Border Security
Floor Speech
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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor tonight to talk about a crisis that is continuing at our southern border. It is a crisis that Joe Biden created, and it is a crisis that he has only made worse.
Let me just tell you, the White House knows that it is getting worse. Leaks from the administration claim they are preparing for the possibility that the illegal immigration, over the next month, will double--double. This would mean 400,000 illegal immigrants reaching our border next month. This isn't just a record; this is nearly double of a record. This isn't just a crisis; this is an invasion.
In the month of August, more than 200,000 illegal immigrants crossed our border. This is the most ever seen in the month of August in the last 21 years. In July, we saw more illegal immigrants than in any 1 month in 21 years.
Since President Biden has taken office, we have seen recordbreaking month after recordbreaking month of illegal immigrants coming to this country. Our border is now wide open, and the rest of the world knows it.
In recent weeks, we saw tens of thousands of illegal immigrants crowd a single bridge in Del Rio, TX. According to the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, 30,000 people crossed into Del Rio in just 15 days. That was from September 9 through September 24.
This is just the beginning. Now there are reports there are up to 60,000 more Haitians making their way to our border. And what happened in Del Rio is about to happen all over again on a much larger scale.
The Foreign Minister of Panama recently said: ``We sounded the alarm'' about the last caravan. She said she warned the Biden administration. Yet the Biden administration did nothing.
More than a million illegal immigrants have crossed our southern border since President Biden has taken office. This is more than double the population of my home State of Wyoming. Many of these people are carrying deadly diseases. Last week, the Homeland Security Secretary admitted one in five--this is from the Secretary of Homeland Security-- one in five illegal immigrants crossing our border carries an illness. This could mean 40,000 illegal immigrants brought disease across our border just this past month.
In many cases, these people are then being sent all across the country to then stay there. Last week, the Homeland Security Secretary announced up to 12,000 of the illegal immigrants in Del Rio had been released into the United States--not sent to their home but sent into the United States.
Oh, they are supposed to show up in court someday. Yet this will probably never happen. That has been the history of this--probably never show up in court. Instead, they will settle down in the United States and never leave. The lack of enforcement of the law by this administration is silent amnesty. The illegal immigrants know it, and the Democrats in this Chamber and in Washington know it as well.
Many of these immigrants coming have applied for asylum, but it is highly unlikely these Del Rio immigrants actually would ever qualify for asylum. Most of them have been living in South America. In other words, they are not fleeing their home country. They already fled their home country to a safe third country where they were living.
The current caravan is marching hundreds of miles through half a dozen countries. Asylum is only for people fleeing persecution. They are not. These people don't qualify for asylum. They have no right to come here. A competent administration would prevent them, stop them, from coming here.
If they want to apply for asylum, they should remain in Mexico. Under the previous President, that is what was required. The ``Remain in Mexico'' policy was extremely successful and effective. Yet President Biden ended it on his very first day in office.
Last month, a Federal judge ruled President Biden broke the law by ending it so suddenly. Now President Biden has to bring it back. Yet the administration has already announced that they are going to try to end it again.
Two weeks ago, a judge also restricted the public health order called title 42. This a public health order which expels illegal immigrants from places where coronavirus is spreading. A Federal judge restricted title 42 to expelling single adults. Then the Biden administration appealed the ruling and asked to keep the order in place. Now an appeals judge has allowed it to continue while the appeal moves forward.
If this appeal is not successful, we will see an additional tidal wave of illegal immigration. When I visited the border earlier this year, Border Patrol told me title 42 was their last line of defense. If title 42 is struck down, illegal immigration could double overnight.
The Biden administration has also announced a new policy on deportations. Under the new rules, many illegal immigrants who commit crimes, amazingly, will not be deported. The policy explicitly says: ``Personnel should not rely on the fact of conviction''--should not rely on the fact of conviction--``when determining whom to deport.'' This is not accused of a crime. This is convicted of a crime.
The policy lists out a host of mitigating factors. They include age, length of time in the United States, mental or physical health problems, and the potential impact on their family. We are talking about convicted criminals. These mitigating factors are largely subjective.
In effect, Homeland Security now has license to not deport people who should, by law, be deported. This lack of effective enforcement is a silent amnesty.
Here, in the Senate, Democrats just tried to pass amnesty for 8 million illegal immigrants. They failed. Yet it turns out they didn't need to pass it. The Biden administration will just let people stay.
And I will tell you, people around this country, when they see what this administration is doing at the border, they are furious. They are offended. Amnesty only strengthens the magnet for people to come here illegally. As long as Democrats give amnesty and government benefits to illegal immigrants, of course, we will continue to have a border crisis.
Last week, former President Barack Obama gave an interview. He was asked about the crisis on the southern border. He had something to say. It was on ABC ``Good Morning America,'' and I hope it is something that President Biden has heard or listened to.
President Obama said:
We are a nation state. We have borders. The idea that we can have open borders is unsustainable.
Unsustainable. That is President Barack Obama, former member of this Senate, a two-term President of the United States, saying what is happening now is unsustainable. And President Obama is absolutely right. It is unsustainable. It is leading to tragedies like one we saw in Yuma, AZ, just this August.
Border Patrol agents, sadly, found a 2-year-old boy from Colombia. He was next to the dead bodies of his 11-year-old sister and their mother. We later found out his mother's name was Claudia Pena. She had called 9-1-1, and in the background of the call, the dispatchers heard a child saying: Mommy, I am hungry.
The family had flown to Mexico from Colombia. Then they were smuggled over the border by a trafficker. They were seeking to be reunited with the father of the family. Now they will never be reunited.
And stories like this one, heartbreaking stories, happen on a regular basis because our border is open. They are going to keep happening as long as the border remains open and as long as the President continues to send the message to attract more to come here illegally.
We know what we need to do. We know what works: Finish the wall that we paid for; keep the public health rules in place; and keep the successful ``Remain in Mexico'' policy. Stop promising benefits-- government benefits, paid benefits--to illegal immigrants. Turn off the magnet--the magnet which is drawing millions of people to risk their lives--or this stampede for the border will continue.
It is time we enforce the law. Secure this border once and for all. That is what the American people want and are not getting from this administration.
Thank you.
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