During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) spoke about President Trump's border security policies.
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NewsTranscript
00:01Mr. President, there's been a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth in the mainstream media
00:07about President Trump's common sense immigration enforcement agenda.
00:12That's one of the reasons he got elected on November the 5th,
00:17is because the American people were fed up with open borders,
00:21the 70,000 Americans who died of fentanyl poisoning,
00:26and not to mention all the criminals who came across the border along with everybody else.
00:33But to listen to some of my Democratic colleagues talk,
00:36one would think that Kristi Noem is deporting grandmothers.
00:41Well, this couldn't be further from the truth.
00:43So I'm going to take just a minute to correct the record to talk about exactly what is happening.
00:50The Trump administration is rightly carrying on one of the most basic functions of the government,
00:59and that's to keep our people safe.
01:02This isn't rocket science.
01:04This isn't partisan warfare.
01:06In order to keep the American people safe, we need to keep criminals and gangs off our streets.
01:14And that's exactly what the Trump administration is doing.
01:19The Department of Homeland Security recently announced they've made more than 32,000 enforcement arrests in just 50 days.
01:2832,000.
01:30Now, this is nearly as many arrests as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, otherwise known as ICE,
01:37made in the entirety of fiscal year 2024,
01:42when border crossings and gotaways were at an all-time high.
01:48Obviously, this was not a priority for the Biden administration,
01:53and we're all living with the consequences.
01:56Of these arrests that have been made under Secretary Noem,
02:00nearly half of them have been convicted criminals,
02:03and others with final orders of deportation.
02:08These are people who either were criminals and did not want to appear in front of law enforcement,
02:15who were apprehended,
02:17or people who claimed asylum or some other legal benefit
02:22and lost their case and are under final orders of deportation,
02:27but were allowed to remain in the country under the Biden administration.
02:31Of these arrests that have been made under Secretary Noem,
02:34as I said, nearly half were convicted criminals.
02:37One-third of them have pending criminal charges.
02:43Nearly 1,200 of them were criminal gang members,
02:47and 39 were known as suspected terrorists.
02:53Now, the Department of Homeland Security isn't carrying out this critical mission alone.
02:57This is a whole-of-government approach, as it should be.
03:03The Department of Justice is partnering with the Department of Homeland Security
03:07on a new interagency initiative to crack down on international organized crime,
03:13known as Operation Take Back America.
03:16International gangs like MS-13 and Trin de Aragua have been wreaking havoc,
03:25death and destruction in communities across America.
03:30MS-13, for those who are not familiar with that particular gang,
03:34is the most reputed to be the most dangerous gang on the planet.
03:39It's composed primarily of Salvadorian criminal aliens
03:44and has 30 members, 30,000 members around the world,
03:48including 10,000 here in the United States.
03:52Their motto is, quote,
03:55kill, rape, control.
03:58And as I said, they are one of the largest and most dangerous street gangs in the United States.
04:07Many of their leaders are currently imprisoned in El Salvador
04:10for crimes like murder, kidnapping, and extortion.
04:14However, some on that side of the aisle or in the mainstream media
04:23have actually gone so far as to describe MS-13 as Boy Scouts
04:27in comparison with the destruction and devastation that's happened
04:31at the hands of Trin de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang
04:36known for human trafficking, kidnapping, and drug trafficking.
04:41This particular Venezuelan gang has been particularly aggressive
04:46in my home state of Texas,
04:49where the Department of Public Safety
04:50has arrested more than 40 of the gang's suspected members
04:55just last week.
04:59In New York,
05:01Trin de Aragua has been recruiting gang members
05:03from New York migrant shelters,
05:07increasing cell phone robbery activities,
05:09and trafficking stolen phones
05:11back to their headquarters in South America.
05:15But the reason this gang became the topic of dinner tables across America
05:21was that they were responsible for the murders
05:24of both Lakin Riley
05:26and a fellow Texan, Jocelyn Nungary.
05:29I can't imagine anyone would be anything except relieved
05:35that the Trump administration has prioritized
05:39removing these gang members from our country.
05:43The Department of Homeland Security
05:45and the Department of Justice
05:47have shown an ability
05:48and a commitment to lock up
05:51these dangerous international terrorists
05:52at breakneck speed.
05:54As part of this initiative,
05:57a recently created task force in Virginia,
06:00just across the river,
06:02arrested 247 individuals in two weeks.
06:06So this just is not a phenomenon in border states like mine.
06:12These people are embedded around the country,
06:18literally in every state.
06:19Among these arrests in Virginia
06:22was Henry Jose Villatoro Santos,
06:26one of MS-13's top gang leaders
06:29who was charged, in this instance,
06:31with illegal gun possession.
06:34Another MS-13 leader,
06:36Jose Vargas Escobar,
06:38was arrested in New York
06:39just last week.
06:41This particular dangerous criminal
06:44was most recently arrested
06:46for his alleged involvement
06:48with 11 murders.
06:53But this was not his first run-in with the law.
06:57He was previously arrested
06:58and deported back in 2018.
07:01But due to the Biden administration's
07:03open border policies,
07:05he was able to illegally
07:07enter the country again.
07:08The Department of Homeland Security
07:13recently announced
07:14that in less than a week,
07:16ICE has arrested 68 gang members
07:19of the Venezuelan gang
07:21that I mentioned a moment ago.
07:24With Secretary Noem
07:26and Attorney General Bondi at the helm,
07:28I think we can all sleep more easily
07:31knowing that law enforcement
07:33is finally able to do their job,
07:36which is to enforce the law.
07:38Something the Biden administration
07:40seemed positively allergic to.
07:44As a result,
07:45our homeland will be safer
07:47and more secure.
07:50The Trump administration
07:52is committed to dismantling
07:54these international criminal organizations
07:56that have created so much havoc
07:58and heartache
07:59throughout our country.
08:01It should be obvious
08:05and universal
08:07that keeping our citizens safe
08:11is not a partisan exercise.
08:14It's nothing more than common sense,
08:16and it's actually
08:17the responsibility of government
08:19to actually enforce the laws
08:21that Congress passes.
08:23refusing to arrest
08:26and lock up criminals
08:28who never should have been
08:29in the country in the first place
08:31will go down in history
08:32as one of the biggest mistakes
08:35the Biden administration
08:37and Democrats
08:38have ever made.
08:40The Trump administration
08:42is rightly correcting
08:44the terrible mistakes
08:45of the Biden administration.
08:48The American people
08:49deserve to live in a country
08:51where they don't have to be fearful
08:53for their safety,
08:55and that's what they voted for
08:57last November the 5th.
09:00Parents should not have to worry
09:03about their children
09:04being seen or heard
09:07never seen or heard from again
09:09simply because they go for a jog
09:12like Lake and Riley did.
09:15Far too many innocent people
09:16have lost their lives
09:18because of the Biden administration's
09:19open border policies
09:21and failure to keep criminals
09:23and gangs out.
09:25It is incomprehensible to me
09:27that the President of the United States
09:30refused to enforce the laws
09:33and resulted in so much pain
09:36and misery and heartache
09:38among so many people
09:39in this country.
09:42The Trump administration,
09:44by contrast,
09:46arrests and deportation
09:48of criminal migrants here
09:49is part of the solution,
09:53not part of the problem.
09:56Mr. President,
09:58I'm confident the American people
09:59know nonsense when they hear it,
10:02even when it's broadcast
10:04over mainstream media.
10:06And the fear-mongering
10:08that we hear on the left
10:09about the Trump administration's efforts
10:12to keep all Americans safe
10:14are nothing more than that.
10:18Mr. President,
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