{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=A4CA99B5-47F9-4057-8AFE-FDEE0BB6CAF2", "Thune: Border Security Must Be a Top Priority", "2023-11-29", "2023", "2023-11", "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 spoke on the Senate floor about the imminent need to address the growing security and humanitarian crisis at the southern border. Thune noted that any national security supplemental appropriations legislation must include a border security package \u2013 including asylum and parole reforms \u2013 in order to reverse some of President Biden\u2019s failed policies that have fueled the crisis at the southern border.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, once again, the Biden administration has set another record when it comes to the border \u2013 and not the good kind.\n\n\u201cDuring the month of October, 240,988 individuals were apprehended attempting to illegally cross our southern border.\n\n\u201cThat is the highest October number ever recorded.\n\n\u201cAnd those are just the individuals who were actually apprehended.\n\n\u201cThe month of October saw an average of 1,000 gotaways per day \u2013 individuals the Border Patrol saw but was unable to apprehend.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s 30,000 unidentified individuals entering our country in just one month.\n\n\u201cAnd there\u2019s no telling how many unknown gotaways there were during that same period.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the situation at our southern border is out of control.\n\n\u201cThe closing of the fiscal year in September marked the third successive record-breaking year of illegal immigration at our southern border under the Biden administration.\n\n\u201cAnd as the October numbers demonstrate, the end of this crisis is nowhere in sight.\n\n\u201cThe problems here are too many to count.\n\n\u201cThe men and women of the Border Patrol are under incredible strain \u2013 and have been for pretty much the entirety of the Biden administration.\n\n\u201cBorder cities are struggling to deal with the ceaseless influx of migrants \u2013 and major cities in other areas of the country are now discovering what border cities have been going through.\n\n\u201cThe situation is encouraging migrants to undertake the dangerous journey to our southern border \u2013 with sometimes tragic results.\n\n\u201cAnd, Mr. President, our national security is in jeopardy.\n\n\u201cBecause a border security problem is a national security problem.\n\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t a matter of speculation.\n\n\u201cWe know for a fact that dangerous individuals are attempting to make their way across our southern border.\n\n\u201cDuring fiscal year 2023, 169 individuals on the terrorist watchlist were apprehended attempting to illegally cross our southern border.\n\n\u201c169.\n\n\u201cAnd thousands of so-called \u2018special interest aliens\u2019 \u2013 individuals who may pose a threat to the United States \u2013 have been apprehended at our southern border over the past two years.\n\n\u201cAnd, again, the numbers we have refer only to those who have been apprehended.\n\n\u201cAs I said, last month alone 30,000 unidentified individuals made their way illegally into our country.\n\n\u201cMany of them may simply have been seeking a better life.\n\n\u201cBut it is not only possible but likely that some of them were dangerous individuals who should not be entering our country.\n\n\u201cMr. President, this work period we expect to take up supplemental spending legislation to address national security priorities \u2013 notably support for our allies like Israel and Ukraine.\n\n\u201cAnd one national security priority that this legislation must address is border security.\n\n\u201cAs the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel reminds us, national security requires constant vigilance.\n\n\u201cAnd our nation is simply not secure as long as we\u2019re dealing with a massive flow of illegal immigration at our southern border.\n\n\u201cWe must get this crisis under control.\n\n\u201cSenators Graham, Lankford, and Cotton have been working to craft a set of border security measures for inclusion in the national security supplemental, focused on the two areas in obvious need of reform: parole and asylum.\n\n\u201cUnder our current asylum system, a large percentage of individuals claiming asylum are released into the interior of our country after initial screening, with court dates up to a decade later.\n\n\u201cThe Associated Press reported that in March, 77 percent of individuals claiming asylum passed the initial screening.\n\n\u201cIn practice, this means that thousands of individuals who have entered our country illegally end up taking up residence in our country \u2013 possibly for a number of years, given our immigration court backlog.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a problem.\n\n\u201cAnd our parole system is in trouble as well.\n\n\u201cIn fiscal year 2022, the Biden administration granted parole to 417,326 individuals.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s because the Biden Department of Homeland Security has instituted an overly permissive application of parole \u2013 which means that, again, tens of thousands of individuals who have not been granted legal status and who may not have a case for remaining in the United States have been taking up residence in our country, with instructions to report back a year or more into the future for further review of their status.\n\n\u201cGiven the backlog and overwhelmed nature of our parole system, this ends up being de facto permanent residence.\n\n\u201cNeedless to say, this invites abuse.\n\n\u201cAnd individuals are availing themselves of these flawed policies to gain entry to our nation.\n\n\u201cAnd any supplemental legislation must not only deal with border security generally but with our asylum and parole systems specifically if we want to get the crisis at our southern border under control.\n\n\u201cMr. President, our porous southern border is a massive national security vulnerability.\n\n\u201cRepublicans know it, and while they may not always admit it, I think my Democrat colleagues know it as well.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s time for them to act on that knowledge and join Republicans to pass real border security measures as part of the national security supplemental.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I yield the floor.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:49:58Z"]], "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=A4CA99B5-47F9-4057-8AFE-FDEE0BB6CAF2"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7855130825191736, "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"}