[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 201 (Wednesday, December 6, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5771-S5772]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, later today, the Senate will take a vote on 
whether or not to move to consideration of the national security 
supplemental bill. And make no mistake, this vote will fail. Not 
because Republicans oppose supporting our national security interests 
overseas but because Democrats are refusing to take seriously the 
national security crisis here at home.
  From the beginning, Republicans have made it clear that any national 
security supplemental would have to address one of the biggest threats 
to our national security, the out-of-control illegal immigration at our 
southern border.
  And when I say ``out of control,'' just look at the numbers. 
Yesterday, 12,000 people were apprehended at our southern border trying 
to come into our country illegally--not including the ``got-aways,'' 
not including the unknowns--over 12,000 people, which, I think, is an 
alltime, one-day high. Most ever. In history.
  And think about that annualized. We are now talking about on the 
order of 4 million people annually coming across our southern border, 
being released into the country, coming across illegally.
  When is this a crisis? This is a crisis. It is a humanitarian crisis. 
It has been that for a long time. But now--now it is a national 
security crisis because among those 12,000 people are some pretty 
unsavory characters.
  There are people who are coming here for a better life, but there are 
a lot of people who are being apprehended now at our southern border. 
Some of whom are on the Terrorist Watchlist.
  This is a crisis that needs to be dealt with, and it seems to be 
falling on deaf ears at the White House and among my colleagues here, 
Democratic colleagues in the U.S. Senate.
  We have put forward meaningful ideas and solutions about how to deal 
with this, and yet crickets. Nobody seems to want to confront what is a 
major, major debacle at our southern border.
  That is 12,000, one day--a new American record of people trying to 
come into this country illegally. Why? Because this administration 
doesn't seem to care or want to do anything about stopping or reducing 
that flow across our southern border.
  It is a staggering number. And just to put it in perspective, Jeh 
Johnson, who was the Department of Homeland Security Secretary to 
President Obama, once said that a thousand a day would overwhelm the 
system--a thousand a day. He went on to say: I can't even comprehend 
what 4,000 a day would look like.
  Yesterday was 12,000. Now, if you sustain that rate, annualize that 
rate, as I said, you are talking about 4 million people annually being 
released into this country.
  And you have heard from countless now, not just Members on my side of 
the aisle or overcrowded communities on the southern border or members 
of the Customs and Border Patrol who are underwhelmed and 
underresourced and undermanned down there to deal with this crisis.
  But you are hearing from cities in the interior of this country--
large cities--who are complaining about not being able to deliver basic 
services to their constituents now because they are having to deal with 
a migrant inflow into their communities--New York City being one 
notable example. The mayor of New York City says he would have to 
freeze hiring police officers, he would have to close libraries, and 
cut education funding to keep up with this massive, massive inflow of 
people who are coming into this country who need to be cared for.
  So let me just say, this is not an extraneous issue, which is what 
the Democrat leader suggested last week. Border security is a national 
security issue, and anyone who thinks that our Nation can be secure 
while we have hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants pouring over 
our southern border each month needs to think again.
  The month of October, 240,988 individuals were encountered at our 
southern border. That was the highest October number ever recorded. But 
on top of that, the month of October saw an average of 1,000 ``got-
aways'' per day, individuals the Border Patrol saw but was unable to 
apprehend. That is 30,000 unidentified individuals entering our country 
in just 1 month--30,000.
  And there is no telling how many unknown ``got-aways''--these are 
known ``got-aways''--how many unknown ``got-aways'' there were during 
that same period. And there is no question that some of those ``got-
aways'' were dangerous individuals who should not be entering the 
country.
  During fiscal year 2023, there were 169 individuals on the Terrorist 
Watchlist who were apprehended attempting to illegally cross our 
southern border. That was fiscal year 2023, which ended September 30, 
169 in 1 year.
  Well, if the numbers continue to ramp up--and you look at the daily 
numbers we are encountering now, you know that number is going to go up 
significantly as well. Because why? People have figured out, you want 
to get into the United States, come across our southern border.
  And thousands of what are known as--what we call special interest 
aliens, those individuals who may pose a threat to the United States, 
have been apprehended trying to illegally cross our southern border 
over the past 2 years.
  Then there have been the criminals who are trying to make their way 
into the United States, and those range from drug traffickers to child 
predators. One border reporter noted last month:

       Border Patrol's Del Rio Sector has arrested at least 21 
     child sex predators crossing illegally since the new fiscal 
     year began on October 1.

  Twenty-one child sex predators in a single sector of our southern 
border.
  And, again, all of these numbers I am mentioning only refer to 
individuals who have actually been apprehended. With 30,000 unknown 
individuals entering the United States in October alone, there is no 
telling how many terrorists, how many criminals, how many other 
dangerous individuals have made their way into our country without our 
knowledge.
  So I think it is fair to say that the issue of border security is not 
``extraneous'' but is, in fact, fundamental to our national security 
and something that the Democrat leader ought to realize.
  Indeed the fact that New York City, as I mentioned, is currently 
facing across-the-board cuts to its city services, including a 
staggering 13.5-percent cut to its police force--to its police force--
as a result of the migrant crisis should be all the information the 
majority leader needs to realize that our current situation is not 
sustainable, even without the national security risk imposed by 
unchecked illegal immigration.
  Now, I support aid to Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine, and I believe it 
is in our

[[Page S5772]]

national security interest to support these allies. So I want to see us 
take up this national security supplemental, but national security 
begins at home. And we can't pass a bill to advance American interests 
abroad while ignoring the national security crisis at our own border. 
We owe the American people better than that.
  And the Democrat leader needs to understand the Republicans are 
serious. We have said all along that this national security 
supplemental must address the national security crisis at our border, 
and we will continue to hold that principle.
  And while we recognize that in a negotiation, neither side will get 
everything it wants, the final border security component in this 
supplemental must have real teeth. Cosmetic measures are not 
acceptable. We can't afford anything less than real solutions to our 
Nation's border crisis.
  Ten thousand-plus individuals were encountered at our southern border 
on Sunday, another 10,000 on Monday. It went up to 11,000. And as I 
said yesterday, now 12,000 in a single day. Things are getting worse, 
not better. We have an obligation to do everything we can to get this 
crisis under control--this administration, as I said, something they 
have had no interest in doing.
  So I will vote against moving the supplemental while it lacks serious 
border security policy changes, and I hope that today's failed vote 
will clearly demonstrate to our Democratic colleagues that there will 
be no national security supplemental without the kind of border 
security measures that we need to keep our Nation secure.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. 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.