[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 88 (Tuesday, May 21, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S3785]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            BORDER SECURITY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on another matter, yesterday, the 
Democratic leader once again tipped his cap to President Biden for what 
he describes as ``many actions'' in ``recent weeks'' to secure the 
southern border, which leads me with a couple of questions: First, what 
took the President so long? And, second, why isn't he taking the 
actions we know would actually begin to address the crisis that he 
actually invited?
  The reason I ask is because time matters here. The cost of an average 
day of avoidable crisis at the border is measured in thousands of 
apprehensions of illegal arrivals and the interdiction of lethal drugs 
like fentanyl.
  And if that is not alarming enough, consider the story reported 
earlier this month of the catch-and-release of a military-age male who 
spent 2 years free in the interior of the country before he was 
detained for alleged affiliations with ISIS-K.
  Of course, everything I have mentioned so far we only know because 
the Border Patrol was able to stop it. But think about what border 
officials know they are not catching--the known ``got-aways.''
  For 10 years before President Biden took office, under 
administrations of both parties, an average of about 125,000 people per 
year successfully crossed the southern border and escaped into the 
interior. On the Biden administration's watch, in fiscal years 2021 
through 2023, the average tally of known ``got-aways'' is 550,000--from 
125,000 to more than half a million.
  President Biden's Press Secretary says this administration has ``done 
more . . . than anybody else'' to secure the border. But if you wanted 
to make that claim true, you would say this President has done more 
than anyone else to make the tough jobs of CBP and other law 
enforcement personnel even tougher.
  In fact, one sobering new report suggests that contending for years 
with a historic humanitarian and security crisis without effective 
enforcement authorities is taking a heavy toll on the men and women of 
the Border Patrol. The rate of suicide among CBP personnel is three 
times higher than it was a decade ago. As one agent told reporters, 
``when it turned out that the job became nothing more than processing 
and releasing these people, that was very hard to take.''
  Going soft on border security may have started as just a shortsighted 
campaign strategy. A reckless debate-stage promise to ``surge'' asylum 
seekers to the border might have been just a cynical play to court 
leftwing voters, but after 3 years on the job, President Biden's 
failure to perform one of the most basic functions of his office isn't 
endearing. It is not some impressive sign of leftwing bona fides.
  It is a glaring, avoidable failure, a profound moral embarrassment, 
and even Washington Democrats are beginning to recognize it as a 
tremendous political liability. The American people are telling poll 
after poll that they are alarmed by the border crisis and want to see 
real solutions.
  Fortunately, the quickest way for the President to start undoing the 
damage he invented is to restore and use the authorities he already has 
at his disposal, like ``Remain in Mexico'' and border wall 
construction. Any of our Democratic colleagues who recognize that the 
President must act ought to start telling him so.
  It is time for the Biden administration to start exercising its 
immense authority to restore sanity and start cleaning up the mess at 
our southern border. The time for distractions is long, long past.

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