Border Security

Floor Speech

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Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, last weekend, I spent time down at the southwest border, an area the Presiding Officer is very familiar with.

This time, I was in the Rio Grande Valley. The Rio Grande Valley area has the highest area of illegal crossings across our entire 2,000-mile southwest border. In fact, it is interesting to be able to track just the movement across that border.

This is from 2014 to 2022. It is what has happened along this area of the border, just this one specific area, what is called the Rio Grande Valley area. It is around McAllen and Brownsville--that area. This shows, each year, what happens.

It starts in October, way down here with the numbers low. In some years, it came up, but just about every year, it went up and down. It was down significantly in November and December because, again, in Central America, they celebrate Christmas as well, and a lot of folks want to head back home, even, or be there. So immigration doesn't cross from south to north significantly in most years in October, November, December, January, except for this really odd line right here that seems really out of balance with all the rest of the lines from the last decade.

It is this line right here. This line is actually from last year. This line shows a number of 2 million people who illegally crossed our southwest border last year whom we know of--2 million. That is this line.

Typically, every other year, it is way down low when you get to October, November, December. That is over here. Here are the low months--but not this year. It has already started way up high. In fact, what is interesting is, for October, November, December, if you take any one of those months, there are as many people illegally crossing the border in the Rio Grande Valley in October, November, or December as over the last 3 years in that month combined.

Let me run that past everybody again. If you take any month--October, November, December--there were higher illegal crossings that we know of than over the last 3 years combined in any year that we know of.

My fear is, as some people have said, we have a problem on our southern border. I actually believe the Biden administration's policy is working exactly as they designed it to work--exactly. They created a structure in a system to allow as many people as possible to be able to cross our southern border, and it is working exactly.

Why would I say that? Well, in the first days of the Biden Presidency, when you stop border wall construction, when you announce they are going to change dramatically every policy in how we are interdicting individuals, when they cancel all foreign agreements with Mexico and with Central America that are actually limiting the number of people there, and then you don't replace them with anything, you have got to know that this is what is going to happen. Then, a year later, when nothing has changed, this is what is going to happen.

The agents in the Rio Grande Valley whom I talked to anticipate that by the time we get to the summer, we are going to be at 9,000 people a day who are illegally crossing our southern border--a day. There are many months in the past that we didn't have that many people crossing the border illegally. They are anticipating, on this trend line, 9,000 a day who will be coming. So far, what has the Biden administration done? They have stuck with their plan because it is doing exactly what they thought it was going to do.

I am amazed at the number of people I have talked to who have grown numb to what is happening on our southern border, and the media has just looked away and said: We have talked about how bad it is for a year; that is old news now. So they no longer talk about the 2 million people who have illegally crossed our border.

But, in going down last weekend and spending time with the Border Patrol, the CBP, ICE, and other leaders who were there, they could tell me firsthand the stories from last week, late at night, of the five Syrians they picked up who were crossing the southern border in the brush. Those 5 Syrians were part of the count of the 2 million people from last year that will now be who knows how big this year. They told me directly the story of a Nicaraguan single adult male whom they picked up crossing the border in the Rio Grande Valley, who told them under questioning that he was a member of the Nicaraguan military. Within 48 hours, he was released into the United States, and they were furious about it. Their question was very, very simple. A single adult male, member of a foreign military is now somewhere in our country, and they have no idea why, because they are doing their job but the policies that they have to work with right now of how many people they have to be able to cut loose, and how hard it is to be able to detain people, and the limiting policies of the Biden administration are fulfilling exactly what they are designed to do.

There has been a lot of conversation on the floor, and I have brought several times to this body the construction of the border barriers down in the southwest. This is something that members of the Border Patrol have asked for again and again and again: Close the gaps. They always say: Close the gaps.

There are these massive gaps where it was under construction. On January 20th of last year, construction stopped. Over and over again, people have said: Close the gaps. Close the gaps--those gaps we have to patrol.

Let me give you an example. When I got down there, they had now announced, by the way, they are closing the gaps. And everyone went: Great, the gaps are being closed.

But I got down there to be able to look at the gaps being closed, and let me show you what it looks like. This is an aerial shot when we were up in a helicopter with CBP, getting a chance to be able to literally watch people crossing the border illegally. From this aerial shot, I hope you can see. This was the existing wall that was constructed during the Trump administration--this tall, 30-foot wall with the anti- climb portion on it. Here is where the construction stopped. It was all the way through here, and then there was a gap, and then they had started another section here. They were getting ready to be able to put up the other sections, but they had to stop.

The Biden administration has now announced that they are going to close the gaps. I hope you don't miss it. They have announced the gaps are closed. Can you see this tiny, little picket fence on the bottom here? Probably not. This tiny, little picket fence that is at the bottom, that is what they say is ``close the gaps.'' So it is no longer just open. They have a tiny, little decorative fence there, and that is their announced ``we have closed the gap.''

That is not going to deter anyone. They know it full well. It is not designed to deter anyone. It is designed to allow the administration to say, ``We closed the gap,'' and hope no one looks at it because that gap will fulfill exactly what it is designed to fulfill; that is, to allow people in, not keep people out.

That doesn't help the Border Patrol. And they know it because it is not designed to be able to help the Border Patrol, and they know it.

Federal courts require the Biden administration to put in place what was a Trump policy before dealing with those individuals coming to seek asylum in the United States. It is called MPP. Some people call it ``Remain in Mexico.'' This policy basically said, if you want to be able to come into the country, you had to pause, get in line, register so we know who you are. We would set up an orderly process, and then you would have to stay in the border region until it was time for your hearing to occur. There was a dramatic drop in individuals who were illegally crossing our border because they knew they wouldn't automatically get in--what is called catch and release--that they wouldn't just come across, be released into the country, and wait 2 years until the hearing. Two years, that is what it used to be, to be able to wait until the hearing, until they shifted to the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy, and they said you have to stay here in the border region until it is time for your hearing. Within months they would come forward, they would get their hearing and get to make their determination, whether they fulfilled the asylum or not.

The Federal courts have said to the Biden administration: You have to put that policy back in place. So after months of delay, they have agreed to do it. It is one of the places I wanted to stop in and see.

This is an overview of the Brownsville location for the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy. This overview shows the setup that they have created there in Brownsville to do the hearings. There is an intake area for processing, a gathering area, a medical area. There are six courtrooms that are set up. The courtrooms that are set up are all set up as large courtrooms where up to 22 different defendants could be here with their attorneys. All the courtrooms have videoconferencing set up as a full- on courtroom for that location. There are, in each location, 120 individual office spaces set up--120--where individuals that had illegally crossed the border could meet with their lawyer. So 6 courtrooms, 120 meeting spaces, all the ancillary space--this is a massive complex.

When I was down there last week, they have, so far, handled three people--three--and they weren't sure how many they were going to handle this week. Why? Because on the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy--MPP, whatever you want to be able to call it--they have created a system with so many exceptions in it that they could tell the Federal courts, ``Yes, we are doing it,'' but, in reality, they are not--realizing that this month they have had about 45,000 people illegally cross the border in this zone just in January, but only 3 they made eligible to go through this process, of the 45,000.

Why? Well, they made a whole set of stipulations. They said: If you come in a family group, you are not eligible to come in here. If you declare that you have a medical issue of any type, no matter how minor it may be, you are not eligible to be able to go through this program. If you are LGBT, you are not eligible to be able to go through this program. If you are 75 years or older, you are not eligible to be able to go through this program. If you are Nicaraguan, you are not eligible to go through this program. If you are Venezuelan, you are not eligible to go through this program.

Do you get the hint? They set so many criteria up to be able to list out--no, no, no, no, no, no--that the poor three people who were left who didn't fit in those categories, they are going through. By the way, each person is given 24 hours with their lawyer before they actually have to go through this process, so counsel could give them the full list of all the items that they could select and say: If you meet any of the criteria, verbally, if you just say you meet any of these criteria, then you are out. And what does ``you are out'' mean? You are released into the United States, and you await your hearing.

Remember when I said that during the Trump administration those hearings would take up to 2 years before you got to an asylum hearing? Well, when I met with DHS officials this week, it is not 2 years anymore; it is now 6 years. You illegally cross the border, you get a paper, they release you into the country, you get on a bus or on a plane, literally go anywhere you want to go in the country, and set a date 6 years from now to show up at your court hearing. That is on average, by the way. Some are longer than that.

Now, you tell me, what happens if someone illegally crosses the border, they are processed within 48 hours, given a document that says you can be here 6 years to go anywhere you want to go in the country-- what do you think they are going to do when they pick up their cell phone? I will tell you what is happening. They are texting a family member back home. They are texting friends back home and saying: I got in, and here is how I did it. Come join me.

And they are--2 million people last year. And the response so far has been decorative fencing, what they actually call guardrails in the area, and empty courtrooms.

By the way, this was the middle of the day when I was there--empty courtrooms with no one being processed, all so they can say they did something.

American taxpayers paid millions of dollars for this setup so they could say they are doing something when they are actually doing nothing, getting the results exactly as they planned.

Oh, but, of course, everyone is being required to be vaccinated correctly before they reach the country. Of course, everyone is being required to be vaccinated, except they are not.

If you are a legal green card holder, you are required to be vaccinated. President Biden is trying to vaccinate everyone in private businesses, in the Federal workforce, Federal contractors. Members of the military are being kicked out of the military this week if they are not vaccinated. Oh, but if you cross the border illegally, you are given the option whether you want a vaccine or not. It is offered to you for free, but it is not mandated; it is voluntary.

What is the result? Well, some of the results are pretty obvious. The numbers are skyrocketing. As I showed you before, these are record numbers of individuals crossing the border illegally. That is seeable.

Let me tell you what is not seeable at this point. The drug cartels in Mexico are getting richer and richer and richer. They are moving record amounts of drugs across our border, making an incredible amount of money for the cartels, continuing to strengthen those drug cartels on the border. But each of the individuals who cross our southern border also pay a fee to the cartels--each of them.

You don't cross the southern border into the United States without crossing through one of the cartel areas, and each one of them has to pay. It is somewhere around $4,000 to $30,000 per person to be able to cross through Mexico and into the United States--$4,000 if you are from Guatemala; $30,000 if you are from China.

And none of us should be surprised.

Just last year, people from more than 100 countries crossed into the United States, that we picked up and interdicted, illegally--more than 100 countries. This common conversation about, well, it is all folks from Central America--there are a lot of folks from Central America coming, but it is people from over 100 countries, including those five Syrians who were picked up just last week.

Do some rough math. If people pay between $4,000 and $30,000 a person and there were 2 million people who crossed illegally last year that we know of, that is $10 billion paid to the cartels--$10 billion. And our open borders are allowing the cartels to rake in that kind of cash.

When I visited with the Border Patrol and got a chance to be able to talk to them, their morale is awful, as you can imagine. They are doing their job. They are busting it every day, but they are frustrated. They are frustrated at the policies that they are having to enforce, when they are used to being law enforcement folks enforcing our southern border, and now, they are hotel check-in staff who are just greeting people at the border, processing them, and releasing them into the country.

That is not what they signed up for. They signed up to protect our country, and, literally, they cannot. In this case, law enforcement is handcuffed, and the criminals are released. It shouldn't be that way, and they know it.

Usually, October, November, December, and January are lower months-- not so this time. They are exhausted from a record amount of illegal crossings last year, and they were hoping to get a bit of a break. But with the policies in place, it didn't matter how cold it is. People are still coming.

On top of all of that, here is what else happened last month, just one example. This is a Border Patrol vehicle that had just interdicted a group of folks at the border. I don't know whether you can see it or not, but that is a giant bullet hole in the front of it, and that is another bullet hole in it, and that is another bullet hole right behind the passenger window. By the way, at this particular moment, they had actually already picked somebody up, and they were sitting in that back seat.

The Border Patrol every day risk their lives to be able to enforce the law. And for this group of folks they pick up, within hours, they are released, and they are somewhere in the country waiting on a court hearing 6 years from now, if they ever show up for the hearing.

Do you want to know how frustrated this group of law enforcement is? They risk their lives for nothing because this is the policy of the Biden administration.

This is not an accident. This is what it has brought. As they run through, tonight, the heavy brush, along a very cold Texas-Mexico border, they will pick people up, and they will faithfully do their job because they have over and over again, only to have a policy that cuts them loose.

How long?

Listen, Border Patrol agents have families too. Their families matter as well. And all this talk about we are going to be compassionate to the families of people who are illegally crossing the border--what we are really doing as a policy is enriching the cartels in Mexico; encouraging people to make a very dangerous journey; releasing them into the country with not a legal status, to live in the shadows of our Nation; and putting law enforcement at risk for their life.

This should not be.

And while the country just seems to move on and ignore the chaos at our border, this is still what is going on tonight, and it needs to stop. This administration has the ability to change policy and to change direction on our southern border, and they are not. They are not doing it on purpose, and the results are chaos. I wish I were wrong on this.

There is something called title 42. Title 42 means we have a COVID epidemic happening. OK. And under a COVID epidemic or under any kind of epidemic, law enforcement is able to take some individuals, single adults from certain countries, and turn them around and send them right back in and say: You can't come in because of the epidemic.

We have enormous numbers of those individuals coming, and right now some of those individuals from some of those countries are being turned around, thankfully.

And when I have asked DHS: What is your plan for those individuals once the COVID epidemic ends? And it does, God willing, end one day. When it ends, what is your plan?

We are now 13 months into this administration, and they still have no plan. That is not just my guess; that is my point-blank asking: What is the plan to turn people around once the COVID epidemic ends for that small group of folks that you are turning around?

They don't have one. It doesn't take 13 months to be able to determine what you are going to do. That just tells me the plan is, when the COVID epidemic ends, those folks get in too.

When does this end? Who is going to stand up and help us?

Just enforce the laws of our country.

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