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Floor Speech

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Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I, too, rise to make known my concerns with the administration's decision to terminate the use of title 42 authority to protect our borders. I particularly make this point at a time at which it is clear that what was to follow the use of title 42 is not in place.

I visited the southern border with the Senator from Texas, who was just speaking, in January. I had several additional visits to that border while title 42 was in place. It was useful and valuable for me to see the nature of the problem and the challenges over the last several years. But it is also true that I can see the consequences of what is taking place on our borders in my own home State of Kansas.

When I was at the border, I talked with Federal law enforcement officials. They have risen to the challenge of apprehending and vetting and documenting hundreds of thousands of migrants. However, the situation at the southern border has been made more difficult for the DEA to interdict the cartels and drug smugglers and for the FBI to vet national security threats.

Repealing title 42 without having a robust plan of action has left our law enforcement agents with a disastrous situation at the border. Our Border Patrol agents and officers are being asked to be caretakers, law enforcement, medical professionals, and so much more.

The fact of the matter is that our country does not have operational control of the border, and it will continue to fail to do so if we continue down the current path.

The U.S. Border Patrol apprehended more than 1 million migrants who crossed illegally between just October and March, and it detained more than 2.2 million migrants during all of fiscal year 2022. Agents have been averaging about 1,100 arrests a day this month at the El Paso sector, and on Wednesday of last week, more than 2,000 migrants were arrested in the one section alone. Often, we think of border challenges as being someone coming to take our jobs. Perhaps there is a component of that, but we ought to be focused on terrorism, national security, drugs, law enforcement, and human trafficking.

Fentanyl seizures at the southern border increased 48 percent in April of 2022 compared to April of 2021. The situation at our southern border is a danger to our national security as border agents are pulled away to deal with the record number of migrants and are left without the manpower to try and stop drug trafficking and human trafficking.

President Biden must act to ensure a stricter enforcement of our immigration laws, reinstate the construction of a wall or fencing in areas that are largely unprotected, and the administration must send a message loud and clear that our border is closed to unlawful entrants.

The United States is a nation of migrants, and we are a nation of refugees, but we are also a nation of law and order. Migrants who are camping on the streets of El Paso, in scorching heat; mothers wading across rushing rivers, clinging to their infants; and girls caught by traffickers and cartels out in the desert are consequences of a disastrous border policy.

The President's and his Secretary's handling of this crisis at the southern border is unacceptable. Congress must work together to deliver lasting solutions that secure our border, keep our communities safe, and ensure the humane treatment of people.

Securing our southern border isn't a Republican or a Democratic issue. It isn't a Texas or an Arizona issue. It isn't just a U.S. or a Mexico issue. Every State is a border State, including my own of Kansas.

If we truly want to help migrants, then we need to create a fair and humane asylum process, and we need to stop the illegal crossings at the southern border that undermine our laws and jeopardize our national security. Americans--Kansans--are tired of paying the cost of inaction to make any serious policy changes at the southern border.

The administration has made it clear that it is unwilling to take the meaningful action necessary. While it is easy to criticize the administration, let me also say that it also means that it is up to this Congress, this legislative body, to work together to find solutions in this regard--solutions that ensure our national safety, establish a humane asylum process, and end the crisis at the southern border.

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