{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/legislative-session-border-security", "LEGISLATIVE SESSION--Border Security", "2023-12-13", "2023", "2023-12", "Republican", "Senate", "MS", "Cindy Hyde-Smith", "H001079", "www.hydesmith.senate.gov", "hydesmith", "https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/newsroom", "scraper", "Congressional Record Vol. 169, No. 205\n\n(Senate - December 13, 2023) PDF\n\nMrs. HYDE-SMITH. Mr. President, I rise today to once again call\n\nattention to the crisis at our southern border--the very crisis the\n\nBiden administration refuses to acknowledge and in not doing so, fails\n\nthe American people.\n\nIt is a simple fact: There is no national security without border\n\nsecurity; and everyone knows our border is anything but secure. We have\n\nthe numbers to back it up.\n\nFor starters, more than 8.2 million illegal immigrants have crossed\n\nthe border since Biden took office. To kick off fiscal year 2024, there\n\nwere over 240,000 illegal immigrant encounters in October, the highest\n\nmonthly total ever recorded. This comes after a record-setting fiscal\n\nyear 2023, which saw more than 2.4 million encounters. Of the 2.4\n\nmillion, at least 169 individuals are on the Terror Watchlist. But what\n\nis really frightening is that these numbers only reflect the known\n\nencounters and doesn't even include all of those who evaded law\n\nenforcement--the \"got-aways.\" Border officials estimate that there\n\nwere 1.7 million \"got-aways,\" any number of which could be on the\n\nTerror Watchlist living in our country with who knows what intentions.\n\nEven with all of this information available, the administration\n\ncontinues to break all the wrong records. In the last several weeks,\n\ndaily records have been smashed time and again with known daily\n\nencounters ranging from 10,000 to 12,000. For context, President\n\nObama's DHS Secretary said that 1,000 a day ``overwhelms the system.''\n\nWe have heard from officials such as FBI Director Wray expressing his\n\nconcern regarding the ability of terrorist organizations to exploit any\n\nport of entry, including our southwestern border. Warnings such as\n\nthese should not be ignored, and yet it appears this administration\n\nwill continue to do exactly that.\n\nBut encounters are only part of the ongoing crisis. In October, over\n\n1,300 pounds of fentanyl and over 9,500 pounds of meth were seized--and\n\nthat is only what was seized. Estimates show that this is only 5 to 10\n\npercent of the illicit drugs coming across the border. These drugs\n\ncontinue to run rampant in our communities at a devastating cost,\n\nincluding in my rural State of Mississippi.\n\nThe CDC says overdose deaths are up from last year, meaning more and\n\nmore families and communities are being broken apart by the circulation\n\nof dangerous drug smugglers across the border. And even worse than the\n\ndrugs being smuggled across the border are the humans the cartels are\n\nsmuggling.\n\nI have spoken before about my trip to the border--the one earlier\n\nthis year--and the horrific stories of girls, 12- to 16-years old,\n\nbeing smuggled against their will, has stayed with me. The human\n\ntrafficking industry has grown in the last several years to a $13\n\nbillion industry. And this will only continue to grow if the border\n\ncontinues to be an access point for traffickers.\n\nI do not blame the brave men and women working to do their best to\n\nhelp patrol the border. I blame solely--all of this--on the Biden\n\nadministration and Democrats for their unwillingness to work in a\n\nserious manner to help secure the border and keep criminals and drugs\n\nout of our communities. Border Patrol agents are not given the\n\nresources they need to stop the never-ending onslaught of migrants,\n\ndrugs, and traffickers. Even the border security's provision in the\n\nPresident's emergency supplemental request amount is just more money to\n\nprocess illegal immigrants with no real policy or enforcement reforms.\n\nI am hearing from law enforcement back home in Mississippi and how\n\nthe crisis is affecting my State. As many have said, today, every State\n\nis a border State because of this crisis.\n\nOn January 18, 2023, a Mississippi Highway Patrol trooper made a\n\nroutine traffic stop. In the vehicle was an illegal immigrant driving\n\nwithout a license and an additional three illegal adult males and one\n\n7-year-old migrant child. After Homeland Security Investigations was\n\ncontacted, the driver attempted to flee on foot and was captured. The\n\nHSI determined the child was not related to anyone in the vehicle.\n\nCharges are pending on the driver and HSI is attempting to identify the\n\nchild and reunite him with family.\n\nIn another incident on October 9, 2023, a Mississippi Highway Patrol\n\ntrooper identified another illegal immigrant driving on I-10 in Jackson\n\nCounty with no ID. A passenger, also an illegal immigrant, revealed\n\nthat they were on their way to Houston, TX, to pick up another man, a\n\nwoman, and three or four children. After a legal search of the vehicle,\n\nitems consistent with human trafficking were discovered. A Border\n\nPatrol agent was notified, and, turns out, the driver was a repeat\n\noffender, illegally reentering the United States after deportation.\n\nIf I am hearing from law enforcement in my State, I know that my\n\ncolleagues are too.\n\nI applaud the efforts of the Mississippi Highway Patrol and the U.S.\n\nBorder Patrol for taking action, but the fact remains that if the\n\nresources were already at the border, this would have never happened.\n\nSenate Republicans have shown Americans time and time again that we\n\nare ready to take steps to stop the growing threat at the southern\n\nborder. Unfortunately, our Democratic colleagues will not take action\n\nwith us, appearing afraid to anger their radical base.\n\nGiving our Border Patrol agents the means to do their job is not\n\nradical. Fortifying our border by ending catch-and-release, closing\n\nasylum loopholes, finishing the wall, and supporting law enforcement\n\nofficers is key to our national security. And we owe our citizens no\n\nless.\n\nI, along with my Republican colleagues, will continue to work toward\n\nsolutions; and I invite Senate Democrats and the administration to join\n\nus so we can finally secure our borders and keep the American people\n\nsafe and alleviate the Biden-caused humanitarian crisis at the border.\n\nI yield the floor.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:14:16Z"]], "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/legislative-session-border-security"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7796719912439585, "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"}