During remarks on the Senate floor, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) spoke about Biden's border policies.
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NewsTranscript
00:00This President, a couple of weeks ago at a White House press briefing, the President's
00:02Press Secretary was asked why the President isn't doing anything on the border, given
00:06the fact that he has the authority to act unilaterally.
00:11And the White House Press Secretary responded, and I quote, but why should he have to do
00:16it unilaterally, end quote.
00:20Why should he have to do it unilaterally?
00:24It was perhaps a typical response from a White House that would like to portray itself as
00:29the victim of the border crisis, rather than the cause.
00:33A White House that would prefer Congress take action on the border, rather than run the
00:37risk of taking action itself and annoying some Democrat voters.
00:42But it was an outrageous statement, nonetheless.
00:47Why should he have to do it unilaterally?
00:50Well, for starters, because President Biden is the President, and thus bears a special
00:56responsibility for our national security.
00:59And because as President, he has the authority to take a number of measures to help secure
01:04our nation's border.
01:07For a President not to do anything in the face of the kind of crisis we're dealing with
01:13is unconscionable.
01:16Most of all, Mr. President, President Biden should be taking action because he is responsible
01:24for this border crisis.
01:28Why should he have to take action unilaterally?
01:31Because he created this border crisis unilaterally.
01:36On the day he took office, the President began dismantling the border security policies of
01:40his predecessor, and illegal immigration began surging in response.
01:47And Mr. President's never stopped.
01:49The President has presided over not one, not two, but three successive years of record-breaking
01:57illegal immigration.
01:59And with more than a million and a half illegal crossings so far this fiscal year, it is entirely
02:03possible that he could end up presiding over a fourth.
02:10And Mr. President, those record-breaking immigration numbers I mentioned don't even convey the
02:14full magnitude of the problem.
02:16In addition to the staggering 7.8 million-plus illegal border encounters recorded under President
02:22Biden, we've also seen huge numbers of gotaways.
02:27And those are individuals that the Border Patrol saw but was unable to apprehend.
02:31And of course, we have no idea how many unknown gotaways there have been.
02:38And that, Mr. President, is a serious national security problem.
02:45But turning yourself into the Border Patrol with a claim for asylum is likely to result
02:49in years of essentially legal permanent residence or, as we discovered this weekend, de facto
02:56amnesty.
02:57It is especially concerning that we have hundreds of thousands of individuals choosing not to
03:03turn themselves in and escaping into the interior of the country.
03:08Some of them may simply be in search of a better life, but it's highly likely that others
03:14may have more malign intentions.
03:19U.S. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens, in a March interview with CBS News, said the number
03:23of known gotaways is keeping him up at night.
03:27This is his quote.
03:29That is a national security threat.
03:32Border security is a big piece of national security.
03:35And if we don't know who is coming into our country and we don't know what their intent
03:39is, that is a threat.
03:42And they're exploiting a vulnerability that's on our border right now, end quote.
03:50That same month, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence,
03:54and I quote again, we are seeing a wide array of very dangerous threats that emanate from
04:01the border, end quote.
04:06Let me repeat that, Mr. President, from the FBI director.
04:11We are seeing a wide array of very dangerous threats that emanate from the border.
04:19He also noted alarmingly, and I quote again, there is a particular network that has where
04:24some of the overseas facilitators of the struggling network, smuggling network I should say, have
04:30ISIS ties that we're very concerned about.
04:37There is a particular network that has where some of the overseas facilitators of the smuggling
04:43network have ISIS ties that we're very concerned about.
04:47Mr. President, as I said, it would be unconscionable for any president to stand by and watch a
04:55crisis like the one we're facing at our southern border without taking action.
04:59And the fact that President Biden has allowed this national security crisis to rage for
05:04three plus years unchecked is a betrayal of his responsibilities as president.
05:10But Mr. President, while protecting our national security may not have motivated this president,
05:17protecting his election prospects apparently does.
05:20With polls showing immigration as a top issue, Democrats have been rushing to give the impression
05:26that they're serious about border security.
05:29And now we are hearing that President Biden may be announcing measures to secure the border
05:33possibly as soon as today.
05:37And while I'll believe it when I see it, especially given this weekend's report that the Biden
05:42administration has been offering mass amnesty to hundreds of thousands of individuals whose
05:48asylum cases have been closed without a decision.
05:52It does sound like the president will be announcing something.
05:58And I hope it will involve some real reforms.
06:03But it is disturbing, Mr. President, that it's taking the fear of losing an election
06:09to motivate the president to take action on a national security crisis that has raged
06:14for more than three years and raises serious questions about how long the president's interest
06:22in border security will last.
06:24If he wins another term, will he still care about the border?
06:29Or does it take an election to keep him motivated about his national security responsibilities?
06:37At any rate, if concern for our national security won't do it, let's hope that his fear of defeat
06:43in November will indeed motivate the president to actually get the situation at our southern
06:50border under control.
06:54In his record so far, though, I'm not holding my breath.
06:59Mr. President, I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.