[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 145 (Wednesday, September 18, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6113-S6115]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Immigration

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, throughout our Nation's history, election 
season has brought out the dark side of politics.
  John Adams and Thomas Jefferson infamously waged smear campaigns 
against each other during the election of 1800. Andrew Jackson and John 
Quincy Adams exchanged accusations of murder and impropriety in the 
election of 1828, and questions about Grover Cleveland's activity out 
of wedlock became campaign fodder in the election of 1844--all to say 
dirty campaign tricks are hardly foreign to American elections.
  But, today, I want to address a particularly vile lie being 
circulated by former President Trump and his Vice Presidential 
candidate, J.D. Vance, and their supporters during this campaign, and 
this lie has real-life consequences.
  In recent weeks, false claims have been circulating on social media 
that members of the Haitian immigrant community in Springfield, OH, are 
abducting, killing, and eating people's pets.
  The former President even made this claim during his debate with 
Kamala Harris. This claim is not only outrageous and patently false, 
with both city officials and law enforcement confirming they have 
received zero criminal reports of such conduct, but it is now becoming 
a safety concern for the entire Springfield, OH, community. Despite 
this, the former President and his running mate have continued to 
knowingly spread this lie.
  Shockingly, in an interview with CNN this week, Senator Vance 
admitted that he was willing to ``create stories'' to get media 
attention. And that is exactly what he and former President Trump have 
done--first on social media, then during last week's debate to an 
audience of 67 million Americans, and then on national news.
  Think about that. A man who is seeking to become Vice President of 
the United States admitted that he was willing to spread vicious lies 
simply to get media attention.
  But these lies have real consequences for Haitian immigrants in 
Springfield, OH, and across the country. Since this smear campaign 
began, there have been multiple evacuations of schools, government 
buildings, and medical facilities in Springfield, OH, because of bomb 
and shooting threats related to these lies.
  I want to thank Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican and my former 
Senate colleague, for stepping up to debunk these lies and protect the 
people of his State.

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  Yet these candidates have doubled down. They are willing to spread 
lies and put an entire community at risk to amplify their anti-
immigrant platform.
  But this behavior is not a surprise. For years, the former President 
has engaged in bigoted fearmongering, especially when it comes to the 
topic of immigration.
  One incident summarizes his approach well. It was January of 2018. 
Then-President Trump, myself, and a handful of other lawmakers were 
sitting in the Oval Office in the White House, discussing a bipartisan 
immigration deal that I had negotiated, along with Senator Lindsey 
Graham.
  The agreement would have devoted billions of dollars to securing the 
border and giving legal protection to Dreamers, young immigrants who 
grew up in this country. But the former President was not interested. 
He complained that it would lead to more immigration from Haiti, which 
he dismissed in profane terms that I am loathe to repeat on the floor 
of the Senate.
  I was stunned. His words were hate-filled, vile, and racist. I could 
not believe that the President of the United States of America not only 
held these views but felt comfortable enough to speak them aloud in the 
Oval Office. But he did. So it was hardly surprising that, when 
presented with the opportunity to continue to fuel his anti-Haitian 
hate, the former President has taken that opportunity.
  I speak on the floor today to tell Haitian immigrants and Haitian 
Americans and the entire immigrant community: There is no place for 
hate in America--no place for hate. You are a critical piece of 
American leadership. You make our communities and our Nation stronger.
  Just look at the attorney general of my home State of Illinois, a 
dear friend of mine, Kwame Raoul. He is the son of Haitian immigrants, 
and his service to the State of Illinois and the Nation is invaluable. 
He, too, has condemned the former President's fearmongering.
  Or look at CPT Alix Idrache, a top member of his class and graduate 
of West Point, who is a pilot for the U.S. Army. He was born in Haiti. 
He rose to national prominence, in 2016, after a photo showed him with 
tears streaming down his face at the West Point graduation. His tears, 
he explained, were a representation of the American dream.
  For Haitians who have already experienced violence and instability in 
their native country, the lies that the former President is spreading 
only make their lives in America--somewhere they hoped would be a safe 
place--more dangerous.
  It disheartens me that, in the year 2024, I must come to the floor of 
the Senate to condemn the lies of a former President who is running yet 
another political campaign fueled by fearmongering and hate.
  Immigrants make our Nation stronger, and any attempt to score cheap 
political points from lies suggesting otherwise should be met with 
swift condemnation from both sides of the aisle.
  It is ironic that, at a time when these dehumanizing remarks are 
being made about immigrants in Springfield, OH, there was a press 
conference yesterday in St. Louis, MO. I call it to the attention of 
everyone.
  St. Louis is a town I know well. I grew up across the river, in East 
St. Louis, IL, and I have spent many a day in St. Louis, MO. The town 
has seen its problems and its challenges, and, a few years ago, they 
decided to try to analyze what the problem was. The problem was they 
needed a workforce, and they didn't have one. Do you know what they 
suggested as a solution? Immigrants--immigrants. They need more in St. 
Louis.
  Yesterday, there was an announcement by the chamber of commerce. It 
was an extraordinary announcement that they have attracted some 30,000 
immigrants to that city. They believe that it means that they can move 
forward now with economic development. It was a plan by the chamber of 
commerce.
  Contrast those two remarks--remarks of former President Donald Trump 
and his Vice Presidential candidate, J.D. Vance--about immigration, 
dehumanizing these immigrants and suggesting they are not only 
unnecessary in the United States but actually negative in their impact. 
They are wrong in Springfield, OH. They are clearly wrong in St. Louis, 
MO. They are wrong in America.
  Immigrants have made this country. We are a nation of immigrants, and 
I would say quite boldly: I am damn proud of it.
  My mother was an immigrant to this country, brought here at the age 
of 2. I am glad that my grandparents, whom I never knew, had the 
courage to make that journey to the United States. Because of that 
courage and determination, like so many other immigrants--because of 
it--I am standing here today as a Senator representing the great State 
of Illinois.

  How in the world can we continue to allow this rhetoric to come from 
Trump and Vance in terms of the immigrants' impact on America?
  We can see before our eyes it makes a difference. The diversity of 
our population is our strength, and that strength should be capitalized 
on.
  To think that young people who are Dreamers, brought here by their 
families, run the risk of being deported at some point because of this 
rhetoric makes me sick to my stomach. These are wonderful young people, 
extraordinary contributors to America's future, and we should applaud 
them, not hate them.
  I can tell you for a fact. I know a little bit about the Senate. I 
have served here for a number of years. There are Members of the Senate 
on the other side of the aisle who want not one single new immigrant to 
come to America.
  I believe there should be an orderly process. That is why I was one 
of the Gang of 8 to create the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill, 
which passed in the Senate quite a few years ago. It should pass again.
  We should have an orderly process of immigration and capitalize on 
the benefits that they bring to this country, and build our economy on 
those. But to say that we are opposed to all immigrants is just plain 
unfair. It is wrong, and it is un-American.
  St. Louis now realizes that with a workforce, they can start to 
rebuild their economy, and they are applauding that. Immigration is 
part of the solution if it is done in the proper, orderly manner. And 
we can do it that way if we pass comprehensive immigration reform.
  The notion of deporting 11 million people from the United States is a 
fantasy. It cannot, it should not ever happen. These people have made a 
great contribution to this country.
  President Trump wants to say that, if you have a woman, for example, 
who is a mother who is undocumented in a house full of documented 
citizens, she should be deported or everyone in the house should be 
deported. It isn't going to happen, and it should never happen.
  We should capitalize on comprehensive immigration reform and make it 
a viable part of America's future.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill 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.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, August border numbers came out on money, 
bringing the total number of encounters at our southern border, thus 
far, for fiscal year 2024 to more than 2 million--2,033,260 to be 
precise--the third highest total ever recorded, with another month 
still to go.
  The highest total ever recorded was in fiscal year 2023. The second 
highest total ever recorded was in fiscal year 2022. And the fourth 
highest total ever recorded was in fiscal year 2021. In other words, 
President Biden and Vice President Harris have presided over 4 years of 
recordbreaking illegal immigration at our southern border.
  The problem started right away. On the day he took office, President 
Biden began dismantling the border security policies of his 
predecessor, and illegal immigration began surging in response--no big 
surprise there.
  For 3-plus years now, President Biden and Vice President Harris 
essentially just stood around and watched. They watched as 
recordbreaking numbers of individuals surged across the southern 
border. They watched as the Border Patrol and border cities struggled 
under the massive influx. They

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watched as encounters of individuals on the Terrorist Watchlist nearly 
quadrupled in fiscal year 2022, and then rose even higher the next 
year.
  Vice President Harris was supposed to be President Biden's border 
czar. I would be hard-pressed to name anything she did to stop the 
influx. If she did take any action, it was certainly ineffective, based 
on the steady increases in border encounters.
  I don't have to tell anyone what the problems are with the kind of 
unchecked illegal immigration that we have been seeing. As I said, U.S. 
Customs and Border Protection has been stretched thin for pretty much 
the entirety of the Biden-Harris administration.
  Cities at the border and around the United States have struggled with 
the influx of migrants, and migrants themselves have suffered as they 
have undertaken the perilous journey to our southern border, spurred on 
by the Biden-Harris administration's open-border policies.
  Worst of all, the Biden-Harris border crisis has left a gaping hole 
in our national security. The kind of unchecked illegal immigration we 
have been seeing is an invitation to dangerous individuals to enter our 
country.
  I mentioned that the number of individuals on the Terrorist Watchlist 
encountered at the southern border has surged, and those are just 
individuals who were actually apprehended. We have no idea how many 
terrorists or other dangerous individuals have made their way across 
our southern border without being apprehended.
  We are closing in on 2 million known ``got-aways'' in the Biden-
Harris administration's watch. Those are individuals the Border Patrol 
saw but was unable to apprehend. How many of those were dangerous 
people who should not be entering our country?
  U.S. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens, in a March interview with CBS 
News, said the number of known ``got-aways'' is keeping him up at 
night. This is his quote:

       This is a national security threat. Border security is a 
     big piece of national security. And if we don't know who is 
     coming into our country and we don't know what their intent 
     is, that is a threat. And they're exploiting a vulnerability 
     that's on our border right now.

  That same month, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Select 
Committee on Intelligence:

       We are seeing a wide array of very dangerous threats that 
     emanate from the border.

  I want to repeat that.

       We are seeing a wide array of very dangerous threats that 
     emanate from the border.

  That is from the Director of the FBI.
  The June arrest of eight men from Tajikistan with suspected ties to 
ISIS who had illegally entered the country, as well as the 
identification of over 400 migrants that used an ISIS-affiliated 
smuggling network to enter our country, are just two examples of the 
kind of threats that we face and the dangers of the chaos that 
President Biden and Vice President Harris have allowed to rage at our 
southern border.
  In addition to threats from terrorists and other dangerous 
individuals, the chaos at our southern border has unquestionably 
facilitated illegal cross-border activity, including the smuggling of 
deadly drugs like fentanyl, which then make their way around our 
country.
  My State of South Dakota is about as far from our southern border as 
you can get, but law enforcement officials consistently tell me that 
the illegal drugs that they are dealing with have entered the country 
across our southern border. In 2022, Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike 
Milstead estimated that 90 percent--90 percent--of the fentanyl and 
meth in our State comes from Mexico. That is 90 percent, Mr. President.
  I could go on. There is a lot more to talk about when it comes to the 
Biden-Harris border crisis--from the mass amnesty the administration 
has offered to hundreds of thousands of individuals whose asylum cases 
have been closed without a decision to the placing of unaccompanied 
children with possibly dangerous guardians, something that Senator 
Grassley and Senator Lankford are currently working to rectify and 
prevent in the future.
  But I will stop here. Four recordbreaking years of illegal 
immigration: the national security legacy of the Biden-Harris 
administration.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hickenlooper). The clerk will call the 
roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.