{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.ricketts.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senate-passes-ricketts-fischer-backed-bill-to-make-catch-and-release-data-public/", "Senate Passes Ricketts, Fischer-Backed Bill to Make Catch-and-Release Data Public", "2024-09-18", "2024", "2024-09", "Republican", "Senate", "NE", "Pete Ricketts", "R000618", "www.ricketts.senate.gov", "ricketts", "https://www.ricketts.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/?jsf=jet-engine:press-list&pagenum=", "scraper", "September 18, 2024\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senators Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Deb Fischer (R-NE), and John Cornyn (R-TX) released the following statements after their Southern Border Transparency Act passed the Senate unanimously last night. The bill would require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide accurate reports on migrant encounters and releases into the United States along with their country origin.\n\n\u201cThe American people deserve to know the truth about the border crisis,\u201d said Ricketts. \u201cThe Biden-Harris administration has refused to be transparent about their flagrant abuse of the parole program. This bill will hold them accountable for the millions of illegal aliens they\u2019ve released into the country.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Biden-Harris administration has tried to hide their immigration failures by abusing immigration programs and outright lying,\u201d said Fischer. \u201cAs bad as the border situation is, we still don\u2019t have a full accounting of how many migrants this administration has imported into our country. This bill will force them to tell the truth.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Biden-Harris administration has gone to great lengths to hide the ball when it comes to levels of illegal immigration, but the American people deserve to know exactly how many migrants are being released into the country and exactly on what terms,\u201d said Cornyn. \u201cThis is the most basic of transparency measures \u2013 just the facts, that\u2019s all we\u2019re looking for.\u201d\n\nThis legislation is also cosponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN), J.D. Vance (R-OH), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), James Lankford (R-OK), Ted Budd (R-NC), Todd Young (R-IN), Steve Daines (R-MT), Mike Lee (R-UT), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Roger Marshall (R-KS), John Hoeven (R-ND), John Kennedy (R-LA), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Katie Britt (R-AL), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Dan Sullivan (R-AK).\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nThe Biden-Harris administration has implemented policies to manage the influx of migrants at the border, including funneling them into \u201cparole\u201d or unlawful release programs. These programs include the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan parole program, an expanded American Minors program that now includes adults, and the widespread use of parole at Ports of Entry (POEs). These migrants can get work authorization, but there is limited information on whether they can stay or leave the United States.\n\nThe Southern Border Transparency Act would require DHS to fully report on how it is handling migrants encountered at the border. This would include migrant parole numbers, migrant apprehensions, parole petitions, and release information.\n\nLast year, the Biden-Harris administration created programs allowing thousands of migrants to enter the United States annually. One allows migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to legally remain the U.S. for two years and offers work authorizations to up to 360,000 people a year.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:46:43Z"]], "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.ricketts.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senate-passes-ricketts-fischer-backed-bill-to-make-catch-and-release-data-public/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.094331033527851, "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"}