John Thune was mentioned in BORDER SECURITY on pages S6597-S6598 covering the 1st Session of the 117th Congress published on Sept. 22 in the Congressional Record.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
BORDER SECURITY
Mr. McCONNELL. Now, one final matter. The American people are watching a terrible sight unfold down on our southern border. Many thousands of people, largely from Haiti, are literally huddled together underneath a bridge in Del Rio, TX, just across the Rio Grande. Temperatures have been in the triple digits. The conditions are unsanitary and inhumane.
This nightmare is the direct result of the leftwing policies and leftwing messages pushed by the Biden administration. They say their approach to immigration is the compassionate path, the one that reflects the soul of America. They are wrong. In no way does it honor America’s soul or uphold American values to tolerate a major border security crisis and unending–unending–humanitarian disaster that appear to be permanent features of life under the Biden administration.
This false choice is the constant refrain from the left. Either we adopt Democratic policies that lure people into literal squalor and effectively open our borders in the middle of a pandemic or else we are somehow betraying the spirit of the Statue of Liberty? That is simply nonsense.
Legal, orderly immigration has been a proud strength of our country and a core pillar of the American way of life literally for generations. That is completely different than Washington Democrats sabotaging our border while publicly advertising a catalog–a catalog–
of socialist benefits they say they will provide for illegal immigrants who manage to make it in.
When President Biden was sworn in, thousands and thousands of people took his far-left campaign rhetoric seriously and began streaming toward our borders. One person at the border directly told the Washington Post they came because they heard “President Biden was letting people in.”
First, in the springtime, his administration called this a seasonal surge. Well, so much for that. We have had more than 150,000 border apprehensions every single month for the past 6 months. Encounters usually fall off during the hot summer months, but on President Biden’s watch, the opposite has happened.
Listen to one recent example of the chaos. A few days ago, the Biden administration filled a big bus with illegal immigrants from this encampment. The bus set out for somewhere else in Texas. But according to news reporting, partway through the journey, the illegal immigrants on board revolted, took control of the bus, and broke out. But more broadly, it sounds like catch-and-release may be the de facto Biden policy.
Just this morning, the Associated Press reports that according to government officials, “Haitian migrants camped in a . . . Texas border town are being released in the United States . . . on a very, very large scale . . . undercutting the Biden administration’s public statements that the thousands in the camp faced immediate expulsion.”
Nobody believes Democrats that this lawlessness, chaos, and human suffering is the fair and compassionate way to govern our country. Nobody buys that. An average of recent surveys shows that only 36 percent–36 percent–of the country approves of President Biden’s handling of immigration, while 56 percent disapprove.
Look, Americans know a train wreck when they see one. Our citizens deserve better than this failure–utter failure–of leadership, and so do the people Democrats are luring here with a mirage.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Thune and I be allowed to complete our remarks before the vote is taken.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 164
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