{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-democrats-cling-to-open-borders-republicans-want-to-secure-america/", "Thune: Democrats Cling to Open Borders, Republicans Want to Secure America", "2026-05-21", "2026", "2026-05", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/", "scraper", "\u201cAs long as [Republicans are] in charge, there will be agents at our borders to prevent terrorists, traffickers, and other dangerous individuals from making their way into our country, and there will be agents to take criminal illegal immigrants off of America\u2019s streets.\u201d\n\nClick here to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, the Democrat Party has gone off the rails.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s no secret that the Democrat Party has drifted sharply leftward in recent years.\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s become increasingly divorced from the concerns of ordinary Americans.\n\n\u201c\u2018Many Americans Say the [Democratic] Party Does Not Share Their Priorities\u2019 \u2013 that was a headline noted last year from The New York Times.\n\n\u201cBut it is remarkable just how extreme Democrats have become.\n\n\u201cEveryone remembers the Democrat Party\u2019s flirtation with \u2018Defund the Police\u2019 a few years ago.\n\n\u201cBut when it rapidly became apparent that we actually need the police, Democrats seemed to rein things in.\n\n\u201cBut no more.\n\n\u201cIn today\u2019s Democrat Party, \u2018Defund the Police\u2019 is back \u2013 and more strongly than ever.\n\n\u201cThe reason we\u2019re here today, Mr. President \u2013 I would say the sole, sole reason we are here today \u2013 is because we\u2019re considering this reconciliation bill because Democrats refused to fund law enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security.\n\n\u201cThey refused to fund Border Patrol.\n\n\u201cAnd they refused to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement.\n\n\u201cAt all.\n\n\u201cThey wouldn\u2019t agree to provide a single dollar for either of these agencies.\n\n\u201cNot a single dollar for a physical presence at our border.\n\n\u201cNot a single dollar to take criminal illegal aliens off of our streets.\n\n\u201cReally think about that for a minute, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cIs there any country in the world that doesn\u2019t have officers to protect its borders?\n\n\u201cWell, if Democrats had their way, that would now be the United States of America.\n\n\u201cThe public record provides ample evidence of the fact that among those who try to make their way illegally across the border, there are bad actors whose presence in this country would endanger Americans.\n\n\u201cDemocrats don\u2019t want there to be a single individual at the border to stop those individuals from entering our country.\n\n\u201cAnd they don\u2019t want there to be a single individual to enforce immigration law in this country.\n\n\u201cThe various women who were murdered by illegal immigrants who entered the country under the open-borders Biden administration? What about those?\n\n\u201cWell, Democrats apparently don\u2019t think that even one of those individuals should have been deported.\n\n\u201cMr. President, if what I\u2019m saying sounds extreme, let me confirm \u2013 it is.\n\n\u201cBut it is also an accurate description of the Democrats\u2019 position.\n\n\u201cIf this were about making reforms to the way ICE or Border Patrol does business, then Democrats would have accepted the robust package of legislative reforms they were offered by the White House \u2013 or engaged in serious negotiations to tweak the package.\n\n\u201cBut they didn\u2019t.\n\n\u201cThey put up a good show \u2013 for a little while.\n\n\u201cBut it rapidly became clear that Democrats were not interested in actually reaching any kind of agreement.\n\n\u201cAnd eventually they just walked away.\n\n\u201cPresumably because they felt that it was more valuable for them to have a political issue than to actually agree to any reforms.\n\n\u201cOf course, I\u2019m not sure what political constituency they were appealing to.\n\n\u201cBecause I don\u2019t think mainstream Americans believe in, for example, completely defunding our nation\u2019s Border Patrol.\n\n\u201cBut then again, I\u2019m not too sure the Democrat Party really understands or thinks about mainstream Americans.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re in the pockets of the far left, and so they embrace positions guaranteed to appeal to the far left \u2013 no matter, no matter how out of step those positions are with those of mainstream Americans.\n\n\u201cMr. President, in recent days, perhaps realizing just how extreme \u2018Defund the Police\u2019 could seem to mainstream Americans, the Democrat leader has attempted to obfuscate what is happening here by suggesting that Republicans\u2019 consideration of this bill somehow means that Republicans are not concerned with the challenges facing ordinary Americans.\n\n\u201cTo which I say, give me a break.\n\n\u201cThis from the same Democrat leader who oversaw passage of legislation that plunged our country into an inflation crisis.\n\n\u201cFrom legislation to drive down the cost of prescription drugs at the pharmacy counter to our signature Working Families Tax Cuts, which permanently cut Americans\u2019 taxes and put more money in workers\u2019 pockets, Republicans have been focused \u2013 focused like a laser \u2013 on making life easier for hardworking Americans.\n\n\u201cBut remarkably, it is possible to walk and chew gum at the same time.\n\n\u201cAnd we can protect Americans by protecting our borders and continue to pass legislation that will alleviate some of the pressures facing hardworking Americans.\n\n\u201cWe not only can do both; we have a responsibility to do both.\n\n\u201cAnd Republicans are going to fulfill that responsibility.\n\n\u201cAs long as we\u2019re in charge, there will be agents at our borders to prevent terrorists, traffickers, and other dangerous individuals from making their way into our country, and there will be agents to take criminal illegal immigrants off of America\u2019s streets.\n\n\u201cOur nation\u2019s security demands nothing less.\u201d", 1, "2026-06-27T20:01:11Z", "2026-06-27T22:21:02Z"]], "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.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-democrats-cling-to-open-borders-republicans-want-to-secure-america/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7853870522230864, "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"}