Border Security

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now on another matter, this past weekend, Vice President Harris made a surprising announcement on ``Meet the Press.'' The Vice President declared--listen to this--``The border is secure.''

We are about to close the fiscal year with more than 2 million illegal immigrant encounters on our southern border, breaking the alltime record that we only just set last year. Seizures of lethal fentanyl are also on pace to exceed last year's total. They are up more than 200 percent in just the latest month on record. These are not the signs of a secure border, and the American people know it. An outright majority of the country disapproves of how President Biden has been handling this issue. The Vice President's claims aren't fooling anyone.

For years now, this crisis has stretched border communities to the breaking point and caused ripples throughout the entire country. All the while, Democrats have claimed it would be cruel or uncompassionate to have a functioning southern border or actually enforce our laws.

Now, in recent weeks, the country has been treated to one of the more striking displays of irony we have seen in quite a while.

For many years, while the citizens and local governments on the border have cried out for help and law enforcement, various Democrat- run cities and States that aren't on the border decided to set themselves up as virtue signaling sanctuary cities, where immigration laws supposedly simply do not apply. For years, much of the political left has suggested there are no legitimate practical reasons why our country would want secure borders or to enforce its immigration laws. Only racism or xenophobia could possibly explain it.

Well, for several weeks now, some of these overwhelmed States have decided to try taking some of these Democrat-run jurisdictions at their word.

Governor Abbott in Texas and Governor Ducey in Arizona have put a very small proportion of the illegal immigrants pouring into their States onto buses bound for the self-advertised sanctuary cities of New York and Washington. And do you know what? Just this very small taste of chaos, this tiny little sliver of what many places in America have been dealing with for years, has these cities' Democratic leaders outraged, anxious, and scrambling.

Eric Adams, the mayor of New York, has only had to receive in 5 weeks roughly the number of people the Border Patrol encounters in 7 or 8 hours. New York has had over a month to handle a fraction--a fraction-- of 1 day's share of border crossings. Yet the mayor says having to deal with this is ``horrific.'' New York City officials complain that they are overwhelmed.

Here in Washington, the destination for fewer than 8,000 illegal immigrants, the Democrat Mayor has declared a public health emergency. She begged the Pentagon to send in the National Guard for help. The Defense Department, of course, turned her down.

It is incredible just how quickly Democrats change their tune when they have to stomach one single spoonful--spoonful--of the policies they have been force-feeding the rest of our country. Oh, it is challenging to have waves of illegal immigrants pouring into your community? This creates challenges for housing and medical care and resource allocation and law enforcement? Who knew all this?

As one former mayor from the frontlines of this crisis put it recently, ``The city of McAllen was able to deal with thousands of immigrants a day. I think they can handle a few hundred.''

Maybe this will be the wake-up call the Democrats need to finally understand that functional nations--functional nations--need functional borders.

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