{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.lgraham.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=4AD1509C-9138-4389-94E9-DCD681E83C5C", "Graham Presses Attorney General On Crisis At Southern Border, Afghanistan", "2021-10-27", "2021", "2021-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SC", "Lindsey Graham", "G000359", "www.lgraham.senate.gov", "graham", "https://www.lgraham.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today questioned Attorney General Merrick Garland in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.\n\nGRAHAM: \u201cDid [Border Patrol] tell you anything about asylum claims being made by people that are mostly economic claims, not asylum claims? Did they mention that to you?\n\nGARLAND: \u201cI think it's\u2026I don't recall exactly\u2026\u201d\n\nGRAHAM: \u201cYou don\u2019t recall being told by the Border Patrol that they're overwhelmed? They can't hold the line much anymore? That we've had 1.7 million people apprehended and the big magnet, the pull factor is the way the catch and release program around asylum\u2026that didn't stick out to you?\u201d\n\nGARLAND: \u201cThat was not a discussion that I had when I was\u2026\u201d\n\nGRAHAM: \u201cWho did you talk to?\u201d\n\nGARLAND: \u201cI was at the border at Nogales, I spoke to Border Patrol agents there.\u201d\n\nGRAHAM: \u201cThey never mentioned to you the pull factors of illegal immigration?\u201d\n\nGARLAND: \u201cThis was a review of what they were doing at the border with respect to\u2026\n\nGRAHAM: \u201cIt\u2019s a simple question: they never mentioned to you that they've got a problem with being overrun by asylum seekers?\u201d\n\nGARLAND: \u201cI know from reading the news media that Border Patrol agents feel that way.\u201d\n\nGRAHAM: \u201cI mean, it's not about reading the paper. You were there talking to them.\u201d\n\nGARLAND: \u201cI don't recall that\u2026I don't want to tell you about a conversation that I\u2019m not sure I had.\u201d\n\nGRAHAM: \u201cI\u2019m just stunned that you can\u2019t recall that.\u201d https://youtu.be/fkqcEuTnVzc?t=86\n\nGRAHAM: \u201cDo you trust the Taliban to police al-Qaeda and ISIS on our behalf?\n\nGARLAND: \u201cI do not trust the Taliban.\u201d\n\nGRAHAM: \u201cMatter of fact, they have openly told us they will not work with us regarding containing the al-Qaeda/ISIS threat. Are you aware that?\u201d\n\nGARLAND: \u201cI think there has been inconsistent statements.\u201d\n\nGRAHAM: \u201cThey just literally said that.\u201d\n\nGARLAND: \u201cI think there have been inconsistent statements, but their statements are not anything that we can rely on.\u201d\n\nGRAHAM: \u201cWell, when they tell you to your face, \u2018we're not going to help you,\u2019 do you think they're kidding? Do you think they really will help us but they're just telling us to our face\u2026\u201d\n\nGARLAND: \u201cI think ISIS-K, al-Qaeda, associated forces are and continue to be a threat.\u201d\n\nGRAHAM: \u201cWe're talking about the Taliban. The Taliban has told the United States they will not work with our counterterrorism forces when it comes to al-Qaeda or ISIS. What response should we have regarding the Taliban when they say that?\u201d\n\nGARLAND: \u201cI think we have a number of different tools available.\u201d\n\nGRAHAM: \u201cLike what?\u201d\n\nGARLAND: \u201cWe have economic sanctions where they need money from the United States for humanitarian and other reasons.\u201d https://youtu.be/fkqcEuTnVzc?t=253\n\nGRAHAM: \u201c[Director] Wray has told the world that ISIS and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan present a threat to our homeland. The Taliban has told us they're not going to help us when it comes to policing these groups. The Department of Defense has said we're six months to a year away from a possible attack by ISIS and al-Qaeda. It just seems to me there's not a sense of urgency about this.\u201d\n\nGARLAND: \u201cThere is a sense of urgency\u2026\u201d\n\nGRAHAM: \u201cSpecifically, what have you done since our withdrawal in Afghanistan to deal with this new threat?\u201d\n\nGARLAND: \u201cWe have strengthened and increased the efforts of our Joint Terrorism Task Forces, I have met with\u2026\u201d\n\nGRAHAM: \u201cLiterally what have you done? Just put it in writing.\u201d https://youtu.be/fkqcEuTnVzc?t=414\n\nWatch Full Video Here\n\n#####", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:24:51Z"]], "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.lgraham.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=4AD1509C-9138-4389-94E9-DCD681E83C5C"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.8359869718551636, "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"}