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Floor Speech
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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, one of the dangers of having a weak President is that our enemies will be able to test the boundaries that used to keep them in check. They want to see just how far they can push it before we start pushing back. Indeed, we have seen that in action during this Presidency.
The threat of violence, crime, and of the dangerous influence of those who do not wish us well has crept into the American consciousness and made an already stressful time in our history even worse.
Now, last week's news about what could be the largest migrant caravan yet hasn't helped the situation. We are all hearing about it. At least 6,000 people, probably 10,000 people, have set out from the Guatemala- Mexico border because Joe Biden invited them to come or so they think. That is what they heard. That is how they interpreted his actions.
This is not up for debate. You can look at the reports on TV. Now, this is very shocking to so many of the Tennesseans I am talking to every single day.
First, they say this is a massive national security and safety concern. It makes common sense that you would try to stop this, but more importantly because they know that this President isn't just abandoning the border; he is intentionally giving control of that border to international criminals, to cartels, to gangs, to people who do not wish us well.
Now, what it appears to be is that for many of my Democratic colleagues and for this administration, this action of intentionally leaving the border open is there to keep the radical left happy.
This is what they want, an open border policy. But that open border policy for terrorist organizations, fugitives, cartel mules, this is to them all about exploiting Joe Biden's terrible choices and making the chaos work in their favor.
They will continue to push until they are stopped. And right now they are using this to turn these cartels into international organizations. Last year, 160 different countries came to that border.
The drug dealers, they are all very happy with the way it is operating. In April, Customs and Border Protection intercepted more than 50,000 pounds of drugs--37 percent more than in March.
Now, think about that, 1 month, a 37-percent increase. Keep in mind, this data only reflects what the CBP found.
We know for a fact that every month the got-aways make it into the country undetected. And we have no clue what they have brought with them. Law enforcement officials in Tennessee have told me that around 80 percent of the drugs they seize contain fentanyl--fentanyl. That is what they are finding. It is coming right over the border and coming to a community near you, courtesy of the Biden administration.
We also know that business is booming for the human smugglers, and this caravan is about to provide them some excellent cover.
Over the course of 48 hours this week, Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley sector interrupted four separate human smuggling attempts, and that included 156 different people. That is right, 156 people in 48 hours.
Now, that is just one example that we chose to pull out and share. I have heard a great many advocates on the left accuse Republicans of blowing the scope of these smuggling operations out of proportion, but here is what I will say. I say that just one person falling into the hands of the cartels is a problem. That is one person too many who is being subjected to drug trafficking, human trafficking, sex trafficking, being forced into a gang, being put on a bracelet that is going to track them until they pay their debt to the cartel.
The people locking these migrants into shipping containers and stash houses without food or water--these are not people on a humanitarian mission. A good outcome is not guaranteed, and, indeed, it is quite the opposite. If the cartels guaranteed good outcomes, no one would be left for dead in the desert or die of heatstroke in an overcrowded truck. No one would have to work off their debt as a prostitute or a drug runner after they got here. But the cartels are after money. They are not providing humanitarian aid. So what do they do? They look at the ``welcome'' mat, and they see it as a way to cash in.
In 2020, the National Human Trafficking Hotline reported more than 10,000 unique cases of potential human trafficking in the United States. Only 6 percent of those victims reported themselves as being U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. That is correct--10,000 cases and only 6 percent were citizens or legal residents. About 60 percent of those victims were female. More than 72 percent of them revealed that they had been forced into prostitution or some other form of sex work. Eighty-four percent of those sex trafficking victims were female.
This problem doesn't begin and end at the border. End Slavery Tennessee reported that they just helped 207 potential trafficking victims in 2021. Now, that is one organization in Middle Tennessee-- one. Two hundred and seven trafficking victims in Middle Tennessee.
You know, every town is a border town, every State is a border State, and every U.S. citizen deserves to know why this barbarity has gone unanswered by this administration.
Remember what I said at the beginning of my remarks: Our enemies are watching. They are paying attention. They are looking for loopholes. They are looking for ways to exploit. They want to see how far they can push Joe Biden, how far they can push this administration, and so far, they have not found his limit.
As the President and Democrat allies here on Capitol Hill contemplate how long they are willing to be pawns in this game our enemies are playing, I would advise them to just take a look at the data--at the data. Look at the reports from our own Federal and State Agencies. Go talk to the human trafficking organizations in your State. Look at the number of known terrorists whom our Federal Agencies have apprehended. Look at the drugs that are being seized at the borders, at the ports, and back in your hometowns. Look at the number of people Border Patrol has had to save from smugglers. And remember that you are not the victims here. You have the power to fix this. You could do something about this. You do not have to choose to let the cartels run unabated at the southern border, bringing thousands upon thousands of people to our border. You might be pretending that this situation on the border isn't getting worse by the day, but people can see with their very own eyes exactly what is going on. Tennesseans are watching. I think the American people are watching, and when it gets worse, and it will, they will never forget that you sided with drug dealers and with sex traffickers over your own citizens.
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