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WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke on the Senate floor about the Biden-Harris administration’s record-breaking legacy of open-border chaos. Thune noted that the effects of rampant illegal immigration go beyond border cities that are already struggling with this crisis – it brings terror threats, deadly drugs, and unaccompanied children to communities around the country.
Thune’s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):
“Mr. President, August border numbers came out on Monday, bringing the total number of encounters at our southern border thus far for fiscal year 2024 to more than 2 million.
“2,033,260 to be precise.
“The third-highest fiscal year total ever recorded – with another month still to go.
“The highest total ever recorded was in fiscal year 2023.
“The second-highest total ever recorded was in fiscal year 2022.
“And the fourth-highest total ever recorded was in fiscal year 2021.
“In other words, Mr. President, President Biden and Vice President Harris have presided over four years of record-breaking illegal immigration at our southern border.
“The problem started right away.
“On the day he took office, President Biden began dismantling the border security policies of his predecessor.
“And illegal immigration began surging in response.
“And for three-plus years, President Biden and Vice President Harris essentially just stood around and watched.
“They watched as record-breaking numbers of individuals surged across the southern border.
“They watched as the Border Patrol and border cities struggled under the massive influx.
“They watched as encounters of individuals on the terrorist watchlist shot up.
“Vice President Harris was supposed to be President Biden’s border czar.
“I’d be hard-pressed to name anything she did to stop the influx.
“If she did take any action, it was certainly ineffective, based on the steady increases in border encounters.
“Mr. President, I don’t have to tell anyone what the problems are with the kind of unchecked illegal immigration we’ve been seeing.
“As I said, the Border Patrol has been stretched thin for pretty much the entirety of the Biden-Harris administration.
“Cities at the border and around the United States have struggled with the influx of migrants.
“And migrants themselves have suffered as they’ve undertaken the perilous journey to our southern border, spurred on by the Biden-Harris administration’s open-border policies.
“Worst of all, the Biden-Harris border crisis has left a gaping hole in our national security.
“The kind of unchecked illegal immigration we’ve been seeing is an invitation to dangerous individuals to enter our country.
“I mentioned that the number of individuals on the terrorist watchlist who were apprehended attempting to cross the southern border has shot up.
“And that’s just individuals who were actually apprehended.
“We have no idea how many terrorists or other dangerous individuals have made their way across our southern border without being apprehended.
“We’re closing in on 2 million known gotaways on the Biden-Harris administration’s watch – that’s individuals the Border Patrol saw but was unable to apprehend.
“How many of those were dangerous people who should not be entering our country?
“U.S. Border Patrol chief Jason Owens, in a March interview with CBS News, said the number of known gotaways is keeping him up at night.
“‘That is a national security threat,’ he noted. ‘Border security is a big piece of national security. And if we don’t know who is coming into our country and we don’t know what their intent is, that is a threat. And they’re exploiting a vulnerability that’s on our border right now.’
“That same month, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and I quote, ‘We are seeing a wide array of very dangerous threats that emanate from the border.’
“‘We are seeing a wide array of very dangerous threats that emanate from the border.’
“The June arrest of eight Tajikistan nationals with suspected ties to ISIS who had illegally entered the country, as well as the identification of more than 400 migrants who used an ISIS-affiliated smuggling network to enter the United States, are just two examples of the kind of threats we face – and the dangers of the chaos that President Biden and Vice President Harris have allowed to rage at our southern border.
“And, Mr. President, in addition to threats from terrorists and other dangerous individuals, the chaos at our southern border has unquestionably facilitated illegal cross-border activity like the smuggling of deadly drugs like fentanyl, which then make their way around our country.
“My state of South Dakota is about as far from our southern border as you can get, but law enforcement officials consistently tell me that the illegal drugs they’re dealing with have entered the country across our southern border.
“In 2022 Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead estimated that 90 percent of fentanyl and meth in our state comes from Mexican cartels.
“90 percent.
“Mr. President, I could go on.
“There’s a lot more to talk about when it comes to the Biden-Harris border crisis, from the mass amnesty the administration has offered to hundreds of thousands of individuals whose asylum cases have been closed without a decision, to the placing of unaccompanied children with possibly dangerous guardians (something Senator Grassley and Senator Lankford are currently working to rectify).
“But I’ll stop here.
“Four record-breaking years of illegal immigration, Mr. President.
“The national security legacy of the Biden-Harris administration.
“Mr. President, I yield the floor.”