{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=D3E9D82A-E462-4478-99F4-9EEBCFA6EC3C", "Thune: Republicans Will End Biden\u2019s Dangerous Open-Border Policies", "2024-12-10", "2024", "2024-12", "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 national security and humanitarian crisis at the southern border created by the Biden-Harris administration\u2019s reckless policies. Thune noted that congressional Republicans are prepared to equip President Trump with the necessary resources to secure the border and bring the crisis to an end.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cMr. President, 10 million.\n\n\u201cBetween official U.S. Customs and Border Protection encounters and known gotaways, there have been roughly 10 million migrant encounters at our southern border during the Biden-Harris administration.\n\n\u201cNow, to put that number in perspective, that\u2019s roughly 10 times the population of my home state of South Dakota.\n\n\u201c10 million is more \u2013 is larger, I should say \u2013 than the population of Colorado.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s larger than the population of Tennessee.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s larger than the population of Maryland.\n\n\u201cOf Massachusetts.\n\n\u201cOf Indiana.\n\n\u201cAnd I could keep going.\n\n\u201c10 million is larger than the population of the vast majority of U.S. states.\n\n\u201cMr. President, needless to say a crisis of this size has had consequences.\n\n\u201cShelters have been overwhelmed.\n\n\u201cBorder cities have been overwhelmed.\n\n\u201cBlue cities far from the border have been overwhelmed.\n\n\u201cBorder Patrol agents are exhausted, as their chief noted in an interview last week.\n\n\u201cAnd I haven\u2019t even mentioned the national security implications.\n\n\u201cThere is no question that the chaos at our southern border represents a serious security risk for our country.\n\n\u201cAnd you don\u2019t have to take my word for it.\n\n\u201cThe Department of Homeland Security\u2019s 2025 threat assessment notes, and I quote, \u2018Over the next year, we expect some individuals with terrorism ties and some criminal actors will continue their efforts to exploit migration flows and the complex border security environment to enter the United States.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat, Mr. President, is from the Biden Department of Homeland Security\u2019s 2025 threat assessment.\n\n\u201cThe June arrest of eight Tajikistan nationals with suspected ties to ISIS who had illegally entered the country, as well as the identification of more than 400 migrants who used an ISIS-affiliated smuggling network to enter the United States, are just two examples of the kind of threats we face.\n\n\u201cThen there\u2019s the fact that chaos at the border creates opportunities for cross-border illegal activity like the deadly trade in fentanyl, which affects communities around our country.\n\n\u201cMy state of South Dakota is about as far from the southern border as you can get, but law enforcement officials consistently tell me that the illegal drugs that they\u2019re dealing with have entered the country across our southern border.\n\n\u201cMr. President, four years of record-breaking illegal immigration at our southern border under the Biden-Harris administration.\n\n\u201c10 million encounters \u2013 and those are the migrants that we know of.\n\n\u201cIt has been a dangerous four years.\n\n\u201cBut the end is in sight.\n\n\u201cWhen President Trump and Republicans take control in January, stemming the flood of illegal immigration will be one of our first priorities.\n\n\u201cUnder Republicans, national security here at home \u2013 at our borders and in our communities \u2013 will be just as important as taking care of our national security priorities abroad.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re going to start right away with a once-in-a-generation investment in border security and immigration enforcement here in Congress.\n\n\u201cAmong other things, that package will include substantial resources to increase the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents, increase detention space, and provide the barriers and technology we need to fully secure the border.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of work to do \u2013 and a big mess to clean up.\n\n\u201cA recent article reported that there are around 1.4 million individuals who have been ordered to be deported but are still here in the United States \u2013 and most of them are not in immigration custody.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s just one small corner of the problem.\n\n\u201cAs I said, we have a lot of work to do.\n\n\u201cBut Republicans are committed.\n\n\u201cFor the sake of our national security. And for the sake of our rule of law.\n\n\u201cFour years of record-breaking illegal immigration, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cBut the end is in sight.\n\n\u201cMr. President, I yield the floor.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "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=D3E9D82A-E462-4478-99F4-9EEBCFA6EC3C"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6826950013637543, "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"}