{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/border-security-1", "BORDER SECURITY", "2023-01-25", "2023", "2023-01", "Republican", "Senate", "MS", "Cindy Hyde-Smith", "H001079", "www.hydesmith.senate.gov", "hydesmith", "https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/newsroom", "scraper", "BORDER SECURITY\n\nCongressional Record Vol. 169, No. 16\n\n(Senate - January 25, 2023) PDF\n\nMrs. HYDE-SMITH. Madam President, I started the new year by joining\n\nSenator Blackburn of Tennessee and our new colleague Senator Britt of\n\nAlabama on a recent tour of the Del Rio Border Sector in Texas.\n\nWe traveled to the border to gain more firsthand knowledge of the\n\nongoing mass migration of illegal immigrants into our Nation, to hear\n\nfrom Border Patrol agents about how they are handling this crisis, and\n\nto, perhaps more powerfully, hear from young women and girls who are\n\nvictims of President Biden's careless border and immigration policies.\n\nWe learned more how States are taking action to protect their\n\ncitizens and their borders when the administration won't. Few States\n\nare affected more than Texas, which instituted Operation Lone Star in\n\nMarch of 2021 to counter illegal immigration and drug trafficking.\n\nWe looked on as a family led by a coyote crossed the Rio Grande in\n\ndangerously cold waters and witnessed the family's struggle to help\n\ntheir grandmother wade through rushing waters to enter our Nation\n\nillegally. She made it safely across, but, sadly, that is not always\n\nthe case for many people, including children who have drowned making\n\nthe same trek under the misguided belief that our borders are open.\n\nWe visited a massive migrant processing center where illegal\n\nimmigrants were taken upon arrival. An astonishing fact about this\n\nprocessing center is that it costs U.S. taxpayers $16 million a month\n\nto operate, and that is just one of five on the southern border. Let me\n\nsay that again. It is costing American taxpayers $16 million per month\n\nto process illegal immigrants at just one of these five centers.\n\nWhat was especially gut-wrenching to me was hearing directly from\n\nhuman trafficking victims. We heard from one young lady who was\n\ntrafficked from the age of 12 to the age of 16. She told a story I will\n\nnever forget, and there are thousands of stories just like hers.\n\nYes, we learned about the true severity of the crisis. We learned how\n\nBorder Patrol agents simply cannot carry out their jobs. We learned how\n\nStates are forced to use up resources on border security and migrants--\n\nresources meant for U.S. citizens. We learned how ranchers and U.S.\n\nproperty owners are being overwhelmed and in constant fear of being\n\nrobbed and assaulted by smugglers. We learned how all of this affects\n\nour entire Nation--not just the unbelievable pricetag, but in the\n\nincidences of human trafficking across the country and tens of\n\nthousands of overdose deaths linked to fentanyl smuggled across our\n\nborder.\n\nAnd, heartbreakingly, we learned of the wickedness of the cartels.\n\nThey are thriving, thanks to President Biden's apathetic attitude\n\ntoward his own country's border.\n\nThis should not be a political debate. People and children are dying\n\nin an attempt to enter our country illegally. Drug cartels are taking\n\ncontrol of not just the border towns on the Mexican side of the border\n\nbut on the American side too. Human trafficking is now a $13 billion\n\nindustry.\n\nHow did we get here? Why do they come? Well, because our President\n\nbasically invited them. Immediately after President Biden was sworn in,\n\nhe started dismantling vital policies like ``Remain in Mexico'' and\n\nrestarted catch-and-release, halted construction on the border, and,\n\nessentially, set up a big neon sign on the southwest border that read\n\n\"Vacant.\"\n\nThe rest is history: 4.5 million border apprehensions with an\n\nestimated 1.5 million undetected got-aways, a staggering increase in\n\nthe number of women and children who are being subject to assault and\n\ndomestic violence, fentanyl flowing into our communities and\n\nskyrocketing deaths.\n\nI urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to go and listen\n\nto Border Patrol agents. Hear the stories of the cartel victims. See\n\nfor yourself the heartbreaking scenarios the greatest country in the\n\nworld is allowing to unfold.\n\nI learned much from my visit to the border, but perhaps the worst\n\nthing I learned is this: The Biden administration is not lacking any\n\nresources or authority to address this crisis. No, it can support our\n\nBorder Patrol and border States. It can secure our border. It can save\n\nchildren from dying and drowning in the Rio Grande or 14-year-old girls\n\nfrom being sold. But it won't, either through incompetence or, worse,\n\nby design.\n\nI yield the floor.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T17:41:40Z"]], "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.hydesmith.senate.gov/border-security-1"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.034292858093977, "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"}