[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 172 (Wednesday, November 20, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S6643]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, it has been clear for a while now that an 
enduring legacy of the Biden-Harris administration will be the historic 
immigration crisis at our southern border. And I don't use the word 
``historic'' lightly, but it is appropriate, because President Biden 
and Vice President Harris have presided over 4 years of recordbreaking 
illegal immigration at our southern border.
  That is right: The 4 highest years of illegal immigration ever 
recorded at our southern border have occurred on President Biden's and 
Vice President Harris's watch.
  I say occurred on their watch, but, of course, this recordbreaking 
illegal immigration didn't just occur on their watch. The Biden-Harris 
administration created this crisis. On the day he took office, the 
President began dismantling President Trump's border security policies, 
and illegal immigration began surging in response--and kept on surging.
  Between official U.S. Customs and Border Protection encounters and 
known ``got-aways''--individuals the Border Patrol saw but was unable 
to apprehend--there have been somewhere around 10 million--10 million--
migrant encounters at the southern border during this administration.
  Now, to put that number in perspective, that is larger than the 
population of the vast majority of U.S. States, and that is just the 
individuals we know about.
  There are undoubtedly individuals who have made their way into our 
country over the past 4 years who have been neither seen nor 
apprehended.
  The past 4 years have displayed the problems with unchecked illegal 
immigration. Shelters are overwhelmed. Border cities are overwhelmed. 
Blue cities far from the border are overwhelmed. The Border Patrol is 
stretched thin.
  Agents pulled off field work to process the massive amounts of 
migrants, and the list goes on.
  And, of course, it is essential to remember the situation at the 
border doesn't just affect the border. As I said, cities far from the 
border have struggled to deal with an influx of migrants.
  Criminals who have made their way illegally into the country have 
committed crimes far from the southern border. And the effects of 
cross-border illegal activity are felt all around the 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, in 
larger and smaller communities, that the deadly drugs they are dealing 
with have entered the country across our southern border.
  And then there are the national security issues. The June arrest of 
eight Tajikistan nationals with suspected ties to ISIS who had 
illegally entered the country, as well as the identification of more 
than 400 migrants who used an ISIS-affiliated smuggling network to 
enter the United States, 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 and have unleashed at our 
southern border.
  Since October 2020, 387 individuals on the Terrorist Watchlist have 
been apprehended attempting to cross our southern border between ports 
of entry. Mr. President, 387 individuals on the Terrorist Watchlist. 
Those are the ones we caught. How many have come in who have been 
unobserved? How many terrorists or other dangerous individuals have 
made their way across without being apprehended?
  Immigration officials are currently preparing for a possible final 
surge before President Trump takes office, a clear sign, if one were 
needed, that migrants regard President Biden as the open border 
President.
  But final surge or no final surge, the days of this border crisis are 
numbered. Securing our border and removing those who have entered our 
country illegally are at the top of President Trump's priority list, 
and the Republican Congress is committed to doing everything it can to 
help, for the sake of our security and for the sake of our rule of law.
  We sometimes forget that aspect--the rule of law. But the area of 
immigration should not be an exception to the principle that the law 
has to be respected. Immigrants have played, and will continue to play, 
a vital role in this country. And that won't change. But immigration 
has to be legal.
  We need to end the notion that illegal pathways are a viable way to 
take up residence in this country, and we will end that notion under 
President Trump.
  The Biden-Harris administration heralded the start of a border 
crisis. The Trump-Vance administration will herald the end of it. Two 
more months. Two more months.
  I yield the floor.