Motion to Discharge

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, it hardly seemed possible that the reports and images from Ukraine could grow even more horrifying, but they actually have.

In recent days, Ukrainian troops have reclaimed the town of Bucha from the illegal and illegitimate Russian invasion. And in the wake of the retreating Russians, the Ukrainians and the press have reported evidence of evil, wanton torture, rape, and murder of civilians. There are reports of mass graves, of people executed with their hands bound behind their backs. The photographs and reports are sickening and appalling.

Since before Putin even began his escalation, I have spent months pushing the Biden administration and our allies and partners to get as much lethal assistance possible to the Ukrainians as quickly as possible. I have supported many of the steps our President has gotten around to taking, but in almost every case, I wish he had acted sooner and more boldly.

We know of the horrors committed by Russian forces in Bucha because the Ukrainian military reclaimed the town after pushing back the Russians. These latest revelations must only strengthen and intensify our resolve to get the Ukrainians what they need, on the timeframe they need, to liberate more towns currently under Russian control, to prevent Russia from committing new atrocities, to fight and to actually win this war.

This also further reinforces what I wish more of our European friends realize: This is a time for choosing. This is not a time for business as usual, and there can be no return to business as usual whenever and however the dust settles.

Europe must move more urgently to decouple from Russia. Yes, this will entail some short-term economic pain. Yes, their own shortsighted energy policies have left their countries entirely too dependent. But there are times when geopolitical realities and moral imperatives must outweigh short-term financial costs. Our partners should recognize that such a time is staring them right in the face, so should our own American private sector.

Internationally, I am sure there will be much virtue-signaling rhetoric over the atrocities committed on Ukrainian soil by Russia. Let us be honest that referrals to the International Criminal Court or invocations of the U.N. Human Rights Council may make people's consciences feel better but will not curtail the atrocities or stop the violence. Only victory in Ukraine can do that.

Finally, the outpouring of outrage at these atrocities should prompt a second look at other terrible actions that the world has come to simply shrug and accept.

The Biden administration is right to ask the U.N. to expel Russia from the Human Rights Council, but they shouldn't stop there. The world that rightly recoils in horror at the photographs from Ukraine should not look the other way past Xi's concentration camps for the Uighur people. The modern totalitarianism of the People's Republic of China is no less abhorrent because it is sanitized and it is organized. The world's worst abusers of human rights do not deserve to sit on such a Council. Border Security

Madam President, now on another matter, our southern border is already in crisis on Democrats' watch. And on Friday, the Biden administration announced they are going to throw open the floodgates even wider.

In December 2020, right before President Biden took office, he said it would be ``the last thing we need'' if we were to ``end up with two million people on our border.'' But in 2021, on his watch, under his policies, that is exactly what America got.

Last year saw a record-shattering 2 million arrests on our southern border; 2 million people--more than the population of 13 whole States-- from at least 160 different countries. And those are just the people who actually got caught. And 2022 is already on track to be even worse. As we speak, border officials are encountering roughly 7,000 persons each day, and the Department of Homeland Security predicts this pace could more than double.

The Biden administration's own officials say they are contingency planning for 18,000 encounters every single day. For perspective, that pace would be equivalent to 6.6 million--6.6 million--per year, a population larger than all but 17 of our States.

Now, thus far, the Biden administration kept using a legal tool called title 42, which they inherited from the prior administration because of the COVID pandemic.

Title 42 provides a shortcut for swift border enforcement. It has given the administration a fast track to turn people around as they arrive.

In February, more than 91,000 people were immediately turned around under title 42. Another 73,000 were allowed to stay and navigate our system.

So, without title 42, instead of adding 73,000 illegal immigrants to our system alone, we would have added more than double that--160,000-- in just 1 month. But, on Friday, the Biden administration announced an unbelievably bad decision. They are going to further cave to the far left that wants open borders. They are going to cancel title 42 this spring with no real border security plan to replace it.

This is such an absurd decision, such an unforced gaffe, that even some of our Senate Democratic colleagues have come out swinging. Our colleague from West Virginia correctly described this as ``a frightening decision'' to abandon ``an essential tool'' when ``we are already facing an unprecedented increase in migrants.'' Another Senate Democrat said, ``This is the wrong decision.'' A third said it ``shows a lack of understanding about the crisis at our border.'' A fourth said the move ``will likely lead to a migrant surge that the administration does not appear to be ready for.''

The problem is that these same Senate Democrats have backed this far- left administration over and over again on immigration. Every single Democratic Senator supported both Secretaries Mayorkas and Becerra. Every single Democrat Senator voted against preserving ``Remain in Mexico,'' voted against defunding sanctuary cities, and voted against an amendment that would have funded the full enforcement of all immigration laws.

Later this week, we expect every Democratic Senator to vote to confirm a Supreme Court nominee who is a proven judicial activist on this very issue. Judge Jackson has gone beyond the judicial role to rewrite immigration policy from the bench and make it even more liberal. In one case, she ignored the plain text of the law to reach a more liberal outcome. She even tried to force a nationwide injunction on the entire country. Judge Jackson went so far beyond the law to remake immigration policy that even the liberal DC Circuit had to overturn her mistaken ruling. An Obama appointee wrote the decision that overturned Judge Jackson.

So I am glad to see our Democratic colleagues belatedly waking up to the border crisis and beginning to pressure the administration. Fourteen months late is better than never. But votes speak louder than press releases. The measure of a Senator's position isn't our rhetoric; it is actually our votes.

If our colleagues who have stood in lockstep with President Biden's border crisis thus far are serious about turning over a new leaf, they can start with the Supreme Court vote later this week.

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