[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 118 (Tuesday, July 11, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2294-S2296]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I would like to talk for a few minutes 
about what is happening at the southern border.
  Coming from Texas, we have a 1,200-mile common border with Mexico. 
That is 1,200 out of 2,000 miles of a border with Mexico, most of which 
has been in the midst of a humanitarian and public safety crisis for--
well, for many years. But nowhere at no time has it been worse than it 
has been during the Biden administration.
  You will recall during the COVID crisis, title 42 was issued, which 
is a public health order which allowed the Border Patrol to expel 
individuals coming across the border in certain categories--mainly 
adult males. Family units and children were handled differently under 
court orders. But title 42 went away this last spring, 2 months ago. 
For 3 years prior, it had allowed the Border Patrol to quickly expel 
migrants who had illegally crossed the southern border. With detention 
facilities and shelters bursting at the seams, title 42 was the only 
tool the Biden administration was willing to use to prevent even more 
chaos from unfolding.

  In the weeks and months leading up to its end last spring, there was 
widespread fear that a post-title 42 border would look even worse than 
it did at the time, which was a historically bad time. Would the newly 
set records for illegal immigration be replaced? Would we see up to 
18,000 migrants a day as the Department of Homeland Security officials 
once predicted? Would more law enforcement officers be removed from the 
frontlines in order to process and care for migrants under the flawed 
policies of the Biden administration?
  The migration levels over the last 2 months haven't been as bad as 
some had expected, but they certainly have not been good either. Last 
week, the New York Times reported that since May 12, the average number 
of illegal crossings has been around 3,360. Well, that is an 
improvement from where we were a few months ago, but it is hardly 
reason to pop a champagne cork and celebrate. For one, the drop is 
likely seasonal, temporary. Officials and immigration experts believe 
many migrants are in a wait-and-see mode. They are paying close 
attention to the legal challenges and other migrants' journeys in order 
to determine their best courses of action.
  That is also true of the criminal cartels that control the flow of 
migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border. This is a business proposition 
for them. They are continuing to get rich in moving people and drugs 
across the border, and they are taking a wait-and-see attitude to see: 
OK, what is public opinion going to look like? Are we going to create a 
backlash and even a more dramatic response by the U.S. Government or 
can we just sort of go slowly, and they won't notice as we gradually 
ramp up the numbers of migrants and drugs coming across the border?
  It is also likely that many migrants are holding out for a highly 
sought after appointment with Customs and Border Protection through the 
CBP One app, as it is called. It is an app for your phone. As that wait 
grows longer and frustration grows higher, the decision of many to wait 
and to use that app in order to schedule a time to meet with Customs 
and Border Protection officials means that their decision to wait is 
likely to change. Some areas, indeed, along the border are already 
seeing an increase, including the Tucson sector. During the week that 
ended June 2, agents apprehended roughly 4,300 migrants, while 4 weeks 
later they apprehended 7,000--an increase of nearly 65 percent. So we 
can see the way this trend is headed.
  We don't know what the coming weeks and months will bring, but we do 
know that more than 3,300 migrants are being apprehended at the border 
every day, which is still a very high and unacceptable number.
  Back in 2019, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, who served 
under the Obama administration, reflected on his time in leading the 
Department of Homeland Security. He

[[Page S2295]]

said that every morning he would review the border apprehension numbers 
from the day before. He considered under 1,000 apprehensions a day to 
be a relatively good number and anything above 1,000 to be a relatively 
bad number. When the numbers were bad, he said it would put him in a 
bad mood for the whole day.
  As former Secretary Johnson noted at the time, 1,000 migrants a day 
overwhelm the system. Well, fast-forward to today, and that is still 
true. We don't have the personnel. We don't have the facilities or the 
resources to manage the sort of historic levels of illegal immigration 
that we are seeing in a fair or humane way.
  Today, we are encountering more than three times as many migrants as 
the CBP did on a bad day during the Obama administration, and the Biden 
administration is trying to celebrate, saying: Look at what we did. We 
brought it down to three times the unacceptable level of the Obama 
administration's. Unfortunately, many in the mainstream media are 
eating up this spin or narrative of success, and unfortunately this 
number represents only a portion of the migrants entering the United 
States each day.
  Of course, there are what we have come to call the ``got-aways''--
migrants who are detected by cameras, sensors, and other forms of 
surveillance but who are not arrested or processed by the Border 
Patrol. You can only guess what they are up to, but clearly they do not 
want to encounter Federal law enforcement agents at the border.
  My suspicion is, and I think it is a reasonable suspicion, that they 
are up to illegal activities. They are probably people who have 
criminal records who know they won't be allowed to come across. It 
probably includes a significant number of drugs that contributed to the 
deaths of 108,000 Americans last year alone.
  These individuals, these ``got-aways,'' could be drug traffickers, 
human smugglers, or they could be terrorists. There have been a number 
of individuals on the Terrorist Watchlist who have been detained at the 
southern border, and, of course, many are known gang members--MS-13--
one of the most violent gangs on the planet. The truth is, we really 
don't know because they were able to slip into our country and 
disappear into the great American heartland.
  Since the start of the Biden administration began, Customs and Border 
Protection has logged 1.5 million known ``got-aways.'' Those are the 
people who have been detected by sensors or cameras or others but have 
been unable to be apprehended by the Border Patrol--1.5 million. Again, 
these are people more likely than not to be engaged in some sort of 
illegal or dangerous activities. That is in addition to the 5.4 million 
illegal border crossings since the start of the Biden administration. 
So you have to add the acknowledged number, which is 5.4, with the 
unacknowledged ``got-aways,'' and that is obviously almost 7 million 
migrants.
  The post-title 42 drop in border crossings doesn't just ignore those 
who snuck into the United States but also those the Biden 
administration simply waved through the turnstile. Now, this is another 
way of hiding the ball or cooking the books to make it look like the 
situation at the border has vastly improved when it has not.
  Earlier this year, the Biden administration rolled out a new plan 
that allowed migrants from four nations--Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and 
Venezuela--to remain in the United States for up to 2 years and receive 
a work authorization.
  Before this hat trick that the Biden administration performed, those 
individuals were treated like every other migrant and were subject to 
being removed under title 42 or were subject to other immigration 
enforcement measures, but now, because of the wave of the wand, the 
magic wand, 360,000 individuals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and 
Venezuela have been subtracted from that top-line number because what 
was illegal is now, due to the sleight of hand by the Biden 
administration, presumably legal. All they have to do is to submit 
their information online before crossing the border and wait for the 
administration to give them the green light.

  So instead of making the situation better, the Biden administration 
has taken 360,000 individuals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and 
Venezuela and welcomed them with open arms. This isn't a small program 
that is limited to the most vulnerable individuals; it is open to 
30,000 individuals a month.
  Of course, the Biden administration took this major step without 
consulting with Congress. It acted unilaterally to offer work status to 
up to 360,000 people a year.
  We have talked about this before, but it is worth remembering that 
the Border Patrol says illegal immigration is a combination of push 
factors and pull factors. The push factors are things like poverty and 
violence, the desire for a better life, and we certainly all understand 
that. But the pull factors for illegal immigration are incentives that 
are provided to the migrants to come to the United States, whether they 
be social welfare benefits or, in this case, work permits.
  Instead of making things better in reducing the number of migrants by 
enforcing the law, the Biden administration is offering additional 
incentives for people to migrate from these four countries into the 
United States because, lo and behold, they will get a work permit.
  Of course, there is no situation as to what happens to these 
individuals 2 years on; this is a 2-year provision. And rest assured, 
if the Biden administration were still to be in charge, there would 
never ever be any effort to try to return individuals who overstay 
after their 2 years are up. These are individuals who likely will 
remain in the United States for the rest of their lives under this new 
wave of the wand by the Biden administration.
  This new policy lets the administration roll out the welcome mat. 
That is one of those pull factors encouraging people to make the 
dangerous journey in the hands, in the custody, of some of the most 
dangerous people on the planet--these criminal cartels. This policy 
lets the administration roll out the welcome mat for tens of thousands 
of migrants while making it seem like the numbers have gone down. They 
say, ``Look, the top line is down,'' but they don't tell you that they 
have taken people out of that category and welcomed 360,000 migrants a 
year from these four countries. That is cooking the books where I come 
from.
  When you look at the total number of migrants encountered at the 
border during any given month, these migrants are not included in the 
total. For example, in May, Customs and Border Protection reported more 
than 204,000 border crossings, but they didn't include the 30,000 
migrants who were admitted under the administration's new wave of the 
wand or the potentially tens of thousands of ``got-aways'' who were up 
to no good because they had simply evaded the Border Patrol and law 
enforcement.
  Still, the Biden administration has tried to claim victory when it 
comes to the border when its policies have been a demonstrable, abject 
failure. Three times more migrants are currently being encountered at 
the border than Jeh Johnson, the Secretary of Homeland Security under 
the Obama administration, said would be a real problem--more than three 
times more--and the trend line shows that number going up and up and 
up.
  I just think the Biden administration is not being honest with the 
American people. I am sure Director Mayorkas is patting himself on the 
back with some of the stories that are being printed, saying: Well, the 
problem has been resolved. Title 42 went away, but the number didn't 
skyrocket even higher.
  I am sure he is more than happy with only about 3,600 coming across 
the border, together with the ``got-aways,'' under the magic trick by 
which people who previously would have been considered to have 
illegally entered the country are then deemed legal by the Biden 
administration.
  In May, the Department of Homeland Security said the drop in numbers 
is proof ``the administration's plan is working as intended.'' And I 
can tell you exactly what that plan is. It appears our Democratic 
colleagues are using the same playbook that President Obama used to 
create deferred action for childhood arrivals. Those are the Dreamers, 
the young people who came to the United States as children who were 
then unilaterally given deferred action for childhood arrivals, or 
DACA, as we frequently call it.

[[Page S2296]]

  Step 1, the President acts outside of his legal authorities to extend 
status to a massive population of undocumented immigrants. He is 
applauded by the left for taking the action even though it is based on 
the shakiest of legal grounds, which, by the way, has been held illegal 
by a Federal district judge in the Southern District of Texas.
  To take from that same Obama DACA--or Dreamers'--playbook, the Biden 
administration's step 2 watches more and more people take advantage of 
the program as lawsuits are brought against the government.
  The debate will wind its way through the courts as tens or even 
hundreds of thousands of people put down roots in the United States, 
which is where we are now. And step 3 will come later down the road.
  Mr. President, I used to, at one point, just think this was mere 
incompetence, but now I think it is actually part of a plan because we 
have seen this play out before, and we know where this ends.
  So step 3 will come later down the road. At that point, the 
individuals who came to the United States through this program will 
likely have been here for many years. They will have jobs, homes, 
probably even American-citizen children. Our Democratic colleagues will 
then point to them and say it is unfair for them to live in a second-
class status so we need to provide an amnesty so that they can enjoy 
the benefits of full American citizenship. They will say it will be 
cruel to force these individuals to return to their home countries 
after years of living and working in the United States, and they will 
frame anyone who refuses to go along as just plain heartless.
  So we have seen this movie before, and I can guarantee you that 
migrants who enter the United States under this new, made-up program of 
the Biden administration will experience the same level of uncertainty 
and fear as the DACA recipients currently are. Their legal status is 
the result of Executive overreach. And as legal challenges are 
considered, these individuals will be left to wonder whether they will 
be able to remain here in the United States.
  For a party that talks so much about compassionate immigration, this 
is not compassionate. It is cruel and manipulative and dishonest. The 
Biden administration is cooking the books in order to make the American 
people think the border crisis isn't so bad after all. It is deceiving 
migrants by offering legal status that the Biden administration has no 
authority to offer, and it is unfair to the individuals who follow the 
law and who are naturalized as American citizens each year.
  I have said it before; I will say it again. We should celebrate the 
fact that we are a nation of legal immigrants. It is what has made our 
country so strong and resilient and prosperous. But what is happening 
at the border is not legal immigration; it is simply hiding the ball, 
pretending that things aren't so bad, and hoping that the press will 
move on to look at something else.
  And it is unfair to those migrants, to those immigrants, to those 
would-be American citizens to say: I am sorry; we can't process your 
legal immigration application because we are too busy taking care of 
this flood of humanity coming across the border through these made-up 
programs like the Biden administration is foisting on the American 
people. And, of course, finally, it is setting the table for another 
battle over how to handle a massive population of immigrants with 
legally dubious immigration status.
  So, Mr. President, it may appear superficially that the Biden 
administration is making progress on the border crisis, but it is just 
an illusion. It is deception. It is manipulation. It is dishonest. And 
it won't last forever. So the simple answer, as the Presiding Officer 
knows, is that at some point things are going to get so bad that we are 
actually going to have to do the hard work. After all, immigration law 
is Congress's prerogative and bailiwick.
  But as long as the Biden administration can take a crisis at the 
border with title 42 in place--once it expires--and substitute 
essentially a green light for anybody and everybody who wants to come 
to the United States outside of a legal immigration process, they are 
going to say: What problem? We don't have a problem at the border.
  Meanwhile, States like mine continue to experience a flood of 
humanity coming across, overwhelming not only the capacity of Border 
Patrol to deal with it but diverting those resources away from their 
primary job, which is to enforce the law, including our drug laws.
  Again, I don't know what it is going to take. Almost 7 million 
migrants during the Biden administration's tenure--that doesn't seem to 
bother them. What about the 108,000 Americans who died last year due to 
drug overdoses--71,000 of those from synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
  I have been in very emotional settings with parents who have lost 
their children because they thought they were taking a Percocet or a 
Xanax or some other more relatively innocuous pharmaceutical drug, 
when, in fact, it was laced with fentanyl, and they didn't wake up the 
next morning. These parents are distraught at losing their child who 
had so much potential and such a wonderful future, only to be killed 
because the administration is unwilling to do what it should do to be 
able to stop more of those drugs, including synthetic opioids, from 
making their way across the border. But apparently that is not enough: 
7 million border encounters, 108,000 dead Americans.
  We know where the drugs are coming from, and we know how to do a 
better job of stopping it, but the Biden administration looks the other 
way. And now we will talk more about this. The facts are coming into 
view with the 300,000 unaccompanied children whom the Biden 
administration has welcomed into the United States. And once they are 
placed with sponsors--people who are maybe not even their family 
members--they simply say: We are done. We have no responsibility.
  The New York Times and other established news organizations have 
reported these children are subject to labor exploitation, recruitment 
into gangs, being neglected or abused. And the Biden administration 
said: It is not our responsibility. Once these children are placed with 
sponsors--300,000 of them--we have nothing left to do.
  Well, as I said, we will talk more about that later, but we do know 
that in 85,000 of those cases, when Health and Human Services, the 
Office of Refugee Resettlement that is responsible for getting the 
sponsors--in 85,000 of those 300,000 cases, when the U.S. Government 
official calls the sponsor to check in on that child, there is no 
answer--no answer at all.
  I think this constitutes abandonment of these children who are 
welcomed into the United States as unaccompanied children, placed with 
sponsors, then simply abandoned by the U.S. Government--unacceptable. 
If you were to do that with an American citizen child, you would be in 
prison. You would be charged and convicted of child endangerment or 
worse. But that is what the Biden administration is doing almost on a 
daily basis, and it needs to be held to account.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Padilla). The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be 
permitted to speak for 5 minutes and that Senator Stabenow be permitted 
to speak for 5 minutes prior to the scheduled votes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.