[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13966-13967]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             BORDER CRISIS

  Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I wish to express my bitter 
disappointment in the Senate for refusing to move forward with the 
President's request for emergency funding to deal with the humanitarian 
crisis we are facing on our southern border with Texas.
  Ordinary working people do not close up shop with urgent work still 
undone, and neither should we. There is plenty of blame to go around; 
as I speak, there is a strong chance the House will leave town without 
taking action on this crisis either. The administration has asked for 
money, but has yet to speak clearly on what changes it needs in the law 
governing how we handle child migrants at the border.
  As we all know, over the past several months, our Nation has 
experienced an unprecedented surge in migration from three countries: 
El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. People from these countries are 
fleeing desperate, violent conditions and a large number of them are 
families, and unaccompanied children--some as young as 4 years old.
  The President and Department of Homeland Secretary, DHS, Johnson 
responded with an all-hands-on-deck effort. The Federal Emergency 
Management Administration, FEMA, is coordinating the response to the 
problem. The Department of Defense is providing emergency beds for 
unaccompanied minors. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has greatly 
expanded its ability to detain and remove families. We have surged 
Border Patrol agents, immigration judges, and other personnel to the 
border to help process people.
  These measures have been working. For example, the amount of time 
people are detained before they are removed has decreased from over a 
month to as little as 4 days in recent weeks. Migrant children who were 
languishing in crowded border patrol stations are being screened and 
relocated more quickly. But these emergency measures are expensive, and 
none of the Federal agencies involved have the money they need to 
sustain the aggressive steps they are taking to deal with this 
situation. In fact, many agencies have indicated that they will run out 
of money in a matter of weeks without action--some even in a few days.
  So last week, Senator Mikulski introduced a bill that would provide 
$2.7 billion in order to address the situation and ensure that the 
agencies charged with securing our borders do not run out of money this 
summer. More importantly, it would also address some of the underlying 
root causes of the problem we face.
  But here we are, the day before Congress leaves town, and what have 
we done to address this crisis? The answer is nothing.
  The consequences of our inaction will be severe. Let me give you some 
examples of what will happen if Congress continues to do nothing.
  Families apprehended at the border will be released. Why? Because 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not have the money to add the 
3,000 detention beds it needs to house families until they can be 
returned to their countries;
  Undocumented migrants scheduled to be deported will stay here. Why? 
Because ICE won't have the money for transportation.
  People currently being detained will have to be released. Why? 
Because ICE will have to reduce its detention population.
  Undocumented immigrants waiting for their immigration court cases to 
be heard will have to wait longer. Why? Because we are not adding the 
40 immigration court judges that the administration requested.
  We also will not be able to hire the 82 immigration prosecutors and 
100 repatriation personnel that DHS was planning to hire in August. 
Why? Because we will not be able to afford them.
  Health and Human Services will have to cut back on the number of 
children it can house. This means that children will have to stay at 
Border Patrol stations longer and agents will be forced to care for 
children instead of patrolling the border. Why? Because Health and 
Human Services will not have the money it needs.
  I am frankly stunned that we here in Congress do not have a sense of 
urgency to pass this bill and make sure that this does not happen. I 
guess my colleagues believe that we can just move money around in order 
to patch the holes in these agencies' budgets. We are robbing Peter to 
pay Paul.
  Because of Congress' inaction, the administration will be forced to 
ask for an emergency reprogramming to get the agencies through August. 
But this reprogramming will also have severe consequences--consequences 
that I do not think many of our colleagues seem to understand.
  Our border security will be reduced. Why? Because CBP will have to 
cut back on aerial support for Border Patrol agents on the border. When 
I was in Texas and Arizona last year, I heard frontline agents say 
again and again that aerial support was the single most important force 
multiplier that they had available to help them secure the border.
  People and commerce trying to get into this country will be forced to 
longer delays and intrusive screenings at our ports of entry. Why? 
Because CBP will have to take money that was going to be used to fund 
sophisticated scanning equipment to pay for caring for unaccompanied 
children at the border.
  The Coast Guard will have to stop doing maintenance on many of our 
Coast Guard vessels. Why? Because the Coast Guard's funds will be 
shifted.
  FEMA will have less money for disaster response just as folks in 
coastal states, like Delaware, are gearing up for the height of 
hurricane season. Why? Because DHS will have to raid its Disaster 
Relief Fund in order to make ends meet.
  This is no way to respond to a crisis--a crisis--that we have been 
talking and talking and talking about here in the Senate for months!
  Finally--and in my mind, most incredibly--we will leave here without 
doing anything to address the underlying factors that explain why this 
surge is happening in the first place. The President and Senator 
Mikulski included $300 million in the supplemental package to address 
what I believe to be the root causes of this surge: the lack of 
economic opportunities, jobs, and hope in Central America, combined 
with increasing violence and insecurity in the region. Make no mistake 
about it, these funds are an emergency.
  I am not suggesting that any of this will be a quick or easy fix. It 
will require a sustained investment--and focus--on the region by the 
U.S. and also by a number of others. But if we turn our backs on these 
countries now, I am convinced that we will be back here again 10 years 
from now dealing with another expensive humanitarian crisis on our 
border.
  But today, we are left empty-handed, and all by our own doing. Again, 
we have been seeing this humanitarian crisis play out for months now. 
We have heard the heartbreaking stories of the Central American 
children and families arriving at our borders.
  I believe that we have a moral imperative here to address this crisis 
with a humane response and one that honors our obligations under U.S. 
and international law--and is consistent with the admonition that we 
should love our neighbors as we love ourselves while taking care of the 
least of these in society.
  We have not even come close to meeting the moral imperative and I am 
deeply disappointed.

[[Page 13967]]

  Over the next few weeks and into September, I urge my colleagues in 
both Chambers to think about ``the least of these'' that we have left 
behind today and to work harder to come together and find a compromise 
to this challenge. I also urge the administration to speak more clearly 
about what it needs, and to work with us to find a path to get it done.

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