{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-if-harris-wanted-to-secure-the-border-why-hasnt-she-done-it-yet/", "Barrasso: If Harris Wanted to Secure the Border, Why Hasn\u2019t She Done It Yet?", "2024-09-24", "2024", "2024-09", "Republican", "Senate", "WY", "John Barrasso", "B001261", "www.barrasso.senate.gov", "barrasso", "https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom/news-releases/", "scraper", "\u201cThe crisis, the chaos, the crime, they are all a direct result of the terrible policies by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. More than 10 million illegal immigrants have flooded into our country. They\u2019ve done that in just the last four years with Kamala Harris and Joe Biden in the White House.\u201d\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, spoke on the Senate floor today slamming Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for creating the worst illegal immigration crisis in American history. He discussed how their open-border policies have allowed a violent Venezuelan gang \u2013 known as Tren de Aragua \u2013 to terrorize communities across the country. Senator Barrasso highlighted how one suspected gang member was recently imprisoned in Laramie County, Wyoming.\n\nSen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks:\n\n\u201cI rise today to discuss the crisis that we are facing today in America at our southern border. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have created the worst illegal immigrant crisis in American history.\n\n\u201cKamala Harris and Joe Biden removed every successful policy that was in place during the Trump administration. Kamala Harris and Joe Biden replaced them with policies that released millions upon millions of illegal immigrants into our country.\n\n\u201cThe crisis, the chaos, the crime, they are all a direct result of the terrible policies by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden.\n\n\u201cHere are the facts.\n\n\u201cMore than 10 million illegal immigrants have flooded into our country. They\u2019ve done that in just the last four years with Kamala Harris and Joe Biden in the White House.\n\n\u201cAt the same time, deadly drugs like fentanyl are flowing into our communities. Each year, tens of thousands of Americans are poisoned by fentanyl that comes across our southern border.\n\n\u201cOur communities in every state are being overrun and overwhelmed by this flood of illegal immigrants.\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s look at the horrible scenes that are developing now in Aurora, Colorado, just to the south of my home state of Wyoming. This is a city where members of violent Venezuelan gangs have turned apartment complexes into hellholes.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s exactly what they\u2019ve done. One resident said it\u2019s been a \u2018nightmare.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo how did these gangs find themselves in that situation, in that location? And how did people living in those communities find themselves in this terrorizing situation?\n\n\u201cWell, according to one report, the Harris-Biden administration, along with the city of Denver, provided the incentives.\n\n\u201cWhat are the incentives? Well, Denver offered illegal immigrants two months of subsidized rent. The source of the rent money came from Democrats\u2019 March 2021 reckless tax and spending spree of $1.9 trillion.\n\n\u201cStop and think about that for just a second. The same law that fueled 40-year high inflation \u2013 that caused prices to go up for families all across the country by 20% since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris came into office \u2013 that same bill has now incentivized the worst border crisis in American history.\n\n\u201cIt was Vice President Harris who came and sat in that chair and cast the critical tie-breaking vote right here in the Senate for that reckless spending bill.\n\n\u201cHer one single vote as Vice President \u2013 as President of this institution, the U.S. Senate \u2013 brought record high prices and a record-breaking border disaster.\n\n\u201cThese problems spill over from the sanctuary cities like those in Colorado, and they hit neighboring states like my home state of Wyoming.\n\n\u201cIn Laramie County, Wyoming, law enforcement officials say that the number of illegal immigrants in their jails has more than doubled.\n\n\u201cOne of those jailed illegal immigrants is a suspected member of that violent Venezuelan gang that took over the apartment complex in Colorado. A gang that has been described as \u2018MS-13 on steroids.\u2019\n\n\u201cMake no mistake, Vice President Harris is complicit in all of this border disaster.\n\n\u201cNow, just today, Vice President Harris says she wants to \u2018secure the border.\u2019 New language for her. Well, let me tell you, she hasn\u2019t done it yet.\n\n\u201cFor the past four years, Kamala Harris has been the second most powerful person in the world, and she was appointed by the President to be the Border Czar. He said she knew how, he had full confidence in her, she knew how to handle the problem. Well, as the Border Czar, she has the power to secure the southern border and has that power still today \u2013 not doing it.\n\n\u201cSo, let me ask again, why hasn\u2019t it been done?\n\n\u201cLet me tell you why.\n\n\u201cLike Joe Biden, Vice President Harris wants to smooth the flow of illegal immigrants. Doesn\u2019t want to stop it, oh no, doesn\u2019t want to stop it. Wants to smooth the flow.\n\n\u201cThis is an extreme position and out of touch with the American people.\n\n\u201cLike Joe Biden, Kamala Harris opposes the border wall. She had actually called the wall a \u2018stupid waste of money.\u2019 That\u2019s what we hear from the Vice President of the United States. That is an extreme position compared to what the American people would like to see happen today.\n\n\u201cKamala Harris also said that building the wall to prevent terrorists from entering the country, she said, was the \u2018height of irresponsibility.\u2019 The height of irresponsibility to try to keep terrorists out of the country. Nope, come on in, she wants.\n\n\u201cThis again: Kamala Harris, San Francisco Liberal, extreme position.\n\n\u201cRemember, terror suspects are exploiting our vulnerability. The number of terror suspects that we\u2019ve caught crossing the border has risen by 3,000 percent since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took over the presidency and the vice presidency.\n\n\u201cThis administration promises amnesty for illegal immigrants. This is an invitation. They\u2019re inviting millions upon millions of illegal immigrants into this country. This is an extreme position compared to what the American people want and expect from their elected officials.\n\n\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing across the country is Kamala Harris, Democrats across the board, San Francisco, providing free health care for illegal immigrants. Another extreme position of the Democrats in the White House.\n\n\u201cThey demand that our hard-earned taxpayer dollars pay for free housing, free preloaded debit cards, free cell phones for illegal immigrants. The American public hate this. This is their taxpayer dollars.\n\n\u201cDemocrats\u2019 open border policies have cost the taxpayers plenty. The numbers are jaw-dropping. $451 billion so far, and the number keeps going up.\n\n\u201cLike President Biden, Kamala Harris wants to stop deporting criminals who are here in this country illegally. She wants to stop it. In the past, she said illegal immigration should not be a crime. Well, once again, out of touch with the American people. It\u2019s an extreme position.\n\n\u201cThis is the truth. Kamala Harris\u2019 policies are no different than the dangerous, disastrous, deadly policies of President Joe Biden, who signed 94 executive orders in his first 100 days in office.\n\n\u201cThis is the problem that our country faces today. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris threw open the borders. 10 million illegal immigrants have come on through.\n\n\u201cWhen this administration stopped building the wall and ended Remain in Mexico, Vice President Harris was right there cheering on Joe Biden.\n\n\u201cWhen Joe Biden brought back the failed policy of catch and release, Vice President Harris had his back.\n\n\u201cWhen Joe Biden wanted to send stimulus checks to illegal immigrants, what happened? Kamala Harris came into this chamber, sat in that chair, and cast the tie-breaking vote for this radical and reckless policy.\n\n\u201cSending stimulus checks to illegal immigrants, just giving them more and more free stuff funded by the American taxpayers.\n\n\u201cTo add insult to injury, Kamala Harris actually has said then, well, the border\u2019s secure. Nobody believes that. I don\u2019t even think she believes it. She should know better. If she does not, that should disqualify her from being a candidate for president or for being president.\n\n\u201cOn September 22nd, Vice President Harris claimed, \u2018we have a secure border\u2019. Who is she listening to? Why didn\u2019t she go and look for herself? Three days earlier, the illegal immigrant who murdered Laken Riley entered our country.\n\n\u201cIt is time to close the book on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and their dangerous border policies. It\u2019s time for us to get serious, Mr. President, about securing the border and making our communities safer.\n\n\u201cSenate Republicans have real solutions. It\u2019s finish the wall. It\u2019s end catch and release. It\u2019s restore the Remain in Mexico policy, a policy that worked. Our solution also includes deporting illegal immigrants and stopping illegal immigrants from voting in our elections.\n\n\u201cSo, I return to the question I asked at the beginning: if Kamala Harris wants to secure the border, why hasn\u2019t she done so yet?\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:46:43Z"]], "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-if-harris-wanted-to-secure-the-border-why-hasnt-she-done-it-yet/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.96508814021945, "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"}