The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“Border Codel (Executive Calendar)” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security was published in the in the Senate section section on pages S48-S49 on Jan. 23.
The Department was built out of more than 20 agencies in 2002. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lower taxes and boosting federal efficiency, argued the Department is burdened with "unneeded bureaucracy" which could be handled by other departments or standalone operations.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Border Codel
Madam President, over the past few years, we have seen proof that until President Biden and his administration secure the southern border, every town is a border town and every State is a border State. My colleague from Texas spoke so well about this issue and the impact that an open border is having on our communities.
Tennesseans are suffering because of the open border agenda, particularly when it comes to the disastrous consequences of the cross-
border drug trade.
Tennessee law enforcement officials are working overtime to take down the cartel kingpins who have set up shop in our State, just like they have set up shop in so many of our States. But drug overdoses continue to destroy families, they destroy lives and careers, and the Biden administration continues to look the other way.
This month, I had the opportunity to see just how bad the situation has gotten right down on that southern border. Senators Hyde-Smith and Britt were kind enough to join me as we went to Eagle Pass, TX, where we witnessed firsthand the chaos that this administration's open border policies have created.
As most of my colleagues know, the situation in Texas became so dire that the Texas officials decided to take matters into their own hands. In 2022, Operation Lone Star helped law enforcement apprehend more than 336,000 illegal immigrants. That is just in Texas. They arrested more than 23,000 criminals--criminal illegal aliens, 23,000--just in Texas, and they seized 354 million doses of fentanyl--354 million doses.
Now, these numbers are appalling. When you hear them stand-alone, they are appalling. When you talk to the Border Patrol and you realize that this is Texas, that this doesn't account for the other States, that this doesn't account for what is going on as every State becomes a border State and every town becomes a border town--when you hear these numbers, one would think common sense would tell you this Chamber should get busy saying: How do we secure that southern border? But that hasn't happened, and the cost of negligence is more crime and more death and more American citizens losing their lives and the cartels making more money. Yes, indeed, the cartels are running that border. You do not cross. Nothing crosses without paying the cartels.
Now, we visited several locations in the Del Rio sector that are experiencing significant migrant traffic along the river. At every location, we found clothing, IDs, medication, and other personal items that the migrants dropped as they entered the country. What happened to those individuals is anyone's guess, because many of them don't want to be found out who they really are.
Many of them are convicted criminal aliens. Many of them come from countries where they would be sent back, so they create a new identity once they touch U.S. soil. Then they can be here because we have catch-
and-release, because we do not have ``Remain in Mexico,'' because we do not have what the Border Patrol has been telling us for 30 years they need--a physical barrier and a better technology where they cannot have a physical barrier.
In Eagle Pass we were able to witness firsthand two separate migrant groups crossing the river. One of those groups included a pregnant woman and several children. The other included children and an elderly woman who was clearly struggling to keep her footing while she was coming across that river. With this dangerous situation, with those freezing waters, the Texas National Guard troops could only watch and just hope that no one drowned.
Now, that is what we saw in the early morning hours. But what we know is, during the night there were 57 other groups that crossed--a lot of them single adults. We know that the cartels, which are multi-billion dollar, multi-national organizations, work globally, and they are bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars a week. And they have brought along people from 150 different countries who are going to the cartel to come into the country because they think it is faster to do it that way.
Or maybe they want to be the ``got-aways,'' people we see on surveillance who are known ``got-aways'' or the unknown ``got-aways,'' which are what the really bad ones are. They are going to completely different areas in crossing to bring in drugs, to bring in sex traffickers, to bring in human traffickers, to put people into modern-
day slavery. There were 57 more known crossings--known--that we did not see.
Border agents told us that the day before our tour, there were 1,000 arrests in the Del Rio sector. The day before we were out, it is important to note that there in Eagle Pass, there were 1,000 arrests. The President, on that very same day, was at El Paso. He saw no migrants. He saw a cleaned-up community. The visit had been sanitized so that he did not see what they were experiencing in the Del Rio sector and at Eagle Pass.
Now, after we had been out with Border Patrol and were watching all of this, we made one more stop, and it was to the Harris Ranch, which is near Uvalde, TX. This area has seen significant migrant traffic. It has disrupted their entire community.
I met with local officials--mayors, sheriffs, DAs, people that own businesses, farmers, ranchers--and they told us that sometimes people may need an ambulance, but many times they are unavailable to the people at Uvalde or Kinney County because they are too busy responding to migrant emergencies. The county attorney stated that he has prosecuted 4,000 criminal trespass cases--4,000--and since August of 2021, he has prosecuted twice the number of people as live in the entire county.
Now think about that: double the number of people in your county where you live. And think about that as cases that are going to come before your local court system. And who pays for that? That's right--
you do, the taxpayer. Every penny being spent, every penny is coming out of your pocket.
And when you talk about the humanitarian crisis at that border--the loss of life, the abuse--the humanitarian cost is amazing. People are risking their lives because they are buying the lie of the cartels. They are physically, mentally, emotionally, sexually, and drug abused as they make this journey.
Now, the Harris Ranch has about 30 miles of fencing around it; but even though they have that fencing, it doesn't stop the migrants from coming onto the property. The owner of the ranch told us that he regularly gets a call in the middle of the night informing him that a migrant is having an emergency somewhere on his land and has dialed 911. Sometimes these calls come in too late or they don't come in at all. And we have all seen the news reports of these ranchers finding dead bodies on their property. And I will tell you that nothing in these reports is blown out of proportion. It is devastating. It is sad. It is a humanitarian crisis.
Many of the migrants that the people at Harris Ranch have discovered got lost or they were abandoned by the smugglers. Others were dumped there by the cartels, and we know this because the ranchers have seen it play out on their security footage.
I would encourage my colleagues to think about this the next time they are in front of the cameras and commenting about how compassionate they think the Biden administration policy is when it comes to open borders.
Madam President, it is not compassionate when you talk to a young woman who, for 4 years, suffered at the hands of a cartel and sex traffickers, raped over 400 times, beaten with chains. It is not compassionate when you hear these stories of abuse, when you hear about cartels killing somebody who they think is too weak to make the journey. There is nothing compassionate about it.
In December, according to Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security--which, by the way, is this administration's Department of Homeland Security--there were more than a quarter-million migrant encounters, which is the highest number of encounters ever recorded at the southern border. Putting that into context, that is more than the population of Knoxville, TN; more than the population of Chattanooga, TN.
Part of the tragedy is month after month, year after year, this gets worse. It continues to get worse. And we have to remember, these are the numbers that we know. These are not the ``got-aways'' that they could see on surveillance camera. They think they have had, in the last year, a million--a million ``got-aways'' that are running into the country. Those are the known ``got-aways.'' We don't have a number on the unknown ``got-aways.'' And we have people that want to say this administration's policy is compassionate?
They are bringing in drugs like fentanyl--16,000 pounds of it--enough to kill 3.3 billion people. They are trafficking women and girls and know that because we are hearing their stories. Our human-trafficking organizations are rescuing these women and girls. We hear about the gangs. We hear about crime in our communities, and we also hear from the Border Patrol.
We can fix this. We can fix it. As I said, they have asked for a barrier. They have asked for better technology. They tell us keep title 42. They tell us we need ``Remain in Mexico.'' They tell us: You have to end catch-and-release in this country, take away the incentives to come to the country illegally.
It is time that we make certain that we secure that southern border. My hope is that my Democratic colleagues will put down their talking points and that they will pay attention to what is happening, not only in the border communities but in towns and cities and communities and in families who are experiencing adverse effects because of what is happening with this open border.
It is time that we realize the cartels are taking advantage of an open border. They are taking advantage of a weak administration who will not stop them.
It is time to secure that southern border. It is time to give the Border Patrol what they need to defend our southern border. It is imperative that we address these issues.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Hirono). The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Ms. DUCKWORTH. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. DUCKWORTH. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 5:30 vote commence immediately.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
