[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 196 (Wednesday, November 29, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5648-S5649]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, today I want to speak to the issue of our 
southern border because I think it is a really important and relevant 
issue with respect to the national security package that we are 
considering or that we will be, I think, at some point, considering 
here in the Senate that deals with many of the national security crises 
we face around the world.
  And as I think about this issue, I am always reminded that as a one-
generation-removed-from-immigrant individual in this country--my 
grandfather came here back in 1906--I am reminded that we are a nation 
of immigrants.
  We have had, throughout our history, a welcoming culture in this 
country. We are a country that is made up of people from all over the 
world, and I am representative of that, as I said, one generation 
removed.
  It is also important to remember that we are a nation of laws, first 
and foremost. Ronald Reagan once said:

       A nation without borders is not a nation.

  I have heard it paraphrased that a nation that can't control its 
borders can't control its destiny. And I believe that to be true.
  I think what we have right now at our southern border is a situation 
that has just run amok. It really has. You cannot defend what is 
happening at our southern border if you believe we are a nation of laws 
or, for that matter, if you believe we are a nation of immigrants 
because you have to have a legal way to get into this country. All 
countries do that, and the United States, as I said, is a very 
welcoming nation. If you look at the number of people who come here 
every year as refugees, the number of people coming to this country, 
you add up all the other countries around the world and the number of 
people they allow into their countries, the United States exceeds that, 
and that, to me, is a remarkable testament to the welcoming nature of 
this country.
  But it is welcoming in the sense that it is done within the context 
of the rule of law, and that, first and foremost, has to be front and 
center as we think about this issue.
  What we have right now at our southern border is essentially a huge 
welcome sign, a huge green light to come

[[Page S5649]]

across our southern border and to do it illegally. That is in direct 
contradiction and violation of everything that our Nation is about as a 
nation of laws.
  And so as I talk about this issue, and we talk about it in the 
context of national security, it has become a national security issue 
because, once again, there has been another record set when it comes to 
the border and not the good kind, I should say, of record. This 
administration now has, during the month of October, seen 240,988 
individuals be apprehended attempting to illegally cross our southern 
border. That is the worst October on record, and that is on top of the 
three previous months which were historic records; the month of 
September, 270,000 people apprehended at our southern border trying to 
come into the country illegally.
  So the highest October number ever recorded, and those are just the 
individuals--I would remind people--who were apprehended. The month of 
October saw an average of 1,000 ``got-aways'' per day, individuals whom 
the Border Patrol saw but were unable to apprehend. That is another 
30,000 people, unidentified individuals, entering our country in just 1 
month, and there is no telling how many unknown ``got-aways'' there 
were during that same period. It suggests a situation at our southern 
border that is completely and totally out of control.
  The closing of the fiscal year in September marked the third 
successive, recordbreaking year of illegal immigration at our southern 
border under the Biden administration. As the October numbers point 
out, the end of this crisis is nowhere in sight.
  If you think about it, the problems here are really too many to 
count. The men and women of the Border Patrol are under incredible 
strain and have been for pretty much the entirety of the Biden 
administration. Border cities are struggling to deal with the ceaseless 
influx of migrants, and major cities in other areas of the country are 
now discovering what border cities have been going through.

  Just as a point of fact, big cities, the city of New York, the mayor 
of New York announced that he will be freezing the hiring of police 
officers in New York, closing libraries, and cutting education 
funding--this is in New York City--to deal with the migrant crisis, 
absent an infusion of Federal dollars coming in from Washington, DC.
  So this is creating not problems just on our southern border but for 
communities all across this country, including the largest communities 
in the United States of America. The situation we currently have in 
front of us is encouraging migrants to undertake the dangerous journey 
to our southern border, sometimes with tragic results.
  So I say that our national security is in jeopardy because a border 
security problem is a national security problem. This isn't a matter of 
speculation. We know, for a fact, that dangerous individuals are 
attempting to make their way across our southern border every month.
  During fiscal year 2023, 169 individuals on the Terrorist Watchlist 
were apprehended attempting to illegally cross our southern border. 
This is 2023, fiscal year 2023, 169 people on the Terrorist Watchlist 
trying to come across our southern border--18 in the month of 
September, another 13 in the month of October.
  Those are the people who are apprehended at the southern border. That 
doesn't count the ``got-aways.'' My assumption is, if they are on the 
Terrorist Watchlist, they are going to be pretty good at evading the 
authorities, meaning that there are people trying to come into this 
country on a daily basis who are on the Terrorist Watchlist.
  On top of that, you have thousands of what they call special interest 
aliens--and those are individuals who may pose a threat to the United 
States who have been apprehended at our southern border over the past 2 
years--thousands of special interest aliens. Again, the numbers we have 
refer only to those who have been apprehended.
  As I said, last month alone, 30,000 identified individuals made their 
way illegally into our country--I should say unidentified individuals; 
in other words, the ``got-aways,'' the unknowns. Many of them may 
simply have been seeking a better life. That is entirely possible, but 
it is not only possible, but I would say likely, that some of them were 
dangerous individuals who should not be entering our country.
  This work period, we expect to take up supplemental spending 
legislation to address national security priorities, notably, support 
for our allies like Israel and Ukraine. And one national security 
priority this legislation must address is border security.
  As the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel reminds us, national 
security requires constant vigilance, and our Nation is simply not 
secure as long as we are dealing with a massive flow of illegal 
immigration at our southern border. We must get this crisis under 
control.
  Senators Graham, Lankford, and Cotton have been working to craft a 
set of border security measures for inclusion in the national security 
supplemental focused on the two areas in obvious need of reform: parole 
and asylum.
  Under our current asylum system, a large percentage of individuals 
claiming asylum are released into the interior of the country after 
initial screening with court dates up to a decade later. The Associated 
Press reported that in March, 77 percent of individuals claiming asylum 
passed the initial screening.
  In practice, this means that thousands of individuals who have 
entered our country illegally end up taking residence in our country, 
possibly, for a number of years, given our immigration court backlog. 
That is a problem.
  Our parole system is in trouble as well. In fiscal year 2022, the 
Biden administration granted parole to 417,326 individuals. And that is 
because the Biden Department of Homeland Security has instituted an 
overly permissive application of parole, which means that, again, tens 
of thousands who have not been granted legal status and who may not 
have a case for remaining in the United States have been taking up 
residence in our country with instructions to report back a year or 
more into the future for further review of their status.
  Now, given the backlog and overwhelmed nature of our parole system, 
this ends up being de facto permanent residence. Needless to say, this 
invites abuse, and individuals are availing themselves of these flawed 
policies to gain entry to our Nation. Any supplemental legislation must 
not only deal with border security generally but with our asylum and 
parole system specifically, if we want to get the crisis at our 
southern border under control.
  Our porous southern border is a massive national security 
vulnerability. Republicans know it, and while they may not always admit 
it, I think my Democrat colleagues know it as well.
  It is time for them to act on that knowledge and join Republicans to 
pass real border security measures as part of the national security 
supplemental.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
  Mr. SCHATZ. Madam President, before I begin my prepared remarks, I 
just want to acknowledge Leader Schumer for his extraordinary, 
personal, compelling, and essential remarks on the rise of anti-
Semitism across the country and across the planet. It was needed; it 
was accurate; and it touched me. So thank you, Mr. Leader.