{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-the-scope-scale-and-seriousness-of-the-biden-border-crisis-is-accelerating/", "Barrasso: The Scope, Scale, and Seriousness of the Biden Border Crisis is Accelerating", "2023-12-13", "2023", "2023-12", "Republican", "Senate", "WY", "John Barrasso", "B001261", "www.barrasso.senate.gov", "barrasso", "https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom/news-releases/", "scraper", "Washington D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo) spoke today on the Senate Floor about how America\u2019s wide-open Southern Border presents a national security risk that must be addressed in any national security bill that goes to President Biden\u2019s desk.\n\nExcerpts from Sen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks:\n\n\u201cLast week, Senator Schumer put a national security bill on the floor. The problem is, it lacked serious border security policy changes \u2013 things that we need in this nation.\n\n\u201cRepublicans opposed it because we know that national security starts with border security.\n\n\u201cWe will stand firm until serious changes are made.\n\n\u201cSince last week, the scope, scale, and seriousness of the Biden border crisis has accelerated.\n\n\u201cOne week ago, an all-time record-high of over 12,000 illegal immigrants crossed the southern border illegally.\n\n\u201cTo put that number in perspective, President Obama\u2019s Homeland Security Secretary, Jeh Johnson, said in 2019 that 1,000 encounters a day would overwhelm the system.\n\n\u201cLet\u2018s be clear about why this crisis is happening. President Biden gambled with Americans\u2019 safety and security.\n\n\u201cThe border is now a hotspot for terrorism and trafficking like we\u2019ve never seen before in this country.\n\n\u201cThis body heard what FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Judiciary Committee last week.\n\n\u201cDirector Wray said, \u2018Post October 7, you\u2019ve seen a veritable rogues gallery of terrorist organizations calling for attacks against us.\u2019\n\n\u201cHe continued, \u2018I see blinking lights everywhere.\u2019\n\n\u201cWere any of the Democrats in this Senate listening to him?\n\n\u201cDirector Wray isn\u2019t the only person to warn us that the threat of terrorism aimed against Americans is increasing.\n\n\u201cHomeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, \u2018We are definitely in a heightened threat environment.\u2019\n\n\u201cPresident Biden would have us believe that the border is \u2018safe, orderly, and humane.\u2019\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s been there in a long time, because that\u2019s not what I witnessed just a few weeks ago when I went down there with a group of senators.\n\n\u201cThe reality? President Biden has created the deadliest, most dangerous, and most disastrous border crisis in our nation\u2019s history.\n\n\u201cDemocrats\u2019 definition of \u2018border security\u2019 is to expedite illegal entry into our country.\n\n\u201cIllegal immigrants ought to be turned away. Democrats are waving them through in record numbers.\n\n\u201cWhy is this happening?\n\n\u201cIt is happening because the Biden administration is manipulating the law.\n\n\u201cThe administration hides behind terms such as \u2018asylum\u2019 and \u2018parole\u2019 to process and resettle migrants by the thousands.\n\n\u201cOur laws no longer determine who gets in and who stays. The illegal immigrants themselves do \u2013 simply by showing up on our border.\n\n\u201cJoe Biden waves them all though \u2013 that\u2019s the policy of the Democrats in this body.\n\n\u201cThey utter a few magic words and are released into the country.\n\n\u201cUnder President Obama, about 21,000 people per year requested asylum.\n\n\u201cUnder President Biden, Border Patrol agents see that same number every two days.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely preposterous to argue that all of those people qualify for asylum.\n\n\u201cWe know they don\u2019t. The American people know it; the president ought to know it. The members of this body ought to know it.\n\n\u201c10,000 illegal crossings per day quickly adds up to 10 million during four years of the Biden administration.\n\n\u201cPresident Biden is allowing it to happen \u2013 and Senate Democrats are encouraging him.\n\n\u201cThis administration has turned a notice to appear into a license for illegal immigrants to disappear into the homeland.\n\n\u201cThe payment for Biden\u2019s breakdown of law and order is now coming due.\n\n\u201cThe blinking lights \u2013 as the head of the FBI said \u2013 are everywhere.\n\n\u201cIf the Senate finally acted to secure our border, America would be safer.\n\n\u201cThat is indisputable.\n\n\u201cWhere can the Senate start?\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s an idea: let\u2019s fix our broken parole and asylum system.\n\n\u201cRepublicans want border enforcement, border security, and real policy changes to keep our communities safe.\n\n\u201cThe American people don\u2019t have that today. So it\u2019s no surprise that they\u2019re angry and afraid.\n\n\u201cThat must change.\n\n\u201cReal border security is a top national security need.\n\n\u201cRepublicans don\u2019t need another record-breaking day to understand that this crisis requires swift, serious, and substantive action.\n\n\u201cRepublicans have solutions to make our communities and country safer.\n\n\u201cThe president and the Democrats in this body must include these measures in any national security bill. Otherwise, there will not be a national security bill.\u201d\n\n###", 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-the-scope-scale-and-seriousness-of-the-biden-border-crisis-is-accelerating/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8089798502624035, "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"}