Border Security

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOEVEN. Madam President, I thank my colleague from Maryland and appreciate the opportunity to make my remarks before this session ends today.

I rise to once again call attention to the growing and unprecedented crisis at our southern border. This crisis is a result of the Biden administration's open border policy. It is a function of the Biden administration's failure to secure the border and enforce our laws.

In fiscal year 2022, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the CBP, encountered almost 2.4 million individuals attempting to illegally cross the southern border. That was an increase of 37 percent from fiscal year 2021 and a more than 400-percent increase from fiscal year 2020. In the first 6 months of fiscal year 2023, Customs and Border Protection had already--already--encountered more than 1.5 million individuals--a pace that will surpass even the record numbers of last year.

Now, with the title 42 public health order set to expire next week, it is only getting worse. Take a look. Anybody can turn on their television and check it out. It is only getting worse.

In response to the expected surge of illegal crossings, the Biden administration announced that they are going to send 1,500 troops to the southern border to help with paperwork. Well, it is good they are sending the troops down there, but without a change in the policy, it is not going to get the job done. They are not able to do the job that they can do and need to do. The Customs and Border Protection officers and agents on the frontlines do the best job possible, but they face an impossible task given the Biden administration's actions that continue to exacerbate the crisis--the Biden administration's open border policy.

I have seen firsthand the work of these dedicated individuals, including of the members of the North Dakota National Guard from my home State. I have traveled down to Texas on numerous occasions to draw attention to the border crisis. I have been to Del Rio. I have been to Eagle Pass. I have been to El Paso and to the Rio Grande Valley. In each of these border towns, it is clear now more than ever that more needs to be done. And it is not just the stopping of illegal migration; it is to prevent human trafficking and to prevent drug trafficking. This affects every State in our country.

I also traveled with a bipartisan congressional delegation to Mexico, to Ecuador, to Colombia, and to Guatemala to outline the need to work with these nations to stop illegal immigration and prevent drug trafficking and human trafficking.

These are all part of our efforts to draw attention to the problem and outline solutions that will stem the tide of illegal immigration.

To stop this crisis, the Biden administration has to change its policy, and there are several things that can be done right now to make that happen.

First, the Biden administration needs to implement the Migrant Protection Protocols or the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy, which requires people seeking asylum at our southern border to wait in Mexico while their cases are adjudicated.

Second, reinstate the safe third country agreements, which require individuals coming from places like El Salvador or Honduras or Guatemala to seek asylum in their own countries first or they are returned to their countries to await the outcome of their claims.

Now, title 42 expires on May 11. The border is already in crisis, and it will just get worse, but the reality is, if those two policies are reinstated, then the Customs and Border Protection professionals can get on top of the problem. In other words, let them do their jobs. Put in place border policies that will enable our Customs and Border Protection professionals to do their jobs.

It has been shown that those policies will work. I just gave you the numbers going back to 2020. We are not guessing on this. We are not guessing. We know it works. Those two policy changes will enable our Customs and Border Protection professionals to get control of the border, and with title 42 expiring on May 11, they need to be implemented now.

We have to do more. We need our border wall. We need personnel. We need technology. All those things need to be part of creating a secure border. But right now, particularly with title 42 expiring, we need to implement those two policy changes and enable our Customs and Border Protection professionals to do their job.

Border security is national security.

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