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WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke on the Senate floor about the serious risks that President Biden’s open-border policies pose to the safety of the American people, both today and into the future. Thune noted that 10 million illegal immigrants have crossed the border during the Biden administration, including suspected terrorists and criminals.

Thune’s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):

“Mr. President, last month’s arrest of eight men from Tajikistan with suspected ties to ISIS further underscored what we have known for a long time – that President Biden’s three-year-plus border crisis is a threat to our national security.

“All eight of these individuals had made their way into our country across our overrun southern border.

“And they are hardly the only dangerous individuals to have made their way into our country on President Biden’s watch.

“An illegal immigrant who had successfully evaded the Border Patrol to enter the United States has been arrested for the murder of a mother in Maryland.

“An illegal immigrant released into the country on parole has been charged with the murder of a nursing student in Georgia.

“Two illegal immigrants are charged with the killing of a 12-year-old girl in Texas.

“And unfortunately, Mr. President, I could go on.

“In another alarming case, 50 out of 400 illegal immigrants who entered the United States through an ISIS-linked smuggling network are still unaccounted for.

“Mr. President, it is of course impossible to predict – or stop – every crime.

“But the chaos at the southern border that President Biden has allowed to rage for three-plus years has unquestionably created an environment that facilitates the entry of dangerous individuals into our country.

“Since President Biden took office, approximately 10 million individuals – that we know of – have made their way illegally into our country.

“10 million.

“That’s larger than the population of the vast majority of U.S. states.

“We have had three successive years of record-breaking illegal immigration on President Biden’s watch.

“Three.

“And we can only hope that we will manage to avoid a fourth.

“The situation is so bad that President Biden finally realized that if he didn’t do something, his disastrous record on the border might tank his reelection prospects.

“And while it would be nice if the executive action he took last month had been motivated by the clear national security dangers the situation presents and not by fear of losing an election, at least he finally conceded that he had to do something – inadequate and full of exemptions as it might be.

“But while this might – might – be a case of better late than never, I’m afraid it’s also a case of too little, too late.

“Because a tremendous amount of damage has been done that President Biden can’t fix even if he should succeed in restricting future flows.

“As I said, roughly 10 million illegal immigrants have entered our country on President Biden’s watch.

“And while I am sure that many of these individuals were simply in search of a better life, we can be pretty confident that there are others – like the recently arrested individuals with suspected ties to ISIS – who have more malign intentions.

“Of particular concern are the roughly 1.8 million known gotaways – individuals the Border Patrol saw but was unable to apprehend – who have made their way into the country over the course of this administration.

“U.S. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens, speaking earlier this year about the number of gotaways at the border, said, and I quote, ‘… those are the numbers that really keep us up at night, because if you know that all you need to do is turn yourself in to the Border Patrol and go through the process, what possible reason would you have for wanting to evade capture? Could it be that those are the folks that probably have criminal intent?’

“Chief Owens was referring to the fact that under the Biden administration’s lax asylum system, individuals who show up at the border claiming asylum have frequently been released into the country with court dates as much as a decade into the future.

“And his point, of course, is that when turning yourself in to the Border Patrol with a claim for asylum is likely to result in years of essentially legal permanent residence, it’s especially concerning that we have had hundreds of thousands of individuals choosing not to turn themselves in and escaping into the interior of our country.

“So again, Mr. President, even if President Biden’s executive action from last month does do something to help reduce the flow of illegal immigration – which very much remains to be seen – we will still be left with the effects of the chaos he has allowed to rage at our southern border for three-plus years.

“And we’ll still be left with the effects of his other disastrous border and immigration policies, from offering mass amnesty to hundreds of thousands of individuals whose asylum cases have been closed without a decision, to fast-tracking mass parole through the CBP One app, to placing unaccompanied children with possibly dangerous guardians in the U.S. (something Senator Grassley is currently working to prevent in the future).

“And I expect we’ll still be dealing with the consequences of the president’s dangerous policies for a long time to come.

“Mr. President, I yield the floor.”