-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, we are at a point where America faces a critical choice about our Nation's security, and the debate isn't complicated.

Republicans are fighting to keep Americans safe. To do that, we need to enforce the law. We need to keep our borders secure.

The Democrats--and we just heard from the minority leader--they are fighting to weaken law enforcement. They want to reward illegal immigrants for their illegal behavior.

Right now, criminals who are here in this country illegally are among the most dangerous threats to the families of this country. They are violent offenders, murders, rapists, drug dealers, child traffickers. They are the worst of the worst.

Many entered our country when Joe Biden and the Democrats threw open the borders 5 years ago. Over 10 million illegal immigrants flooded into the country during those 4 years of the Biden Presidency. During the 2024 election, the American people spoke very clearly. Americans voted for more border security, not less. Americans wanted more law enforcement, not less--and, yes, people spoke for deporting illegal immigrants, for not allowing them to stay. Republicans understand that safe communities are a result of secure borders.

Today, Democrats continue to choose illegal immigrants over American citizens--right here, on the floor of the Senate, this morning. Democrats are the party of defund the police. They have been for a long, long time. Now they want to defund our security even further--our security, our borders. You have seen them protesting: Eliminate ICE. Eliminate Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They don't want the law enforced.

Republicans refuse to allow this dangerous agenda of the Democrats' to succeed. Since retaking the majority, Republicans have made public safety a top priority. Republicans secured the border in record time. Illegal border crossings at the southern border are now at their lowest level in 50 years.

Republicans passed the Laken Riley Act. It was the first law that we passed this past year, and it was the first bill signed into law by President Trump. The Laken Riley Act simply says that illegal immigrant criminals must be detained. Republicans then passed the Working Families Tax Cuts. That law invested over $170 billion to secure the border and safeguard our communities.

Republicans secured the largest investment in history in border security and law enforcement. That is what we promised to do, and we did. That investment includes $46 billion to finish the wall and $75 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It is going to help train, hire, and retain more agents. It includes a bonus for those agents who continue to serve so that they remain on the job.

Republicans also ended catch-and-release. For eight consecutive months now, zero--zero--illegal immigrants have been released into the country. None. Republicans strengthened enforcement in our country. More than 400,000 illegal immigrants who have been charged with or convicted of a crime have been arrested and removed from the country-- 400,000.

The lesson is clear: When we enforce the law and when we support law enforcement, Americans are safer.

So what have the Democrats done?

Well, they continue to put illegal immigrants ahead of law-abiding American citizens.

Last week, the Senate--right here in this body--voted to complete funding for 96 percent of the Federal Government. The Democrats blocked the final 4 percent. They weren't for that. As for the bipartisan Homeland Security appropriations bill--a bill that Democrats helped to write--the Democrats then blocked it. The Homeland Security appropriations bill funds TSA agents for people who are going through the airports. It funds FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, at a time when there is great need related to the storms that we are trying to recover from. It funds the Coast Guard. These are critical functions that keep Americans safe. Democrats blocked it.

Democrats are willing to shut them all down--FEMA, emergency relief. Why? Because of the Democrats' war against law enforcement, against the Department of Homeland Security. They are the people who want to defund the police. That is who the Democrats are.

And as we are here working to keep the government open, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont--a Member of the Democrat coalition--came to the floor last week, with a targeted amendment, as we have been fighting on these appropriations bills. The Sanders amendment targeted Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Democrats wanted to defund ICE to the tune of $75 billion. They wanted to redirect the money that was headed to an area where there has been great fraud. Every single Democrat--every single one of them--voted yes for the Bernie Sanders amendment to defund ICE. That is how radical the Democrats have become. They are the party of wide-open borders.

Now, Republicans, rightly, are the majority--were elected to the majority--because people were fed up with the open border Democrats. Republicans rightly defeated that amendment, but the Sanders amendment exposes Democrats' open borders goals. When given the choice between protecting Americans and defending law enforcement, the Democrats side, time and time again, with illegal immigrants--every single time.

We are trying to keep Americans safe. They are trying to protect illegal immigrants. It is that clearly defined. You have seen it on the signs as they protest in the streets: Abolish ICE. Republicans believe government must protect law-abiding citizens from criminals, not protect the criminals. The Democrats are, once again, choosing illegal immigrants ahead of law-abiding citizens. The events of the past few weeks are serious--they are tragic--but the tragedies are no excuse to defund law enforcement.

If Democrats want to have a debate about Americans' safety, we welcome it. I am going to stand on the side of the American people. Democrats want to stand on the side of the illegal immigrants. Republicans are going to continue to stand with the men and women who keep us safe as Democrats try to defund the police and defund border security.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source