{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=1EA6A03F-2B08-49BA-AF66-2ECA188A2DB1", "Thune: Ongoing Southern Border Crisis Empowers Cartels, Fuels Fentanyl Overdoses", "2022-07-27", "2022", "2022-07", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Click here to watch the video.\n\nU.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed how the Biden administration\u2019s deliberate refusal to secure the southern border is affecting community safety all across the country, including in South Dakota. Thune noted that the high volume of fentanyl being trafficked across the southern border continues to fuel our nation\u2019s opioid crisis, and fentanyl overdoses are currently the leading cause of death for U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 45.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, the Biden border crisis continues to rage.\n\n\u201cLast month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 207,416 individuals attempting to cross our southern border illegally \u2013 the highest June number ever recorded.\n\n\u201cAnd April and May successively set records for the highest numbers for any month, ever.\n\n\u201cDuring the 2021 fiscal year, Customs and Border Protection encountered a record number of individuals attempting to cross our southern border illegally.\n\n\u201c1,734,686, to be precise.\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, we still have three months to go for this fiscal year, but we\u2019ve already exceeded last year\u2019s number \u2026 by more than 11,000.\n\n\u201cYes.\n\n\u201cIn just nine months, we have already exceeded last year\u2019s record number of apprehensions.\n\n\u201cThe situation at our southern border is out of control.\n\n\u201cAlthough you\u2019d never know it to hear the president and his administration.\n\n\u201c\u2018The border is secure,\u2019 the president\u2019s homeland security secretary said just a few days ago.\n\n\u201c\u2018The border is secure.\u2019\n\n\u201cMy only question, Mr. President, is how he said that with a straight face.\n\n\u201cOur southern border is the opposite of secure.\n\n\u201cIt is in crisis.\n\n\u201cThe flood of illegal immigration is so great that huge numbers of Customs and Border Protection officers have been pulled off the border to process migrants.\n\n\u201cA May article from the Economist reported that, quote, \u2018Around 60% of CBP agents have been assigned to process migrants, taking them away from field work.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat, of course, leaves our borders wide open to illegal activity, including the drug trafficking that is flooding our country with fentanyl.\n\n\u201cIt also means that even with all the apprehensions the Border Patrol has made, many more individuals are getting through unstopped.\n\n\u201cOne source reports that so far this fiscal year, there have been more than half a million \u2018gotaways\u2019 \u2013 individuals the Border Patrol saw but was unable to apprehend.\n\n\u201cThe Economist article I mentioned also noted, and I quote, \u2018One border expert estimates that less than 20% of people trying to cross the border undetected are stopped.\u2019\n\n\u201cLess than 20 percent, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cThat is a security nightmare.\n\n\u201cOur Customs and Border Protection agents are giving this job their all, but there\u2019s no way for them to keep up with the flood of illegal immigration \u2013 especially when they\u2019re being pulled off the border to process migrants.\n\n\u201cMr. President, it is President Biden\u2019s job to help stop this border crisis.\n\n\u201cBut when he\u2019s not pretending this crisis doesn\u2019t exist, he\u2019s taking actions that are contributing to this disaster.\n\n\u201cOn his very first day in office, President Biden rescinded the declaration of a national emergency at our southern border.\n\n\u201cHe halted construction of the border wall.\n\n\u201cHe revoked a Trump administration order that called for the government to faithfully execute our immigration laws.\n\n\u201cAnd his Department of Homeland Security issued guidelines pausing deportations except under certain conditions.\n\n\u201cAll on his first day in office.\n\n\u201cNeedless to say, the effect of all this was to declare to the world that the United States\u2019 borders were effectively open.\n\n\u201cAnd even as huge numbers of illegal immigrants pour across our southern border, he has continued to build on those actions.\n\n\u201cThe president has sought to significantly limit the ability of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce immigration laws.\n\n\u201cDeportations dropped precipitously during fiscal year 2021, as did arrests in the interior of the country.\n\n\u201cIn March of this year, the administration rescinded a 2019 rule expanding expedited removal for individuals here illegally.\n\n\u201cAnd, of course, the administration is still attempting to remove Title 42 COVID-19 restrictions with no viable plan to control the resulting surge in illegal immigration.\n\n\u201cMr. President, illegal immigration \u2013 especially the kind of out-of-control illegal immigration we\u2019re currently experiencing \u2013 has serious consequences.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve already mentioned some of the security risks it presents.\n\n\u201cWith Customs and Border Protection overstretched, it is easier for bad actors to cross the border into our country.\n\n\u201cGang members, drug traffickers, human smugglers \u2026 the list goes on.\n\n\u201cOur country is currently in the midst of a fentanyl crisis.\n\n\u201cIn fact, right now fentanyl overdose is the leading cause of death for U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 45.\n\n\u201cAnd where is all this fentanyl coming from?\n\n\u201cMost of it is being trafficked across our southern border.\n\n\u201cAnd the current border situation is undoubtedly facilitating that trafficking.\n\n\u201cIllegal immigration is financially costly as well.\n\n\u201cImmigration and Customs Enforcement is currently running out of money for the year, thanks in part to the out-of-control situation at our southern border.\n\n\u201cMr. President, President Biden has talked about wanting to build a \u2018fair, orderly, and humane\u2019 immigration system.\n\n\u201cWell, Mr. President, there is nothing humane about our current situation.\n\n\u201cEncouraging illegal immigration, as the president\u2019s policies have done, has contributed to a humanitarian crisis that saw at least 557 migrants die attempting to cross the southern border during fiscal year 2021.\n\n\u201cJust last month, 53 migrants died in an un-air-conditioned tractor-trailer after being smuggled across the border.\n\n\u201cIt was a sobering reminder of the human cost of policies that enable illegal immigration.\n\n\u201cThe president may think his border policies are compassionate.\n\n\u201cHe is wrong.\n\n\u201cPolicies that encourage illegal immigration \u2013 that encourage individuals to undertake the often-dangerous journey across our southern border, often at the mercy of human smugglers \u2013 are the very opposite of compassionate.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I\u2019d like to think that the president would wake up to the dangerous situation we\u2019re in and take action to help stem the flood of illegal immigration at our southern border.\n\n\u201cBut after a year and a half of his administration\u2019s neglecting this crisis, I\u2019m not getting my hopes up.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m afraid that like inflation, out-of-control illegal immigration has become a fact of life in the Biden presidency.\n\n\u201cAnd as with inflation, Americans \u2013 and vulnerable individuals attempting to enter our country \u2013 will be left to suffer the consequences.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:20:25Z"]], "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/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=1EA6A03F-2B08-49BA-AF66-2ECA188A2DB1"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.095477655529976, "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"}