{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=CA2B809B-B1BF-46C2-AEBE-A8AA66CDF15F", "Thune to Senate Democrats: National Security Begins at Home", "2023-12-06", "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 spoke on the Senate floor about the dire need to address the humanitarian and security crisis at the southern border. Senate Republicans have made it clear that any national security supplemental must meaningfully address the out-of-control illegal immigration at the southern border through additional law enforcement and asylum and parole reforms.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, later today the Senate will take a vote on whether or not to move to consideration of the national security supplemental.\n\n\u201cAnd make no mistake, this vote will fail.\n\n\u201cNot because Republicans oppose supporting our national security interests overseas, but because Democrats are refusing to take seriously the national security crisis here at home.\n\n\u201cMr. President, from the beginning Republicans have made it clear that any national security supplemental would have to address one of the biggest threats to our national security \u2013 the out-of-control illegal immigration at our southern border.\n\n\u201cThis is not an extraneous issue, as the Democrat leader suggested last week.\n\n\u201cBorder security is national security.\n\n\u201cAnd anyone who thinks that our nation can be secure while we have hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants pouring over our southern border each month needs to think again.\n\n\u201cDuring the month of October alone, 240,988 individuals were encountered at our southern border \u2013 the highest October number ever recorded.\n\n\u201cBut on top of that, the 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\u201c30,000.\n\n\u201cAnd there\u2019s no telling how many unknown gotaways there were during that same period.\n\n\u201cAnd there is no question that some of these gotaways were dangerous individuals who should not be entering our country.\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 what are known as \u2018special interest aliens\u2019 \u2013 individuals who may pose a threat to the United States \u2013 have been apprehended trying to illegally cross our southern border over the past two years.\n\n\u201cThen there are the criminals who are trying to make their way into the United States \u2013 from drug traffickers to child predators.\n\n\u201cOne border reporter noted last month, and I quote, \u2018Border Patrol\u2019s Del Rio Sector has arrested at least 21 child sex predators crossing illegally since the new fiscal year began on October 1st.\u2019\n\n\u201cTwenty-one child sex predators.\n\n\u201cIn a single sector of the border.\n\n\u201cAnd again, Mr. President, all of these numbers I\u2019m mentioning only refer to individuals who have actually been apprehended.\n\n\u201cWith 30,000 unknown individuals entering the United States in October alone, there\u2019s no telling how many terrorists, criminals, and other dangerous individuals have made their way into our country without our knowledge.\n\n\u201cSo, Mr. President, I think it\u2019s fair to say that the issue of border security is not \u2018extraneous,\u2019 but is in fact fundamental to our national security \u2013 something the Democrat leader ought to realize.\n\n\u201cIndeed, the fact that New York City is currently facing across-the-board cuts to city services \u2013 including a staggering 13.5 percent cut to its police force \u2013 as a result of the migrant crisis should be all the information the majority leader needs to realize that our current situation is not sustainable, even without the national security risks posed by unchecked illegal immigration.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I support aid to Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine, and I believe that it is in our national security interest to support these allies.\n\n\u201cSo I want to see us take up this national security supplemental.\n\n\u201cBut national security begins at home.\n\n\u201cAnd we can\u2019t pass a bill to advance American interests abroad while ignoring the national security crisis at our own border.\n\n\u201cWe owe the American people better than that.\n\n\u201cThe Democrat leader needs to understand that Republicans are serious.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve said all along that this national security supplemental must address the national security crisis at our border.\n\n\u201cAnd we will continue to hold to that principle.\n\n\u201cAnd while we recognize that in a negotiation neither side will get everything it wants, the final border security component of this supplemental must have real teeth.\n\n\u201cCosmetic measures are not acceptable.\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t afford anything less than real solutions to our nation\u2019s border crisis.\n\n\u201cMr. President, 10,000-plus individuals were encountered at our southern border on Sunday.\n\n\u201cAnother 10,000-plus were encountered on Monday.\n\n\u201cThings are getting worse, not better.\n\n\u201cAnd we have an obligation to do everything we can to get this crisis under control.\n\n\u201cSo I will vote against moving to this supplemental while it lacks serious border security policy changes.\n\n\u201cAnd I hope that today\u2019s failed vote will clearly demonstrate to our Democrat colleagues that there will be no national security supplemental without the kind of border security measures that we need to keep our nation secure.\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=CA2B809B-B1BF-46C2-AEBE-A8AA66CDF15F"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 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