[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 94 (Wednesday, June 3, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2503-S2504]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            BORDER SECURITY

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, Republicans are ready to move forward on 
funding critical components of our government--Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement and Border Patrol.
  I heard the minority leader here on the floor of the Senate a few 
minutes ago, and it sounds like he is continuing, as the Democrats have 
been doing, standing with illegal immigrant criminals, protecting 
illegal immigrant criminals rather than protecting American citizens.
  What we are proposing and the bill that we will be discussing today 
is a bill that is targeted and focused, and it is a vote for safe 
communities, not for criminals--specifically, criminal illegal aliens. 
It is a vote for secure borders.
  Safe communities and secure borders are the top priorities of 
American citizens. People want to live in safe communities. They want 
secure borders. The top priority of the Democrats doesn't seem to be 
that at all. It seems it is to defund border security, defund law 
enforcement in this country. That is what they have been for years--
protesting in the streets: Defund the police. Get rid of ICE.

[[Page S2504]]

  We need safety and security for the American people.
  What we have seen after month and month and month of Democratic 
obstruction is very clear: Democrats want to go back to the days of the 
chaos of open borders, people streaming across the southern border into 
our Nation. Republicans are not prepared to allow them to do it.
  The American people deserve to feel safe at home, safe in their 
communities. We deserve to have a homeland that is secure. That is why 
I am saying it is time to pass the Secure America Act.
  Earlier this month, U.S. Border Patrol secured a historic record. The 
record is that for a full year--now that we have a Republican majority 
in the House and the Senate and Donald Trump in the White House--for a 
full year, not a single illegal immigrant was released into this 
country now that we have ended catch-and-release. Catch-and-release no 
longer exists. Our border is more secure than ever.
  But security, of course, is not ever guaranteed. The border is secure 
because enforcement today is strong and there is a commitment by this 
administration to enforce the law. But the danger hasn't disappeared. 
The danger still exists, because just a week ago, U.S. Border Patrol 
agents and Texas Highway Patrol, working together, arrested 12 illegal 
immigrants in this country in Southwest Texas. The arrest occurred late 
at night on a private ranch near our southern border. Among those 
arrested are six Chinese nationals. All of them were military age, and 
all of them were captured wearing military-style camouflage--in our 
country, six Chinese nationals illegally here wearing military-style 
camouflage. We are not talking about kind of ordinary illegal 
immigrants here. They are what law enforcement classifies as ``special 
interest aliens.'' Now, a special interest alien is a noncitizen whose 
country of origin or travel history raises concerns of serious national 
security, a threat.
  Special-interest aliens are subject to enhanced security scrutiny, as 
they should be. These six Chinese nationals wanted to avoid getting 
caught. We still don't know who they are. We don't know where they came 
from. We don't know how they got here. We don't know who they planned 
to meet or where they planned to go next from this remote-site ranch in 
Texas.
  This situation reminds us of a core security principle: National 
security starts with border security.
  Congress cannot allow Democrats to strangle the resources that the 
Border Patrol needs to keep our Nation safe. The U.S. Border Patrol 
stands on the frontlines of America's safety. Those are the men and 
women--the people in Border Patrol--who patrol areas that are rugged 
and remote, and they put their lives on the line for the rest of us.
  They continue to secure our borders. They keep illegal immigrant 
criminals out of our country. And they do dangerous and diligent work 
because they know it is what makes the American people safer.
  Joe Biden and the Democrats shamelessly failed to secure the border. 
Joe Biden and the Democrats undermined the men and women of our Border 
Patrol.
  They turned our southern border into a turnstile. Over 10 million 
illegal immigrants entered our country in those 4 years of the Biden 
administration. There was no enforcement of the law at the border. It 
was only abandonment of our border.
  President Trump and Republicans have the common sense and the 
commitment to secure the border. Through the Working Families Tax Cut 
law, we invested $170 billion in border security. That is the largest 
border security investment in American history. Republicans funded the 
border wall, and we ended Joe Biden's ridiculous catch-and-release 
plan. We restored the program of ``Remain in Mexico'' and cracked down 
on the cartels. We gave Border Patrol the tools and the resources they 
need to do the job to keep our Nation safe, and Republicans remain 
resolutely committed to keeping our Nation safe.
  By contrast, we heard it here again from the minority leader today: 
Democrats continue their commitment to open borders and to defunding 
the police.
  Democrats in the Senate right now, this very moment, are obstructing 
the funding of Border Patrol. They have been doing it for months, month 
after month after month. This has gone on here since January.
  Democrats are choosing protecting illegal immigrants over protecting 
the American people. They want to defund the police. They want to 
defund American security. And they are choosing open borders over a 
secure nation.
  That is what their party has become. Listen to their candidates 
running around the country, running in primary elections. It is a run 
to the far left--the radical, extreme, dangerous, scary left--who want 
open borders and want to get rid of immigration control enforcement.
  They want to stand with the criminals and the cartels and the foreign 
adversaries, who right now are watching what we are doing in 
Washington, DC.
  Defunding the Border Patrol is a dream to every criminal in the world 
who wishes to take advantage of innocent Americans. Why in the world 
are Democrats standing with them?
  If we are serious about safe and secure communities, we must fully 
fund border security. Democrats will continue to vote against it.
  Republicans are standing with the Secure America Act, and we are 
going to vote on that. It is going to fully fund Border Patrol and 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and do it for the next 3 years. 
This is going to give law enforcement the tools that they need to keep 
illegal immigrant criminals and the cartels and the terrorist suspects 
out of our country. Republicans support the United States Border 
Patrol. We will deliver the resources that they need to give the brave 
men and women of our Nation who are committed to the safety and 
security of the American people what they need to do their job and to 
keep us safe.
  That is what this is all about. It is, Who are you going to stand 
with? Who are you going to protect? The Democrats wanting to stand with 
and protect illegal immigrant criminals? Republicans standing with the 
safety and security of the American people?
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sheehy). The minority whip.

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