Thune: Promises Made, Promises Kept: A Secure Southern Border

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WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:

Thune's remarks below (as delivered):

"Mr. President, if there's one thing for sure, it's that things look very different at the southern border these days than they did a year ago.

"Encounters at the southern border have dropped precipitously - to as low as just 7,832 encounters in July.

"Now, compare that to the southern border under the Biden administration, when U.S. Customs and Border Protection was encountering more than 100,000 illegal immigrants per month - and sometimes many more.

"In a number of months, that number was up over 200,000.

"And in one memorable month in 2023, the number of encounters at the southern border exceeded 300,000.

"300,000.

"In just one month.

"And many of those individuals were processed and then allowed to take up residence in the United States.

"Well, no longer.

"Under President Trump, illegal border crossings have slowed to a trickle.

"And border communities that were once overwhelmed are quiet.

"Mr. President, Border Patrol's El Paso Sector- which covers 268 miles in western Texas and all of New Mexico - is emblematic of the progress that's been made.

"The sector chief says agents there are currently encountering about 40 to 50 people per day.

"Now, compare that to the 2,700 per day that they would see not that long ago.

"And then there's the known gotaways.

"These are individuals the Border Patrol saw but was unable to apprehend.

"The current daily average in the El Paso Sector is nine.

"Nine.

"Nine known gotaways per day.

"Last summer it was 400 per day in that sector.

"400, Mr. President.

"And one has to wonder just how dangerous some of these individuals were who were avoiding law enforcement, considering that a lot of illegal immigrants - encouraged by catch-and-release policies - actually sought out Border Patrol during the Biden years.

"Now, Mr. President, under President Trump, the situation at the southern border has been turned around.

"Our laws are being enforced.

"The wall is being built.

"And criminal illegal immigrants who had taken up residence in our country are being arrested, detained, and deported.

"Thanks to President Trump's leadership, we've made an incredible amount of progress.

"And we need to sustain that progress for the long term.

"And that's why Republicans made a generational investment in border security in the One Big Beautiful Bill.

"That includes funding to finish the border wall and hire more Border Patrol and ICE agents, plus additional detention space and deportation capacity.

"We also included funding for the Department of Justice to hire more immigration judges to address the massive backlog in immigration cases - a backlog made exponentially worse by the Biden administration's policies.

"Mr. President, the open-border policies of the past were a danger for everyone.

"The chaos at our southern border under the Biden administration was an invitation to terrorists, criminals, and other dangerous individuals to enter our country.

"It placed an incredible burden on our Border Patrol agents, many of whom were pulled off the essential work of guarding the border to process the flood of illegal immigrants.

"And it placed a big burden on border cities - and non-border cities as well, who struggled to deal with an influx of migrants.

"Then there were the dangers to illegal immigrants themselves, who were encouraged by President Biden's policies to put themselves at the mercy of human smugglers and the cartels, criminals who profited off of the open southern border.

"In fact, Mr. President, The New York Times reported in 2022 that human smuggling had become a $13 billion business for the cartels - ballooning from $500 million just a few years earlier.

"New border security measures, however, have cost the cartels an estimated $1 billion since the start of this year.

"And now law enforcement has the bandwidth to go after these criminals and disrupt the networks whose activities endanger immigrants and Americans alike.

"Mr. President, we have a responsibility to keep America safe.

"And that starts with security at our borders.

"President Trump takes that responsibility seriously.

"He's acted swiftly to turn the disaster at the southern border around.

"And Congress has acted to support that mission and make the success we've seen these last few months the new normal.

"And that work continues.

"And I'm grateful to the men and women on the front lines carrying out the important work of enforcing the law and making America safer."

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