{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-bidens-border-policies-are-the-deadliest-most-destructive-and-most-disastrous-in-american-history/", "Barrasso: Biden\u2019s Border Policies are the Deadliest, most Destructive, and most Disastrous in American History", "2023-12-06", "2023", "2023-12", "Republican", "Senate", "WY", "John Barrasso", "B001261", "www.barrasso.senate.gov", "barrasso", "https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom/news-releases/", "scraper", "\u201cThis is a deadly serious situation. Real border security is a top national security need. Republicans have solutions to make our communities and country safer. These measures must be included in any national security bill going to the president\u2019s desk. Without them, there will be no national security bill.\u201d\n\nClick here to watch Sen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks\n\nWashington D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo) spoke Wednesday on the Senate Floor about how America\u2019s wide-open Southern border is a clear and present national security danger that must be addressed in any national security bill that heads to President Biden\u2019s desk.\n\nExcerpts from Sen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks:\n\n\u201cNational security starts with border security.\n\n\u201cThe senior senator from Kansas and I were just meeting with other Republican members of the Senate to review yesterday\u2019s numbers at the southern border, the number of illegal encounters, illegal immigrants coming into this country, an all-time record high of over 12,000 illegal immigrants coming into this country from all over the world.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s the crisis that people all across the country who tune in their TV\u2019s, see what\u2019s happening at the southern border, see what is happening in our nation and to our nation.\n\n\u201cSo here we are on the floor of the Senate. And Senator Schumer, the Majority Leader, wants to vote on $100 billion in national security assistance. And he wants to do it today and we\u2019re going to do it today. That request lacks serious and significant changes that are needed to secure the southern border.\n\n\u201cWithout serious and significant changes, this bill will not pass. Mark my words, Republicans will vote against it.\n\n\u201cRepublicans and Democrats have opposing views of what is needed at the border. Republicans want to stop the flood of illegal immigrants. Democrats want to wave them through.\n\n\u201cRepublicans want border enforcement, border security, and real policy changes to keep people out and our communities safe. We don\u2019t have that today in Joe Biden\u2019s-run America.\n\n\u201cWhat do Democrats want to do? Oh, they want lots of money for sanctuary cities. Big slush funds, give it to the mayor of Chicago, give it to the mayor of New York. And of course, they want guaranteed benefits for illegal immigrants. That\u2019s what they\u2019re asking for.\n\n\u201cRepublicans know that border security must be a key element of any bill focused on national security. For my colleagues who ask why \u2013 let me clarify. Our southern border is now the most dangerous border crossing in the world. Under President Biden, the border is a magnet for criminals, smugglers, and terror suspects.\n\n\u201cThe Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are warning us \u2013 Democrats may want to cover their ears and not want to the hear any of these warnings, but we are being warned by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, and the FBI director said it yesterday in the Senate.\n\n\u201cCartels are smuggling fentanyl in from Mexico, it\u2019s killing hundreds of Americans every day. The number coming on the terrorist watch list continues to increase. The head of the FBI yesterday said since October 7, all lights are flashing red for a terrorist attack in America.\n\n\u201cBiden\u2019s border policies are the deadliest, the most destructive, and the most disastrous in American history. The cost of this crisis is too large to bear for families, for communities, and even for law enforcement.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why Republicans are focused on border security.\n\n\u201cDemocrats have not put a single bill on the floor of the United States Senate this year that would stop the flood of illegal immigrants. Democrats seem to welcome the national security crisis at our southern border.\n\n\u201cThat is wrong. It must change.\n\n\u201cThe Biden administration hides behind terms, terms such as \u2018asylum\u2019 and \u2018parole,\u2019 and they use those to release millions and millions of people onto our streets, into our communities, into our neighborhoods. And they\u2019re bringing with them drugs and crime. And they\u2019re killing Americans. The Biden administration wants to turn the other way.\n\n\u201cEvery single American feels the harmful impacts of these policies.\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s what\u2019s happening thousands of times each and every day on our southern border: Individuals enter the U.S. Illegally, and they immediately turn themselves in to Border Patrol. These are the ones that aren\u2019t trying to get away. There\u2019s over a million of those, too. And what they do when they give themselves up, they claim they\u2019re in danger at home, and then what happens? Well, they\u2019re released into the streets of the United States. \u2018Okay, you may be in danger? Oh, you got the magic words? Okay, you come right on in.\u2019\n\n\u201c10,000 times a day, 12,000 times yesterday. And Joe Biden allows it to happen \u2013 and the Democrats encourage him!\n\n\u201cSome Democrats have finally started to admit that the Biden\u2019s policies are harmful to America.\n\n\u201cPresident Obama\u2019s Homeland Security Secretary, Jeh Johnson, told his fellow Democrats that the manipulation of our asylum laws is one of the root causes of illegal immigration. At one time Jeh Johnson said 1,000 per day would be overwhelming. Well, it was 12,000 yesterday! Why aren\u2019t the Democrats waking up?\n\n\u201cSenator Schumer\u2019s hometown mayor, Eric Adams, says that the flood of illegal immigration is \u201cdestroying\u201d New York City. Destruction of New York City and Democrats stand by. Now, they do want to give a lot of money there, but they sure don\u2019t want to enforce it the law at the border.\n\n\u201cChicago is another one of these cities. Democrats are fearful of having next summer\u2019s Democrat National Convention in Chicago. Wonder how many members of this body are actually going to go? Because Democrats across the country are afraid of doing it because Chicago is being overrun right now with illegal immigrants \u2013 overrun and overwhelmed.\n\n\u201cIf we want to make our country safer \u2013 and Republicans do; I\u2019m not so sure about Democrats at this point for the way they\u2019re behaving with regard to the border \u2013 we need to pass serious border security policy changes. Republicans know we must end the incentives that are fueling the Biden border crisis.\n\n\u201cAnd more money to these sanctuary cities and more government benefits to illegal immigrants is not solving the problem; it is inviting more illegal immigrants to come.\n\n\u201cThis is a deadly serious situation. I\u2019m not so sure the Democrats who were in the secure briefing yesterday, all understood that. I\u2019m not sure the Senate Majority Leader understands that. Real border security is a top national security need.\u201d\n\n\u201cRepublicans have solutions to make our communities and country safer. These measures must be included in any national security bill going to the president\u2019s desk.\n\n\u201cWithout them, there will be no national security bill.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:56:20Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-bidens-border-policies-are-the-deadliest-most-destructive-and-most-disastrous-in-american-history/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8327490650117397, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}