{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=2115A147-837A-4432-B254-0F84CAC38F2F", "Thune to Democrats: Enforcing the Law Isn\u2019t A Choice", "2026-06-01", "2026", "2026-06", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Clickhereto 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, enforcing our nation\u2019s laws is not optional.\n\n\u201cSecuring our borders isn\u2019t optional.\n\n\u201cAnd supporting the men and women who do this important work \u2013 funding law enforcement \u2013 isn\u2019t optional either.\n\n\u201cThat should go without saying.\n\n\u201cBut unfortunately, Mr. President, members of the Democrat Party have made it very clear that they disagree.\n\n\u201cIncredibly, Democrats have refused to provide a single penny for border security and immigration law enforcement for fiscal year 2026.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s zero dollars for a physical presence at our nation\u2019s border.\n\n\u201cZero dollars to deport criminals who have made their way into our country illegally.\n\n\u201cIf Democrats had their way, illegal immigrants would be allowed to flood across our nation\u2019s southern border entirely unchecked.\n\n\u201cAnd I guess we really shouldn\u2019t be surprised, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cAfter all, this is hardly the first time Democrats have demonstrated that border security and immigration enforcement are at the very bottom of their priority list.\n\n\u201cFor decades now, Democrat-led cities and states have implemented sanctuary policies that prevent local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.\n\n\u201cThese policies have had deadly consequences, yet Democrats have defended them and continue to uphold them across the country.\n\n\u201cThen there was the crisis at the southern border.\n\n\u201cFour \u2013 four \u2013 straight years of record-breaking illegal immigration at our southern border under Democrats and President Biden.\n\n\u201cAs the New York Times reported, and I quote: \u2018After Mr. Biden became president, migrant encounters at the southern border quickly doubled, then kept rising. New arrivals overwhelmed border stations, then border towns, and eventually major cities like New York and Denver.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat from the New York Times, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cNow, contrast that with today.\n\n\u201cIllegal crossings have plummeted to a trickle.\n\n\u201cAnd as of the end of April, not a single illegal immigrant has been released at the border and into our country for an entire year.\n\n\u201cBut, Mr. President, Democrats are apparently determined to bring back unchecked illegal immigration.\n\n\u201cAnd to do that, they are embracing the far-left ideologies of \u2018defund law enforcement\u2019 and \u2018abolish ICE.\u2019\n\n\u201cThese were once considered fringe positions among Democrats.\n\n\u201cToday, they\u2019re basically the official position of the Democrat Party.\n\n\u201cThe junior senator from California said in January, and I quote, \u2018I\u2019m not giving ICE or Border Patrol another dime.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe junior senator from Massachusetts told a crowd in February, and I quote, \u2018We know that we must defund and abolish ICE.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd one Democrat Senate candidate has even said, and I quote, \u2018Dismantling ICE is the moderate position.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, this is today\u2019s Democrat Party \u2013 a party in thrall to its far-left base.\n\n\u201cAnd a party that has completely abandoned its national security responsibilities when it comes to enforcing immigration law and securing our borders.\n\n\u201cMr. President, needless to say, as long as Republicans are in charge, we are not going to let Democrats defund border security and immigration law enforcement.\n\n\u201cSo we\u2019re moving forward with a bill to fund these important responsibilities for the remainder of the Trump administration, so that Democrats cannot again put our nation\u2019s security and Americans\u2019 safety in jeopardy.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I don\u2019t know who Democrats think benefits from blocking funding for Border Patrol and ICE.\n\n\u201cThe American people certainly don\u2019t benefit from there being no law enforcement at the border.\n\n\u201cThey don\u2019t benefit from human traffickers and drug smugglers being able to enter our country unchecked.\n\n\u201cOr from rapists, murderers, and other criminals being allowed to live freely in our country.\n\n\u201cAnd Democrats\u2019 position puts illegal immigrants in danger as well.\n\n\u201cBorder Patrol agents are the ones pulling illegal immigrants out of the Rio Grande and rescuing dehydrated migrants in the desert.\n\n\u201cBut Democrats don\u2019t support these agents\u2019 work.\n\n\u201cIf Democrats\u2019 position helps anyone, it helps the cartels, the coyotes, and other criminals who prefer to act without risk of detection and apprehension.\n\n\u201cAnd I suspect that\u2019s why we haven\u2019t heard much from Democrats in recent weeks about the core of this legislation.\n\n\u201cDemocrats haven\u2019t exactly demonstrated an eagerness to come to the floor and defend open borders \u2013 and I strongly suspect that\u2019s because at some level they know that their position is completely indefensible.\n\n\u201cMr. President, President Trump and Republicans have cleaned up Democrats\u2019 mess at the border.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve secured the southern border and put criminals on notice that they will no longer be living freely in our country.\n\n\u201cAnd we plan to keep it that way.\u201d", 1, "2026-06-02T06:40:38Z", "2026-06-02T06:42:17Z"]], "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=2115A147-837A-4432-B254-0F84CAC38F2F"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5403819270431995, "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"}