{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=93EEE016-FDC0-45BA-8129-EFEA100C2E33", "Thune: National Security Debate Incomplete Without Addressing Southern Border", "2023-12-07", "2023", "2023-12", "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\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today called out Senate Democrats for turning a blind eye to the national security crisis at the southern border. Thune urged his Democrat colleagues to stop rejecting much-needed policy changes to help slow the flow of illegal immigrants entering the country and provide law enforcement with additional tools and resources to effectively do their jobs.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, if Democrats were unsure about Republicans\u2019 seriousness about including meaningful border security provisions in the national security supplemental, yesterday\u2019s vote made it crystal clear.\n\n\u201cEvery single Senate Republican rejected Democrats\u2019 collective attempt to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that what\u2019s happening at our southern border isn\u2019t a threat to our security.\n\n\u201cBorder security is national security, which is why any national security supplemental that moves through this chamber must tackle this crisis head-on.\n\n\u201cMr. President, on Tuesday FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and told members, quote, \u2018\u2026 I\u2019ve never seen a time where all the threats or so many of the threats are all elevated all at exactly the same time.\u2019\n\n\u201cSenator Graham then asked Director Wray to comment on the threat environment using the blinking red lights analogy often used about warnings before the September 11 attacks.\n\n\u201cAnd Director Wray responded, quote, \u2018I see blinking lights everywhere I turn.\u2019\n\n\u201c\u2018I see blinking lights everywhere I turn.\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, it is against the background of this threat environment that Republicans are asking Democrats to finally, finally help secure our border.\n\n\u201cWe have endured three record-breaking years of illegal immigration at our southern border under President Biden.\n\n\u201cAnd the situation is only getting worse.\n\n\u201cTuesday saw a staggering 12,000 migrant encounters at the southern border.\n\n\u201c12,000.\n\n\u201cIn just one day.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s eight people per minute.\n\n\u201cAnd that follows two days of 10,000-plus encounters.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not sure how anyone can look at these numbers and not think this is a crisis.\n\n\u201cPlus, those numbers don\u2019t count any gotaways \u2013 individuals the Border Patrol saw but was unable to apprehend \u2013 who may have made their way across the border during that same period.\n\n\u201cThe month of October saw an average of roughly 1,000 gotaways a day.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s roughly 30,000 unknown individuals who made their way into our country.\n\n\u201c30,000.\n\n\u201cIn just one month.\n\n\u201cAll told, there have been more than 1.7 million known gotaways on President Biden\u2019s watch \u2013 not to mention an unknown number of unknown gotaways.\n\n\u201cAnd these gotaways are not the migrants who are showing up hoping to be apprehended because they know they can game the asylum or parole system.\n\n\u201cNo, these are individuals bent on avoiding detection \u2013 which should concern us deeply.\n\n\u201cAnyone who doesn\u2019t think bad actors are attempting to exploit the situation at our southern border needs to think again.\n\n\u201cDuring fiscal year 2023, the Border Patrol apprehended 169 individuals on the terrorist watchlist attempting to make their way across our southern border into our country.\n\n\u201cThat number is more than the total of the previous six fiscal years combined.\n\n\u201cFBI Director Wray noted at that same Judiciary hearing that since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the threat level has gone to, quote, \u2018a whole other level.\u2019\n\n\u201cAbroad, American troops have been attacked nearly 80 times since October 7.\n\n\u201cAnd it is na\u00efve to think that there aren\u2019t terrorists out there currently trying to make their way into the United States to attack our country.\n\n\u201cAnd why wouldn\u2019t any terrorist trying to enter our country take advantage of the chaos at the southern border?\n\n\u201cAnd you don\u2019t have to take my word for it.\n\n\u201cThe Department of Homeland Security \u2013 in its threat assessment released in September \u2013 noted the risk that, quote, \u2018Terrorists and criminal actors may exploit the elevated flow [of migration] and increasingly complex security environment to enter the United States.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd that assessment was written before the October 7 attack \u2013 or the many attacks on U.S. troops abroad that followed it.\n\n\u201cIf there was a risk before, I think it\u2019s safe to say that there is an even greater risk now.\n\n\u201cMr. President, this situation cannot continue.\n\n\u201cThe massive flood of illegal immigration at our southern border has to stop.\n\n\u201cThat is why the national security supplemental must contain real measures to secure our border.\n\n\u201cNot cosmetic fixes.\n\n\u201cNot superficial tweaks.\n\n\u201cReal border security measures.\n\n\u201cI believe it is in our national security interests to support allies like Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine.\n\n\u201cBut we cannot support American interests abroad while continuing to sacrifice the security of the American people here at home.\n\n\u201cMr. President, for three years the Biden administration has put out a de facto welcome mat at our southern border.\n\n\u201cIf we want to protect our country, that has to stop.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I yield the floor.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:56:20Z"]], "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=93EEE016-FDC0-45BA-8129-EFEA100C2E33"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4489239547401667, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": 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