[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 12 (Tuesday, January 21, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S261-S267]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
______
BORN-ALIVE ABORTION SURVIVORS PROTECTION ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--
Resumed
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 6, which the clerk
will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 4, S. 6, a bill to amend
title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health care
practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of
care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or
attempted abortion.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask consent to speak for 3 minutes as
in morning business.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
National Trafficking and Modern Slavery Prevention Month
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, January is National Trafficking and
Modern Slavery Prevention Month, so today, Senator Cortez Masto and I
are introducing a resolution to honor victims and to raise very needed
awareness.
As I speak, victims are being trafficked across our southern border.
We each have a role to play in protecting the most vulnerable among us,
especially women and children, from becoming victims of trafficking.
As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I am committed to
making human trafficking prevention a priority in this Congress, and I
thank the Senator from Nevada for leading this effort.
Biden Administration
Mr. President, on his watch, President Biden wiped away student debt
for more than 5 million borrowers, stiffing taxpayers with a heavier
burden. That is on top of trillions of dollars in partisan deficit
spending that fueled the fires of inflation to 20 percent during his
administration.
His failed border policies allowed more than 10 million people to
come into the country illegally.
I remember, during his inaugural address, President Biden pledged to
unite Americans. At that time, I welcomed that very much.
Unfortunately, his administration's actions did not match those lofty
words of uniting Americans.
During his 4 years in the Oval Office, the 46th President adopted the
divisive policies of leftwing ideologues and the more radical
candidates that he beat in the Presidential primary. It was a notable
departure from my 28 years serving together with him here in the U.S.
Senate.
Even on his way out the door, President Biden doubled down on the
dark and divisive rhetoric that failed his party in this most recent
election. He put illegal immigrants before the security of Americans.
He doubled down on class warfare, hammering, as you so often hear, the
same nail that the ``wealthy'' need to pay their ``fair share'' when
our Tax Code is among the most progressive in the world.
Many Iowans question the fairness of pardoning the President's son,
including for tax evasion and crimes not even specified, especially
when President Biden promised that he would not pardon his son. Iowans
also tell me that wiping away student debt isn't fair to those who
saved and sacrificed to pay their fair share.
In this Congress, I will work with President Trump to put America
first and strengthen the economy so hard-working families, farmers, and
small businesses can get ahead and, of course, stay ahead. That
includes renewing the Trump tax cuts, securing our border, and securing
peace through strength.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
[[Page S262]]
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Recognition of the Majority Leader
The majority leader is recognized.
Cabinet Nominations
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, in his inaugural address yesterday,
President Trump spoke of his confidence in America. He spoke of the
country's future: prosperity, security, strength. And I share the
President's confidence and his optimism about what we can accomplish in
the coming years.
President Trump has brought a new direction to Washington, and
yesterday marked the beginning of a new era.
Here in the Senate, we have begun the process of confirming the
President's Cabinet. Within hours of President Trump taking office, we
confirmed the first of his Cabinet nominees--Marco Rubio to be
Secretary of State--in a unanimous vote.
Secretary Rubio demonstrated his command of foreign policy last week
at his confirmation hearing. He made it clear that under his
leadership, the State Department will be focused on its core mission.
In his own words, that mission is ``to promote peace abroad, and
security and prosperity here at home.''
Gone are the days of a foreign policy exporting progressive
ideologies, appeasing our adversaries, and demonstrating weakness on
the world stage. The State Department is back in the business of
advancing America's interests.
This is a welcome change in direction to our foreign policy, and
Secretary Rubio is ready to hit the ground running. During his time in
the Senate, he was a leading voice, articulating America's role in the
world, and he has a clear command of the issues facing the world today.
As a Senator, he was vocal about the threat the Chinese Communist
Party poses and the stakes of the competition between the United States
and China. He recognizes the need for American leadership in Latin
America to promote democracy and justice.
And he is clear-eyed about the threats that America faces from other
countries as well as from nonstate actors.
I look forward to working with Secretary Rubio and the Trump
administration to restore American strength abroad and promote peace
and prosperity here at home.
In the coming days, the Senate will hold additional votes on the
President's national security team. We expect a vote on the nomination
of John Ratcliffe to be Director of the CIA later today. Mr. Ratcliffe,
like Secretary Rubio, earned bipartisan support after his confirmation
hearing last week.
He was reported out of the Intelligence Committee with a bipartisan
vote yesterday, and he will bring valuable knowledge and experience to
his new post, including from his time on the House Intelligence
Committee and as Director of National Intelligence in the first Trump
administration.
Under the Biden administration, the intelligence community made some
notable misses. In 2021, the intelligence community failed to
anticipate the swift collapse of Afghanistan in response to President
Biden's decision to go ahead with the withdrawal, a withdrawal that
cost the lives of 13 American servicemembers.
In 2022, the intelligence community warned that Ukraine would fall in
days in the face of a Russian attack. Yet Kyiv is still firmly in
Ukrainian hands almost 3 years later.
And in 2023, Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel took place with
little or no warning from the intelligence community. And
unfortunately, the list goes on. We need a return to fundamentals.
Last week, in his confirmation hearing, Mr. Ratcliffe promised to
return to the CIA's core mission. That means recruiting spies to
collect intelligence and providing objective intelligence analysis
without bias.
Mr. Ratcliffe brings the right experience and the right approach to
the CIA, and I look forward to working with him in this position.
Republican Senators-Elect
Mr. President, before I close, I want to say a word about two new
Senators who will take office later today. I am very pleased to welcome
Ashley Moody of Florida and John Husted of Ohio to the U.S. Senate.
Ashley Moody began her career as a lawyer in private practice, and in
all the spare time that a young lawyer has, she volunteered to help
domestic violence victims seeking protection in court.
At the age of 31, after already practicing at a law firm and as a
Federal prosecutor, she became the youngest judge in the State of
Florida. During her time as a judge, she recruited volunteer attorneys
to stand with children whose parents did not appear in court with them
and developed a mentoring program for at-risk youth.
In 2018, she was elected attorney general in Florida, a post from
which she held the Biden administration accountable and defended
Florida law. And now, she is bringing her energy and experience here to
the U.S. Senate.
Being sworn in alongside Ashley Moody today will be Jon Husted,
Ohio's new Senator. ``Senator'' is just the latest title that Ohioans
have called Jon Husted. He has been a State representative, speaker of
the statehouse, a State senator, secretary of state for Ohio,
Lieutenant Governor, and now U.S. Senator.
No matter his title, Ohioans know that they can depend on Jon Husted
to fight for a smaller and more efficient government that genuinely
serves its citizens. And I am very pleased to welcome him here to the
Senate.
Both our new Senators bring valuable experience, expertise, and
perspective to the Senate Republican majority. And the whole Senate
will benefit from their joining our ranks. I look forward to working
with them.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. 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 PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Recognition of the Minority Leader
The Democratic leader is recognized.
Ryan Corbett
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this morning I have some amazingly great
news. After more than 2 years of being unjustly detained by the
Taliban, Ryan Corbett from Dansville, NY, is finally free and on his
way home. In just a few hours--praise God--Ryan will be back on
American soil and will be able to hug his wife Anna and his beautiful
children, Miriam and Caleb and Ketsie. They represent the very best of
Upstate New York--hard-working, God-fearing, persistent, and humble.
Soon, Ryan will be back home in Western New York in the community he
loved so much and that waited so desperately for his return.
I met with the Corbett family repeatedly. Every time I met with them,
his wonderful wife Anna--strong but quiet--never gave up; and his
beautiful children who so miss their dad, you could just feel it. And
every time I met with them, just my heart went out, and I said ``I have
to do more and more and more.'' It is a moment we have all prayed for
and hoped for. And thank God this day has finally come. What a
blessing. What an amazing day.
When I heard Ryan's story from his family and listened to them as
they pushed and pushed for his release, I saw that even in the darkest
moment, even when hope seemed lost, the Corbett family never, never
gave up, and they never got angry. They never pointed fingers or called
names. They just kept persisting and persisting and persisting. And
their beautiful, hard, unrelenting, patient persistence has paid off.
I worked very closely with the Corbett family to build bipartisan
support for Ryan's release. We brought attention to his imprisonment
and made dozens of calls to elevate his case to the very highest levels
of government. I want to thank President Biden and his administration's
negotiating team as well as my colleagues on both sides of the aisle
for helping bring Ryan back.
We can finally, finally say these five amazing words: Ryan Corbett is
coming home. He is coming home to New York. He is coming home to
Dansville.
[[Page S263]]
I can't wait to see him and welcome him back very, very soon.
Trump Administration
Mr. President, now on the first day of President Trump's presidency,
moments after taking the oath of office, President Trump declared that
it was the dawning of a golden age here in America. But on day one into
his presidency, it is clear that Donald Trump's golden age is not for
the working and middle class. His golden age, rather, is for the
special interests, the wealthy elite, and the corporate insiders he
promised to take on as President. Just look at his first day in the
White House, which shows exactly what I am saying.
On day one, President Trump, in his Executive orders, made it harder
for Americans to save on prescription drug costs. President Trump
cleared the way for Big Oil and polluters and halted leasing of
offshore wind farms. He took steps to make it harder to enroll in the
ACA and made Medicaid less generous. He removed the United States from
the Paris Climate Accords.
Nothing the President did on day one lowered grocery prices. Nothing
helped Americans achieve their dream of owning a home. Nothing will
help working families earn more and save more. Their drug costs will go
up. The cost of buying and maintaining a home will go up. The cost of
healthcare will go up. The cost of energy will go up.
So who is exactly Donald Trump's golden age for? Not for working
Americans; that is for sure. President Trump's golden age is one for
America's biggest drug companies, who can now worry less about lowering
their prices. It is a golden age for America's richest oil executives,
who want nothing more than to kill clean jobs and deepen America's
dependence on fossil fuels. It is a golden age for America's top 1
percent, who want another trillion-dollar tax break, paid for on the
backs of workers in the middle class.
And, sadly, it is a golden age for lawlessness and lawbreakers who
were pardoned yesterday by President Trump. There is no other way to
describe President Trump's pardon of January 6 offenders than un-
American. Let's be clear. President Trump didn't just pardon
protesters; he pardoned some people convicted of assaulting police
officers and seditious conspiracy. It is a betrayal of the highest
order of our Capitol police officers who risked their lives to keep us
safe.
When President Trump talks about a golden age, he is talking about a
golden age for drug companies, powerful oil executives, and rioters who
attack our police and attack our democracy. That is not the golden age
Americans want.
Nominations
Mr. President, nominations, this week the Senate will continue
exercising its constitutional duty to offer advice and consent on the
President's nominees.
Last night, the Senate unanimously confirmed our former colleague,
Senator Rubio, as Secretary of State. Even though Senator Rubio and
Democrats differ on many issues, it was clear he was very well-
qualified for the job and deserved confirmation.
Now, if every one of President Trump's nominees were as qualified and
experienced as Senator Rubio, they would sail through the Senate with
bipartisan support. But, sadly, too many of the President's nominees do
not match Senator Rubio's caliber, too many have troubling backgrounds,
too many seem unprepared for the job and proved so during testimony,
too many nominees have been rushed through before their paperwork has
been submitted.
Senator Rubio was thorough and quick with his background checks and
documentation. He did it the right way. But too many other nominees
have delayed and dragged their feet. So it is wrong to try and rush
them through.
And too many of the President's nominees seem more interested in
pushing the ultraright's extremist agenda than in fighting for working-
and middle-class families.
Later today, I will meet with President Trump's nominee for OMB
Director, Russell Vought. Mr. Vought is one of the most troubling
nominees that President Trump has selected. He is about as ultraright
as they come. So during our meeting, I hope to get a clarity on a
simple question: Who will Mr. Vought fight for if confirmed? Is it the
American people, or is it Project 2025, which Americans have already
rejected?
I look forward to our conversation because I believe it is important
both sides hear directly and candidly from the President's nominees
before we are asked to vote on their nomination. After all, the debate
over President Trump's nominees is not just about senior-level
positions in the administration; the debate on nominees is a debate
about the President's very agenda and about who will benefit. Whose
side are these nominees on?
President Trump promised an agenda that will fight for the working
and middle class. He promised a golden age for the country, but actions
speak louder than words. And so far, the President's nominees suggest
that if there is any golden age coming, it is only one for the very,
very elite.
So Democrats will continue to get the President's nominees on the
record on very important questions. Will Donald Trump's nominees focus
on cutting costs, or will they be more interested in cutting sweetheart
deals for big businesses? Will they protect our communities, or will
they focus more on protecting special interests? Will they serve
middle-class and working families, or will they serve the swamp? That
is what the American people want to know.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Immigration
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, there are certain things we all agree on,
I believe. No. 1, our border must be secure, and, No. 2, we should
deport any dangerous individuals who are here illegally, period. But
the Executive order signed by President Trump last night did not target
criminals or even those who entered our country without authorization.
For example, the President suspended the task force on the
reunification families created in the aftermath of his disastrous
family separation policy of his first Presidency. Over 1,000 families
remain separated today--in other words, children who don't know where
their parents are. This task force was created to reunite them--simply
that--and, now, it has been suspended. Stopping this task force does
not make us a safer Nation and certainly doesn't help these children.
The President also suspended the Refugee Admissions Program, which
provides a safe haven for those fleeing oppressive regimes around the
world. They include Afghans, Afghan women, Uighurs, and Rohingya. Many
refugee applicants wait decades to come to the United States lawfully,
and every single one of them must undergo a rigorous vetting, more than
any other group of immigrants coming into the United States. I have
worked in and with these refugee camps. They literally stay in tents
and temporary shelters for months and years, going through background
checks before they are even considered eligible for coming to the
United States. Yet the Trump administration has already canceled
flights for over 1,600 Afghan refugees scheduled to come here.
Who are these people? Many of them are families of Active-Duty U.S.
military personnel and those who are at risk because they fought on our
side, defending our troops in the Afghan theater. Stopping these
flights of friendly refugees coming to America, after having helped us
and risked their lives to help us, doesn't make America safe. It sends
a message, sadly, to allies supporting our troops around the world that
we may not be there to support them when they need us.
The President also announced his plan to attempt to deny citizenship
to children born in the United States if their parents are not citizens
or lawful permanent residents. I ask anyone who is interested in this
issue to do something very basic: Read the first sentence of the 14th
Amendment to the Constitution. It is in clear violation of our
Constitution to eliminate birthright citizenship. It does nothing to
make our country safer--nothing.
[[Page S264]]
We need to secure our border. That is why I worked for years to pass
bipartisan legislation that fixes our broken immigration system.
Mr. President, before you came to the Senate, we considered
comprehensive immigration reform on a bipartisan basis. I was part of
an eight Senators task force--Democrats and Republicans, equal numbers.
We wrote a bill, brought it to the floor, and got over 60 votes for the
bill. Unfortunately, the House, under Republican control at the time,
wouldn't take up the issue. We had an approach that still ought to be
considered when it comes to changing our immigration system to make it
safer for America.
But we also need to protect millions of noncitizens who Americans
rely on each day. All across America this morning, many parents headed
off to work and stopped to drop their kid off at daycare. They handed
their child over to an undocumented person who works during the course
of the day to keep your child safe and to make sure they are there at
night when you return to pick them up.
The same thing is true about nursing homes and a lot of care
facilities. Parents and grandparents are being carefully watched every
minute of every day by undocumented people who are working there, whose
wages aren't the greatest, but these people are willing to take on this
job. For most people, it is a critically important job for their
family. They want their mom to not only go to breakfast with a smile
but to be escorted back to her room safely. They need undocumented
people for that to happen. A high percentage of those who work in these
facilities qualify as undocumented.
Immigrants have been a key part of America. I know that, and I say
that as a son of an immigrant to this country. Our Nation has always
needed immigrants. It still does. They put food on our tables, they
care for our kids, and they help care for our parents and grandparents.
What would we do without them? They don't deserve to live in fear every
single day that they are going to be part of a mass deportation.
Any real solution to our immigration challenge must give them
stability. Americans deserve a real fix to our broken immigration
system that protects America, protects American workers, and treats
immigrants fairly.
Mr. President, 13 years ago, in response to a bipartisan request from
myself and the late Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana,
President Obama established the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals,
or the DACA Program. DACA has protected from deportation over 800,000
young people, all of whom arrived in our country as children, some as
young as a few months old.
These young kids are known as Dreamers. I know a little bit about
that. I was the sponsor of the original DREAM Act, over 20 years ago.
They grew up alongside our kids, with the same hopes and ambitions.
They stood up in a classroom every morning and pledged allegiance to
that flag, believing it was their flag too. Many have gone on to serve
our Nation as servicemembers, doctors, and first responders. They
believe in the American dream just as much as we do.
Without permanent legal protection, these young people have been
forced to live in uncertainty. They have to renew their DACA status
every 2 years, go through a background check, and pay a filing fee.
In December, President Trump committed to work with Congress on a
plan to protect Dreamers. I am looking forward to that. I worked with
the President in his first term, and I am ready to work with him again.
Let's get this done as part of immigration reform.
But, last Friday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals declared the
DACA Program illegal again. The decision left in place protections for
current DACA recipients, while the appeal is pending, but left other
Dreamers in limbo. The time to act is now.
I urge the President to come to the table to negotiate a solution for
Dreamers as part of immigration reform.
January 6 Pardons
Mr. President, on another matter, on January 6, 2021, I was seated in
the chair right here on the floor of the Senate. A solemn
constitutional proceeding was disrupted when a mob of thugs attacked
and trashed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn a free and fair
election.
I remember it well.
Vice President Pence was sitting in the chair that you are occupying
now. The Secret Service came in and, literally, physically removed him,
out that door of the Chamber.
They then announced to us to sit tight. This was going to be a safe
room in the Capitol. There was a mob that was descending on the Capitol
at the moment. We are going to keep everybody safe. They warned us that
there were a lot of people coming into this Chamber to line the walls
because they wanted to be kept safe from this mob that was coming into
the Capitol.
Ten minutes later, a Capitol Hill policeman stood up and said: New
plans. We are all leaving immediately. Get out of your chairs and go
out that door. We will lead you to another safe room.
That was the circumstance of January 6, 2021. I remember it well. I
saw the mob as we went outside. It was growing in size, thousands of
people descending on the Capitol. That was the grim reality of that
day.
At the end of the day, the mob confronted the Capitol Hill police and
the DC police who were here, trying to keep this building and keep us
safe as Members of Congress who were doing our constitutional duty.
The subsequent deaths of five of our law enforcement officers because
of that mob and the injuries to approximately 140 others are a matter
of fact, many of whom still pay a price day for what happened on
January 6, 2021.
And now the attackers have been pardoned by President Trump, who
literally sent them from a rally to come up here, and what happened
happened.
Consider the following individuals who received their pardon
yesterday from President Trump:
David Dempsey was one of them. He was convicted of assaulting police
officers by using ``his hands, feet, flagpoles, crutches, pepper spray,
broken pieces of furniture, and anything else he could get his hands
on'' as weapons.
Shane Jenkins was another one, convicted of using two tomahawk axes
to break into the Capitol and assaulting police officers by throwing a
wooden desk drawer and flagpole at them.
Kyle Fitzsimons was convicted for five separate assaults against law
enforcement, including one that caused career-ending and life-altering
injuries to U.S. Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell.
And Kenneth Bonawitz, a member of the so-called Proud Boys, assaulted
at least six officers, including placing one officer in a chokehold and
lifting him up by the neck. Bonawitz injured one officer so severely
that the officer has been forced to retire.
All of these people were among the roughly 1,500 January 6
insurrectionists who President Trump pardoned last night.
What happened to claims by a party of being in favor of law and
order?
Even President Trump's own Vice President said last week--the Senator
from the State of Ohio:
If you committed violence on [January 6], obviously you
shouldn't be pardoned.
That didn't apply last night. All the people I just described were
pardoned by President Trump for their actions in harming law
enforcement in the Capitol on January 6.
Last week, I asked President Trump's Attorney General nominee, Pam
Bondi, about pardoning January 6 rioters who assaulted police officers.
She said: ``I condemn any violence on a law enforcement officer.''
Don't we all?
One of my Judiciary Committee Republican colleagues actually
criticized me last week for even asking that question. Here is what he
said:
I find it hard to believe that the President of the United
States . . . would look at facts that were used to convict
the violent people on January 6th and say it was just an
intemperate moment. . . . it's an absurd and unfair
hypothetical.
The action by President Trump is unfair, but, unfortunately, it is no
longer hypothetical. These law enforcement officers risk their lives
for us--literally, all of us, not just the elected officials but the
thousands of visitors who come to this Capitol. They stand quietly by,
watching to make sure that nothing goes wrong, but they are literally
risking their lives for us every single day.
What was the message last night of pardoning the people who assaulted
them on January 6, 2021?
[[Page S265]]
Some people died as a result of that attack. Every American should be
appalled.
I am very unhappy that these men and women who give us so much every
single day are taken for granted so much that the President pardoned
those who attacked them. That was wrong. We should stand by those who
stand by us, and we should be willing to say to them: Thank you. Thank
you for risking your lives for our visitors, for Members of Congress.
And those who assaulted you were not just on a pleasant Capitol tour;
they had a goal in mind. That goal, unfortunately, was at the expense
of these men and women in uniform.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Curtis). The Senator from Texas.
Trump Administration
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, as the world knows by now, yesterday,
President Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United
States. I think he is only the second President who has been sworn in
on two different occasions. He is both the 45th and the 47th President
of the United States.
It was an honor to see him take the oath of office yesterday in the
Capitol Rotunda. I only regret, because of the weather, that more
people weren't able to see that in person. I was with a number of my
Texas constituents this morning. They are not accustomed to the cold
temperatures, but they were prepared to dress warmly and to deal with
it. They all seemed to be in good spirits because of the outcome of the
election, and they were happy to see the President sworn in, as was I.
I want to express my personal congratulations, along with that of
millions of people across the country, to President Trump and our
former colleague J.D. Vance.
I have told people, when J.D. Vance came to the Senate, I actually
had met him before because when he went to Yale Law School, he actually
was an intern on the Judiciary Committee that I serve on, and he worked
in my office for a very brief period of time. I didn't know him then.
As I told him, I knew him before he was famous, before he wrote
``Hillbilly Elegy'' and his career took off like a rocket ship. I am
proud of what Vice President Vance has been able to accomplish.
If you think about it, here is a guy who at 40 years old is Vice
President of the United States, and if you read or listen to
``Hillbilly Elegy''--about the circumstances under which J.D. Vance was
raised--you can see that he has overcome a lot of obstacles in life. He
served as a U.S. marine, and I know he was celebrating last night with
the Ohio State championship win, being a graduate of that school. It
was great to see him get sworn in yesterday as well. Again, only in
America--only in America--can something like that happen.
Immigration
It is no secret either that in the last 4 years, the Biden
administration's policies have been nothing but a disaster for the
Nation, and no State has been more negatively affected than my State,
the State of Texas. We have 1,200 miles of common border with Mexico,
and the open border policies of the Biden administration have been an
unmitigated disaster from a public health standpoint and a public
safety standpoint. Many of our border communities have simply been
overwhelmed and overrun just by the sheer volume of people coming from
all around the world.
This is not the sort of immigration that you have seen in the past
where poor people have come to the United States across the border to
work and send money home. You literally have seen, with the Biden open
border policies, people from all around the world show up and claim
asylum or be paroled into the interior of the United States, which is
like a blinking green light to anybody and everybody who wants to come
to America, knowing they would be released under the Biden
administration's policies.
We have seen millions. Nobody really knows for sure how many millions
of people come and basically move into the United States outside of our
legal immigration program, which I think is very important, but there
are also the roughly 2 million, we think, ``got-aways''--people evading
law enforcement--and you can only imagine what they are up to. We know
that there was no reason to evade law enforcement under the Biden
administration if you didn't have a criminal record or if you weren't
up to no good, because you knew you would be released. So it only was
logical--it only made sense--that these were people who were either
carrying drugs or had criminal records or were otherwise engaged in
antisocial activities. Like I said, we think maybe about 2 million of
those people made their way into the interior of the United States.
One of the most important ways that President Trump began with his
signature on these Executive orders, beginning yesterday, was to
reverse the policies of the Biden administration and to get our country
back on track in securing our southern border. This border crisis, as I
indicated, is one that President Biden himself practically invited--
invited--during his first campaign when he encouraged migrants to
``immediately surge the border.'' I mean, this is crazy talk if you
think about it, but that is what he said. Of course, this is perhaps
the one campaign promise President Biden actually kept.
In the early months of 2021, President Biden appointed Vice President
Harris--we all remember this--as his border czar. Well, he tasked her
with the role of managing this growing surge of migrants. Even back
then, in the early stages of what was to become a historic humanitarian
disaster, some expressed concerns that Ms. Harris might not be up to
the task, but when she was made aware of and made to answer for her
lack of qualifications, she hadn't actually been to the border.
Specifically, as to the fact she hadn't been there, Kamala Harris
made light of the question with a famous quip.
She said:
And I haven't been to Europe. . . . I don't understand the
point you're making.
Somebody pointed out that she hadn't been to the border. She said,
``I haven't been to Europe,'' and she didn't understand the point.
Well, everybody else got it even if she didn't. She was singularly
unqualified, and she bore this out, I think, by her service as the
border czar. She was singularly unqualified to be the border czar, and
it took another 3 months for her to accomplish her one and only visit
to the Texas-Mexico border.
I can tell you that, as I said, Texas has a 1,200-mile common border,
and the United States has a 2,000-mile common border, and not every
piece of the border is the same. If you go to Arizona or California or
New Mexico, many of those places are very different from the border
with Texas and Mexico. But on this one visit to the border in Texas,
Vice President Harris steered clear of ground zero of the surge of
illegal immigration, which is the Rio Grande Valley. That was the
epicenter of the border crisis, yet she was a no-show. Instead, she
traveled to El Paso--which is another border town but very, very
different--for a sanitized, made-for-TV visit.
To add insult to injury, the Vice President visited Texas multiple
times last summer to fundraise and to campaign for President, but she
didn't take the time to go to the border at all. But this should come
as no surprise because she seemed completely disinterested in
performing any function as the border czar. Under her negligent watch,
the surge at the beginning of President Biden's Presidency only went
from bad to worse.
The Biden-Harris administration presided over daily, weekly, and
monthly records of illegal crossings across the border. Customs and
Border Protection, the Federal Agency responsible, has tracked more
than 10 million encounters across the Nation under President Biden's
leadership, including 8.7 million at the southern border. More than
400,000 unaccompanied children--to me, this is one of the scandals that
really hasn't gotten adequate attention--400,000 unaccompanied children
have been encountered at the border and placed with sponsors in the
United States.
Now, the Biden administration resisted any sort of background checks
on the sponsors. As a matter of fact, they placed these children with
other illegal immigrants in the country and in homes where we didn't
know whether there were either gang members or people with records as
sex offenders, for example. And the sad truth is that these children,
like the 10 million or so other migrants that came across the
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border, ended up in the United States courtesy of the cartels, criminal
organizations that get rich smuggling people into the United States.
But they don't just smuggle people; they smuggle drugs and other
contraband too.
But these children in particular, once they arrive in the United
States, many of them are exploited, treated as indentured servants
until they pay back the debt they owe their traffickers. And those are
the lucky ones. Others are trafficked for sex, recruited into gangs,
neglected. We don't know.
The Biden administration couldn't tell you whether these children
were going to school or getting the healthcare they need or the like.
As a matter of fact, they said: We have no responsibility. That is the
responsibility of the State child welfare organizations.
We know they are overwhelmed, and here are 400,000 more children that
are dumped into their hands. As a result of the shelter facilities
becoming increasingly crowded, the Biden administration rushed the
placement process of these children and now has completely lost track
of at least 85,000 of those unaccompanied minors. That is according to
a New York Times investigative story where they actually followed up
calling the sponsors, only to get no answer. Knocking on the door,
nobody would come to the door. So we don't know--they don't know--what
happened to these children.
We also know the cartels are getting richer trafficking in drugs, as
I mentioned, including fentanyl, a synthetic opioid which is very
different from heroin and cocaine, which require a lengthy process of
growing a plant and then processing the drug. Cartels are selling
fentanyl, which uses chemical precursors that come from China that then
go to Mexico and are mixed up and then pressed to look like a
pharmaceutical drug. But they are counterfeit drugs, and they killed
more than 70,000 people last year alone.
This drug that comes across the southern border with very little--
well, we just don't know how much of it actually makes its way across.
We know how much is interdicted, but it could be just a fraction of the
number that actually makes its way across the border. And here is the
tragic statistic. This is the leading cause of death for young people
between the age of 18 and 45 in America.
I have been to numerous high schools in Texas where grieving parents
said: Well, our child ate dinner at the dinner table; then, the next
morning, we went and found him or her dead in her room--having taken
something they thought was a relatively innocuous drug, only to find
out the hard way that it was laced with fentanyl, which took their
life.
Well, our Border Patrol has simply been overwhelmed by the volume of
people coming across the border because there is no such thing as
deterrence. One of the things about law enforcement you learn is, by
enforcing the law, you can discourage other people from violating the
law. And by actually enforcing border security, you can deter people
from coming in the first place.
But without deterrence, under the Biden administration, the Border
Patrol has simply been overwhelmed. With historic numbers of people
attempting to cross and successfully crossing, they have not gotten the
support they need to handle the magnitude of challenges they face every
day.
The men and women who serve in the Border Patrol are my heroes. They
are loyal, patriotic Americans who put on the uniform and do what their
government has asked them to do, until they are told that you have to
tie one hand behind your back and you can't actually do your job
because you just have to welcome people into the country, and you can't
keep people out who are violating the law.
So I am going to extend my gratitude to the men and women who serve
in the Border Patrol, as well as the National Border Patrol Council,
which has been enormously helpful as a credible source of what actual
conditions have been along the border so that the American people can
know how bad it has gotten to be. The National Border Patrol Council
has been our partner and friend and helped as Senator Cruz and I have
welcomed many of our colleagues to the border so that they can see
firsthand what we have learned as a result of our many times visiting
there.
And I particularly want to express my gratitude to Jason Owens, who
is the outgoing Border Patrol Chief. Even when the administration did
not provide adequate support to handle this historic crisis, Jason had
the backs of the men and women of the Border Patrol.
But the good news is that, under President Trump, all of our Border
Patrol agents will start receiving the support that they need and that
they deserve from the Federal Government.
President Trump used his first day in office to make a number of
actions addressing this crisis. He declared that this historic, ongoing
crisis is a national emergency, which it is. He designated the cartels
that smuggle the people and the drugs into the country as foreign
terrorist organizations. He directed the Departments of State and
Homeland Security to resume the migrant protection protocols, otherwise
known as the ``Remain in Mexico'' program.
So people who want to come to the United States legally through the
asylum system, they can't come to the interior of the United States and
simply be released; they have to remain in Mexico and await the
processing of their claim for asylum. This will, of course, deter
economic migrants from making this dangerous journey by having them
await their asylum hearings in Mexico.
At the same time, the President directed the Department of Homeland
Security to stop catch-and-release. If you ask the Border Patrol: How
do you explain all of this, this huge mass of humanity, this tsunami of
people coming across the border, they say: There are no consequences
for coming illegally under the Biden administration. And one of those
incentives for people to continue to come is employing a catch-and-
release policy because, without detention, you are never going to stop
the flow. And this was a primary pull factor of migrants under the
Biden administration.
President Trump also terminated the Biden administration's unlawful
Cuban-Haitian-Nicaraguan-Venezuelan parole program. So ``parole'' is a
word that people may be familiar with in a criminal context, where
people can be paroled out of prison. This is a little different. In the
immigration context, this means that individuals who meet certain
select criteria can be released into the interior of the United States,
but it is supposed to be done on a hardship, case-by-case basis.
The Biden administration completely transformed parole by doing it
categorically. In other words, they said 30,000 migrants per month are
allowed to be released in the United States if you come from Cuba,
Haiti, Nicaragua, or Venezuela. That is 360,000 a year just released
into the interior of the United States and not done on a case-by-case
basis. It violated the law Congress put in place, but the Biden
administration didn't really seem to care about what the law was; they
were going to do what they wanted to do.
I am pleased that President Trump has directed the Department of
Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to completely fulfill
the requirements of the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005, a bill that the
former Senator from Arizona, Senator Jon Kyl, and I worked to enact.
Under that law, the Department of Homeland Security will protect
Americans from dangerous criminal illegal immigrants by collecting DNA
samples from migrants apprehended at the border. In many instances, it
can just be a cheek swab, but that DNA allows you to positively
identify people who may be criminal aliens.
President Trump's order that the Department of Homeland Security
verify the relationships claimed by family units apprehended at the
border will help put an end to the cartels' child trafficking that the
Biden administration policies enabled. Because the cartels are smart
and they knew what the policies were, if a family unit--that is, an
adult and a child--came together, they were treated a little bit
differently. But we found out the hard way that the cartels would
simply hire out these children so that the adults could get into the
country claiming to be a family unit. Again, more child trafficking--
child abuse, if you will. President Trump's order that the Department
of Homeland Security verify
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these relationships will help put an end to the cartels' child
trafficking which the Biden administration enabled.
I am pleased that President Trump has also ended the use of the
Customs and Border Protection One app. This was an app that you could
download on your phone that allowed migrants to more quickly and
efficiently cross the open border.
Under the Biden administration, you could simply make an appointment
using this app on your phone, meaning the Federal Government would
facilitate your entry into the United States on a quicker basis. It is
really bizarre if you think about it. But it gave the cartels other
ways to make money by selling appointments that they had made on the
app. It was obviously hijacked by the cartels, who are not dumb--they
are smart--and they are driven by a profit motive.
I am glad that President Trump made border security a day one
priority of his administration. I look forward to continuing to work
with him to help improve the safety for communities all across Texas
and all across the Nation.
But I am also thrilled that President Trump has chosen a new U.S.
Border Patrol Chief, a Texan, Mike Banks. People may have heard of Mike
Banks before because he was Governor Abbott's border chief.
Mike brings incredible credentials to this job. While the Vice
President made only one trip to the Texas-Mexico border during her
entire tenure, Mike is a former Border Patrol agent. He has got vast
experience at the border.
He understands firsthand the impact on our border communities and
what our Border Patrol agents have been through. He spent two-thirds of
his more than three decades of Federal law enforcement at the United
States-Mexico border. As I indicated, Governor Abbott had selected him
to serve as the Texas border czar, and Mike has also served in the U.S.
Navy military police.
So I have had the privilege of getting to know Mike, and I know his
qualifications, his experience and his competence and his firsthand
experience dealing with the challenges at our border, and I have no
doubt that he will make an outstanding 27th head of the U.S. Border
Patrol.
I look forward to working with him and President Trump to secure our
borders and to make our community safe again.
This is one of the main reasons that President Trump was elected,
along with sky-high inflation, and the very dangerous world that seems
to have grown up in the face of the weakness projected by the Biden
administration around the world. But job No. 1 is to secure our borders
and protect the American people. And I am proud of the fact that
President Trump has, on day one, taken such important steps to begin
that process.
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