{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=22838D61-ED84-4525-9905-D3B9896B9760", "President Biden\u2019s Border Policies: \u201cA Choice Between Disaster and Catastrophe\u201d", "2022-12-05", "2022", "2022-12", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding border security:\n\n\u201cTwo years into the Biden Administration, the Democrats\u2019 approach to illegal immigration and our nation\u2019s borders has failed the American people.\n\n\u201cLast week, one news organization reported that daily crossings along our southern border \u2018have remained near record highs.\u2019 Last fiscal year alone, more than 2.76 million illegal immigrants came across our southern border, absolutely smashing the previous record high by more than a million. That is almost the equivalent of a full 1% of our total national population, encountered on our southern border in just one year.\n\n\u201cAnd the problem just keeps getting worse. Reported estimates say that more than 73,000 new \u2018got-aways\u2019 dodged Border Patrol and escaped into our country in just this past November alone.\n\n\u201cAbsurdly, the response to this crisis from President Biden\u2019s team is that everything is fine and going according to plan. Secretary Mayorkas said last month, \u2018What we are doing is precisely what we announced we would do in April of this year, and we have indeed been executing on the plan.\u2019 Everybody else in the country calls our functionally open borders an emergency and a crisis, but apparently the Biden Administration calls it \u2018mission accomplished.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd bear in mind, the terrible and unacceptable status quo has come with some emergency COVID measures still in place. All the crisis-level numbers I just ran through have come with these extra border controls \u2014 called Title 42 \u2014 still in effect.\n\n\u201cNow one federal judge is trying to force the Biden Administration to do what the far left has wanted for months, and repeal that policy. So the unacceptable, crisis-level status quo may only be the warm-up act compared to coming attractions.\n\n\u201cOne immigration expert told a reporter, \u2018It is definitely, at least in the short run, going to result in many, many more people being released into the United States.\u2019 Congressman Gonzales, who represents Texas\u2019s 23rd District, says it would be a \u2018hurricane\u2019 for border communities.\n\n\u201cOf course, the Biden Administration officials who claim they have a plan to cope with the removal of Title 42 are the same people who\u2019ve brought us record-breaking illegal immigration even with it in place.\n\n\u201cMake no mistake: A choice between the current border situation with Title 42 and an even worse situation without Title 42 is a choice between a disaster and a catastrophe. Democrats need to stop shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic\u2026 and start looking to the tough, proven, successful policies that allowed the preceding Administration to get a handle on this issue. And they need to drop the forgiving attitude to illegal immigration that draws more and more men, women, and children on the dangerous journey to our border every day.\n\n\u201cIt is inexcusable that the Biden Administration cares more about getting protested by far-left activists than they do about providing a basic level of order and security.\n\n\u201cEverybody knows what steps would improve the situation. The playbook from the prior Administration is right there. Democrats need to pick it up.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:41:06Z"]], "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.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=22838D61-ED84-4525-9905-D3B9896B9760"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7230688352137804, "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"}