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Floor Speech
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Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I rise today to talk about America's wide-open southern border. I want to add my voice to that of the senior Senator from Kansas who just made eloquent remarks right here on the floor of the Senate about the disaster--the Democratic disaster--at the southern border.
As he pointed out--and as I will add my voice to his--it is a clear and present danger to our national security what is happening at the southern border. And national security starts with border security.
The senior Senator from Kansas and I were just meeting with other Republican Members of the Senate to review yesterday's numbers at the southern border--the number of illegal immigrants coming into this country--an all-time record high of over 12,000 illegal immigrants coming into this country from all over the world.
That is the crisis that people all across the country who tune in to their TV see is happening in our Nation and to our Nation.
So here we are on the floor of the Senate, and Senator Schumer, the majority leader, wants to vote on $100 billion in national security assistance--and he wants to do it today, and we are going to do it today.
That request lacks serious and significant changes that are needed to secure the southern border. Without serious and significant changes, this bill will not pass. Mark my words, Republicans will vote against it.
Republicans and Democrats have very opposing views of what is needed at the border. Republicans want to stop the flow--and it is actually a flood--of illegal immigrants coming across the border. Democrats want to just wave them on through.
Republicans want border enforcement, border security, real policy changes to keep people out and to keep communities safe. We don't have that today in Democratic and Joe Biden's-run America from the standpoint of the White House and the Democrats in this body.
What do Democrats want to do? Oh, they want lots of money for sanctuary cities, big slush funds. Give it to the mayor of Chicago. Give to it the mayor of New York. And, of course, they want guaranteed benefits for illegal immigrants. That is what they are asking for. They are not going to get a Republican vote for that at all, not a single one.
Republicans know that border security must be a key element of any bill that we talk about on this floor that deals with national security.
For my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who may ask why, let me clarify.
Our southern border is now the most dangerous border crossing in the world--in the world. Under President Biden, our border has become a magnet for criminals, for drug dealers, for terror suspects.
The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are warning all of us. Democrats may want to cover their ears and not want to hear any of these warnings, but we are being warned by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. And the FBI Director said it yesterday in the Senate: Cartels are smuggling fentanyl in from Mexico. It is killing hundreds of Americans every day.
The number coming on the Terrorist Watchlist continues to increase. I think it was the head of the FBI yesterday who said: Since October 7, all lights are flashing red for a terrorist attack in America.
Joe Biden's border policies are the deadliest, the most destructive, and the most disastrous in American history. The cost of this crisis is too large to bear for families, for communities, and even for law enforcement.
That is why Republicans are so focused when there was a bill on the floor--and we had a secure briefing yesterday on national security. That is why Republicans are so focused on border security.
Democrats have not put a single bill on the floor of the U.S. Senate this year that would stop the flood of illegal immigrants. Democrats seem to welcome this national security crisis at the southern border. It is wrong. It must change.
The Biden administration hides behind terms, terms such as ``asylum'' and ``parole.'' And they use those to release millions and millions of people onto our streets, into our communities, into our neighborhoods. And they are bringing with them drugs and crime. And they are killing Americans. The Biden administration wants to turn the other way.
Every single American feels the harmful impacts of these policies. Here is what is happening thousands of times each and every day on our southern border--and yesterday it was 12,000, the highest in the history of the country, coming in across the southern border. And they are coming from all over the world.
The night I was there on border patrol about 3 or 4 weeks ago, who did we see? People from all around the world, including a group from Moldova. Do you know how many countries they had to go through before they could get to Mexico to come to the United States and pay the cartels to bring them in? That is what we are seeing every day at the southern border.
Democrats don't go down there. Oh, no, they are not interested in actually seeing firsthand what is happening on the Rio Grande River at night and during the day. Not interested.
Border Patrol agents say, Democrats never show up. Not one time.
So individuals enter the U.S. illegally. And they immediately turn themselves into Border Patrol. These are the ones who aren't trying to get away. There is over a million of those too. And what they do when they give themselves up, they claim they are in danger at home.
And then what happens? Well, they are released into the streets of the United States. OK. Oh, you may be in danger. Oh, you got the magic words. OK. Here you go. Come right on in. Ten thousand times a day. Twelve thousand times yesterday. And Joe Biden allows it to happen. And the Democrats encourage him.
Some Democrats have finally started to admit Biden's policies are actually harming our country. So President Obama's Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told fellow Democrats that the manipulation of our asylum laws--because that is what Biden is doing, it is a manipulation of our asylum laws--is one of the root causes of illegal immigration.
At one time, Jeh Johnson said a thousand a day would be overwhelming. Well, it was 12,000 yesterday. Why aren't the Democrats waking up?
Senator Schumer, who sits at that desk right there, stands at that podium, and will later today--his hometown mayor--hometown mayor--New York City, Eric Adams said: The flood of illegal immigrants is destroying New York City. Destruction of New York City, and Democrats stand by.
Now, they do want to give a lot of money there, but they sure don't want to enforce the law at the border.
Chicago is another one of these cities that--Democrats are fearful of having next summer's Democratic National Convention in Chicago. I wonder how many Members of this body are actually going to go, because Democrats across the country are afraid of doing it because Chicago is being overrun right now with illegal immigrants--overrun and overwhelmed.
We want to make our country safer, and Republicans do. I am not so sure about Democrats at this point from the way they are behaving with regard to the border. We want to make our country safer. We need to pass serious border security policy changes. Republicans know that we must end the incentives that are fueling the Biden border crisis.
And more money to these sanctuary cities and more government benefits to illegal immigrants is not solving the problem. It is inviting more illegal immigrants to come.
This is a deadly serious situation. I am not so sure the Democrats who were at the secure briefing yesterday all understood that. I am not sure the Senate majority leader understands that.
Real border security is a top national security need. Republicans have solutions to make our communities and our countries safer. These measures must be included in any national security bill, anything that goes to the President's desk, because without them, there will not be a national security bill.
The Republicans are ready to vote against what Chuck Schumer is bringing to the floor because it fails to defend our borders and to keep our Nation secure.
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