[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 175 (Tuesday, October 24, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5129-S5130]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, as we all know by now, last Friday, 
President Biden submitted an emergency funding request to Congress. As 
we all expected, it calls for funding to support Israel as it defends 
itself against the terrorist organization known as Hamas, a proxy for 
Iran. It also asks for funding for Ukraine, which continues its heroic 
defense against a Russian invasion. It requests funding to strengthen 
security in the Indo-Pacific to help our friends and allies combat 
increasingly aggressive threats from China.
  And, notably, President Biden has also called for emergency funding 
to help address the crisis at the southern border. At face value, this 
shouldn't be surprising. After all, the Biden border crisis has been 
raging for nearly 3 years; and, somehow, it continues to get worse 
every day.
  Last month, Customs and Border Protection logged nearly 270,000--
270,000--migrant crossings at the southern border, making it the 
busiest month on record. In total, nearly 2.5 million migrants have 
entered the United States since last fiscal year--or during the last 
fiscal year. That is another record.
  We don't have the resources or the personnel to deal with this influx 
in what we all should hope would be an efficient, fair, and humane way. 
And that needs to change.
  First of all, we need to wrest immigration out of the hands of the 
cartels who care nothing about the people who smuggle individuals into 
the United States for money--a lot of money. It is a very profitable 
business. And, also, there are affiliated cartels that are smuggling 
the drugs into the United States that killed 108,000 Americans last 
year alone. That is also the source of a lot of money for these 
criminal organizations, again, who care nothing about the life or 
welfare of individuals, either the migrants or people in the United 
States. That is what happens when you outsource immigration controls to 
criminal organizations as the Biden administration has done.
  The President's funding request does include a few items that are 
definitely needed, starting with additional Border Patrol agents. 
Personnel shortages have impacted all of our missions at the border, 
including those that have nothing to do with migration. More Border 
Patrol agents would help fill the gaps and alleviate the strain on 
frontline law enforcement; but this change is meaningless unless we 
address the polygraph examination, which is a major barrier for hiring.
  Just to be clear, the policy on passing a polygraph varies so much 
from Agency to Agency. But currently, the policy employed by the Border 
Patrol has basically made it impossible to fill the quota of Border 
Patrol agents that we seek to hire.
  The administration has also asked for 375 new immigration judge 
teams. There is no doubt that our immigration courts are drowning under 
a rapidly growing case backlog. In 2020, before President Biden took 
office, there were just under 1.3 million cases pending in the 
immigration courts. But thanks to the administration's current 
policies, the backlog has now doubled to 2.6 million cases. Simply 
adding more judges will be an exercise in futility unless we also 
address the pull factors or the policies that are causing the backlog 
to grow at such an alarming pace.
  I am reminded of something the former Chief of the Border Patrol said 
amidst another migration surge. In the summer of 2019, border crossings 
were on the rise; although, they pale in comparison to what we are 
seeing now.

[[Page S5130]]

Then-Chief Carla Provost testified before the Senate Judiciary 
Committee and talked about what it would take to fix the situation. She 
said:

       We cannot address this crisis by shifting more resources. 
     It's like holding a bucket under a faucet. It doesn't matter 
     how many buckets [you have if you don't turn the water off].

  The President's request for emergency funding is a bucket, a 
relatively small one. But it does nothing to stop the flow. The only 
way to do that is by deterrence, and the only way to achieve deterrence 
is by delivering consequences for entering the country illegally. We 
need to send a message to the people who have no legitimate reason to 
remain in the United States that if they come, they will not be able to 
stay.
  President Biden does not seem to understand that. And in his 
emergency funding request, he asks Congress to provide for noncustodial 
housing for migrants and expedited removal proceedings.
  This is the process that allows law enforcement to quickly remove 
migrants who have no legitimate reason to remain in the United States. 
I am talking about expedited removal now, the idea that we would 
release migrants who are on the verge of being deported is patently 
absurd and just shows the chaos and confusion and the lack of any 
logical coherence in the Biden border policy.
  Anyone who believes that these individuals would come back for their 
removal hearing is living in an alternate reality. This would 
constitute yet another massive pull factor attracting people to make 
that journey to the border. President Biden also called on Congress to 
expand the so-called lawful pathways his administration created. But to 
be clear, there is nothing lawful about these pathways.
  The administration, once again, has usurped Congress's authority in 
paroling entire classes of migrants into the United States. ``Parole'' 
is a technical term. It basically means to release them, even if they 
are not claiming asylum, which the Biden administration continues to do 
on a massive scale--simply release people into the United States.
  This is, unsurprisingly, a violation of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act, and any effort to expand these so-called pathways is a 
nonstarter in Congress. We will not legitimatize these unauthorized 
programs and provide an even bigger incentive for migrants to make the 
dangerous journey to the border.
  We need to discourage people who have no legitimate claim to come to 
the United States this way, not bolster an incentive package. In my 
view, there are two broad goals that need to be met in order to address 
this crisis in a meaningful way: First, we need to end catch-and-
release. So far, the administration has sent a message to people around 
the world that if you enter the United States illegally, there is a 
good chance you will be able to stay, which, in turn, only encourages 
more people to come--just show up at the border, say the magic words, 
and then disappear into the great American heartland. We need to revise 
this message and make it clear that only those with a legitimate claim 
can remain in the United States. Ending catch-and-release is the most 
effective way to do that.
  No. 2, the administration must remove people who have been determined 
to have no legal right to enter or remain in the United States. The 
Biden administration has proven it does not take this responsibility 
seriously.
  In 2021, arrests and deportation by ICE, known as Immigration and 
Customs Enforcement, reached an alltime low. So not only are more 
people coming into the country than we have ever seen before, but fewer 
people are going out who have no legitimate basis to stay here.
  In 2021, the Agency carried out fewer than 60,000 deportations that 
year, the lowest number on record by a long shot. The following year, 
the number of deportations increased slightly but not nearly enough to 
make an impact and certainly not enough to discourage people from 
continuing to come illegally to enter the United States.
  Apprehensions are at record highs; deportations are at historic lows; 
and it is clear that this is all part of somebody's plan. Despite 
having every tool at its disposal, the administration is trying to move 
a mountain with a teaspoon. It is doing just enough to make some people 
think they are doing something meaningful without having any real 
impact.
  While I am glad President Biden seems to have awakened to the fact 
that the status quo at the border is unsustainable, his emergency 
funding request shows he is still absolutely disinterested in solving 
this crisis. He has proven, once again, that he doesn't care about 
deterring illegal immigration; he doesn't care about delivering 
consequences to individuals who break our laws; and he doesn't care 
about solving this crisis. He merely wants to ``manage'' the flow, not 
stop it.
  This is not a serious proposal. Some of the proposed spending is 
actually harmful, and the positive aspects are just window dressing. 
The President needs to get serious about the border, and what he sent 
us is not serious. One thing is certain, the Senate will not 
rubberstamp his paltry border request. You can be certain of that.
  This emergency funding bill will absolutely include more funding to 
address the border crisis, but this is about more than funding; it is 
about the appropriate policies. We need real changes that produce real 
consequences, real ways to turn off the flow of illegal immigration and 
continuing to enrich the criminal organizations that smuggle people and 
drugs across our border.
  Later this week, I am eager to talk with some of the true experts on 
the border crisis about the current challenges they are facing. Senator 
Cruz and I are leading another visit to the Rio Grande Valley, and I am 
glad that Senator Ricketts, Senator Lee, and Senator Barrasso will join 
us. We are going to spend some time talking to the Border Patrol agents 
who actually work on the ground as well as the Customs officers who 
deal with the consequences of the administration's failed policies day 
in and day out.
  We will tour the border to see how virtually anyone--from vulnerable 
migrant children to dangerous drug cartel members, to people on the 
Terrorist Watchlist--are able to enter the United States. And we will 
hear from State officials, local law enforcement, and landowners about 
the broader impact of the border crisis in communities across our 
State.
  It is going to be 2 busy and informative days, and, as always, I am 
grateful to the men and women who take the time to meet with us who are 
doing the hard job. It would be nice if they knew that this 
administration had their back, but they are demoralized, despite the 
fact that they continue to do their job, day in and day out, because 
they realize that the Biden border policies are designed to fail.
  Their insight, however, is invaluable to my work here in the Senate, 
and there couldn't be a more important time to hear from the frontline 
experts who know about this crisis and how to solve it better than 
anyone else.
  I especially commend my colleagues from Wyoming, Utah, and Nebraska 
for taking the time to make this important trip and their willingness 
to hear from Senator Cruz and my constituents on the frontlines of this 
issue.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hickenlooper). The Senator from 
Washington.