11.01.23

Democrats Throw Money At Border Crisis, While Republicans Focus On Policy Solutions

‘The solution isn’t billions of dollars… The solution is a clear and commonsense policy that forces the Biden Administration to enforce the law and treat the border with the legal consequences it demands.’

WASHINGTON, D.C.U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the southern border crisis:

“As I mentioned last week, illegal crossings at our southern border are setting all-time records.

“In just three years under the Biden Administration, CBP has recorded six million border encounters. Six million.

“And yet, in the face of these astounding statistics, the Secretary of Homeland Security continues to say that, ‘our approach to managing the border... is working.’

“The White House Press Secretary has reiterated this insanity, saying, ‘it’s not like someone walks over [the border]… That’s not how it works.’

“Of course, we know that’s exactly how it works. The border patrol has been tracking 1,000 known gotaways per day!

“The facts on the ground send a clear message: the Biden Administration’s handling of the border crisis is a complete and utter failure.

“Yesterday, Senator Cruz and Senator Barrasso both shared an encounter they witnessed on the border over the weekend of a 10-year-old girl and a man claiming to be her father. They described the terror on the girl’s face as a man attempted to use the Biden Administration’s family-unit loophole to cut the line at the border.

“As Senator Cruz put it, ‘the cartels are renting children to grown men.’

“The crisis that’s unfolded on President Biden’s watch is inhumane and dangerous. Fiscal Year 2022 was the deadliest year on record at the southern border, and FY 2023 set an all-time record for terror watch list encounters.

“We’re watching a humanitarian crisis that’s become a glaring national security vulnerability.

“And the solution here is pretty clear.

“The solution isn’t billions of dollars to make it easier and faster to process illegal migrants, or ‘money for a welcome wagon’ as Senator Barrasso put it yesterday. 

“The solution is a clear and commonsense policy that forces the Biden Administration to enforce the law and treat the border with the legal consequences it demands.

“So I’m grateful to my Republican colleagues who are working hard on a policy proposal to deliver actual border security, and drawing on ideas put forward by Senator Lankford, Senator Cruz, Senator Grassley, and others.

“Washington Democrats have proved that their border security approach is not working. President Biden’s Border Supplemental request is more of the same.

“It’s time to wake up and embrace policy changes that will keep Americans safe.” 

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Related Issues: Immigration