[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 195 (Tuesday, November 28, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S5620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. President, on another matter, as my colleagues and I on this side 
of the aisle have made abundantly clear, national security begins with 
border security, and any serious supplemental legislation with a shot 
at passing the Senate in the coming weeks will have to take meaningful 
steps toward fixing the Biden administration's border crisis.
  On President Biden's watch, record-setting illegal migration has 
strained border protection facilities and personnel to their breaking 
point. On this President's watch, catch-and-release has gone from a 
shortsighted policy option to the dangerous first resort for a 
profoundly broken asylum and parole system. Right now, immigration 
courts are facing over 2 million pending asylum cases. That backlog has 
grown by 50 percent just since President Biden took office. The average 
asylum case waits more than 4 years for judgment. Talk about sending 
the wrong signal to legitimate asylum seekers and to bad actors alike.
  A wide, bipartisan consensus continues to acknowledge that this 
broken system is the central problem driving the border crisis. Even 
the administration's border czar, Secretary Mayorkas, has acknowledged 
that the way the United States handles asylum claims needs to be 
``reformed from top to bottom.'' Well, that is exactly what Senate 
Republicans have been working on for weeks. Senators Lankford, Graham, 
Cotton, and Cornyn are trying in good faith to help DHS solve its 
problem by identifying policy changes that restore a measure of common 
sense to the way we process asylum claims and grant parole.
  But at the same time, the Democratic leader has called border 
security measures ``the biggest holdup'' for passing a national 
security supplemental. Well, he is right about one thing: The single 
largest obstacle in the way of urgent resources to help Israel, 
Ukraine, and Taiwan is Democrats' refusal to address the crisis at the 
southern border.
  National security begins right here at home, and the sooner our 
colleagues admit it, the sooner the Senate can move forward on the 
urgent business before us.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.