southwest border is if someone shows up without any 
identification or with a photocopy of an ID that they say is theirs, it 
is being accepted as real.
  They can literally come in and say, I am from Mauritania or Somalia 
or Syria or Iran or China or Russia, and this is my name, and they have 
no ID. We are creating for them a new ID card that is an American ID 
card and handing them a new identity and saying ``Show up at your 
hearing 3 years from now, in the future. Travel anywhere you want in 
the country. You can use this card to fly, to travel, or to show as 
ID'' when we literally have no idea if that is what their name is or 
that is the country they are from. That is the plan that is ``working 
as intended'' right now on our southwest border. I think it is a huge 
national security vulnerability.
  We need to talk about asylum. We need to talk about how we are going 
to define the national security risks of the United States. This body 
needs to have a real conversation about what legal immigration looks 
like and what we are going to say to the world about illegal 
immigration.
  If any of these individuals were to travel into Canada right now, the 
Canadians already have a clear law dealing with asylum. These folks 
would not be accepted into Canada because it would violate their basic 
asylum rules on how they handle it. But they are being literally waved 
into our country with no ID, with no criminal background check, and 
released into the country under the promise that they will show up at a 
hearing 3 to 7 years in the future. Can somebody explain to me why that 
is logical?
  If these same folks moved into Germany and said they wanted to claim 
asylum, Germany would put them in what they call a humanitarian center, 
where they would stay. They wouldn't be released into Germany. Germany 
would never do that. They would stay in that one humanitarian area 
while they process through their asylum claim, and if they didn't 
qualify for asylum, they would be sent back to their original country, 
and that is usually within about 2 to 3 months. We are instead handing 
them a brandnew ID, which we have no idea is their real name, releasing 
them into the country, and saying: We hope you show up 3 to 7 years 
from now at your hearing. Can somebody tell me that is wise?
  I am not asking for something crazy or something, quite frankly, the 
rest of the world doesn't already do, but for some reason, this body is 
locked up to talk about what everyone sees as obvious, and we refuse to 
even debate the issues of asylum and national security.
  This is not caustic and hard; this is reasonable, where most 
Americans are. But we are not even talking about it on the floor right 
now, but we should because it matters. The national security of our 
country is counting on us having adult conversations about the 
direction of our country, and I would encourage us to get started on 
this sooner rather than later for the sake of our future as a nation.
  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. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ossoff). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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