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“Border Security (Executive Calendar)” mentioning Benjamin L. Cardin was published in the Senate section on pages S4718-S4719 on June 23.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
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The publication is reproduced in full below:
Border Security
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, after months of unnecessary handwringing, Vice President Harris has finally announced that she intends to visit the U.S.-Mexico border.
She was, as you will recall, tapped by the President to lead the efforts to stem the current humanitarian crisis back in March. But 3 months in, she has spent more time trying to figure out how to support Central American countries than how to help American law enforcement and community leaders in Texas.
In the absence of any action from the administration--in fact, any acknowledgement of the crisis, at all--the humanitarian crisis has gotten nothing but worse. In March, the first month of her heading up the administration's response, there were 173,000 migrants that crossed our southern border. Then, in April, the number went up to 178,000 and, in May, 180,000 migrants. We are now on track to see the highest number of total yearly border crossings in two decades, according to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Mr. Mayorkas.
At the center of this crisis are unaccompanied children, who are brought to this country by cartels and human smugglers. We know that the migrant children endure a long and dangerous journey to our border, often arriving malnourished, abused, and in critical health. Some of the young girls even arrive pregnant, and we know that many of them have been sexually assaulted en route by these human smugglers who care nothing for their welfare. All they care about is the cold, hard dollar. I have talked to a number of these children and heard them retell their horrific stories about their journey from their home to our border.
Since January, since the time that President Biden and Vice President Harris were inaugurated, more than 65,000 unaccompanied children have entered our country with no parent and no adult guardian, an absolutely devastating figure. These children are then placed with sponsors in the interior of the United States--sometimes a family member, sometimes a complete stranger. Thirty days after these children are placed with their American-based sponsor, not necessarily even an American citizen, a full 20 percent of them don't respond to a phone call or a wellness check when a person associated with the U.S. Government knocks on the door. And we have no idea what happens to these children once they are lost to the system.
The Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley Sector is the epicenter of this human crisis. Between October and April, that is where nearly half of all unaccompanied children were encountered. In the 3 months since the Vice President has been in charge of this crisis, I have visited the Rio Grande Valley Sector twice. I have spoken with law enforcement, elected officials, and nongovernmental organizations that try to be of assistance to the migrants while they are in the country, and a long list of other people who are trying to do everything in their power to manage this overwhelming number of humanity coming across our border.
On Friday, Vice President Harris won't get to speak with these men and women. Why is that? Well, she will be more than 1,000 miles away, down the border from the Border Patrol sector experiencing the worst of this crisis.
I know there are probably folks who are not from Texas who think that the whole border is exactly the same, but that is not true. I had the chance to travel to Tucson with Senator Sinema, the Senator from Arizona, and I got a chance to observe how different the border is in the Tucson Sector from the Rio Grande Valley, which she traveled with me to see after we left Tucson. But since October, the Rio Grande Valley Sector has encountered nearly three times as many unaccompanied children as the El Paso Sector and more than seven times more family units.
The situation along the entirety of the U.S. border is challenging, to be sure, and El Paso has suffered during the crisis too, no doubt. Law enforcement, nongovernmental organizations, and community leaders in every border sector are struggling to manage the massive surge of migrants.
When asked why she hadn't visited the border yet, the Vice President said she wasn't interested in grand gestures. Yet here she is planning a trip in a way that reflects, again, that she doesn't really fully comprehend the magnitude of the crisis and where it really exists on steroids, which is in the Rio Grande Valley. It is not even fair to say that she is a day late and a dollar short. She is nearly 100 days late and 1,000 miles short.
By ignoring the Rio Grande Valley, the busiest Border Patrol sector along the U.S.-Texas-Mexico border, the Vice President is shifting the focus away from the most serious problems of the crisis that she has failed to solve or even contribute any constructive ideas to. It won't surprise you to know that during my time in the Senate, because my State does have a 1,200-mile common border with Mexico, I have spent a lot of time listening to and learning from folks who live and work along our border. Our border is a beautiful part of our State, rich in a unique culture and a rich sense of community that you can't find in many parts of the country.
Through no fault of their own, these border communities are being overwhelmed by the sheer number of migrants crossing the border, and the local leaders are beyond frustrated with the failures of the Federal Government to live up to its obligation to provide security along an international border.
The President and Vice President have, I have to acknowledge, verbally encouraged migrants not to come to the United States. But those words mean nothing. They are hollow rhetoric indeed when somebody can simply pick up the phone and call a family member in the United States or watch the evening news and see how easy it is to make your way across the border, not to mention the fact that the human smugglers, the cartels who charge thousands of dollars per head, are whispering in their ear saying: We can get you across the border if you just pay us our fee.
The reality of the situation is we are nearing a breaking point, and the Vice President and President could see that if they were only willing to join me and others who would be more than happy to host them by visiting the Rio Grande Valley. The administration has wasted valuable time that could have been spent addressing the crisis.
This is a crisis in policy. This is not where building an additional physical barrier would stop many of these migrants. Some of that would, and the Border Patrol said it has a part to play, but the truth is many of these migrants are turning themselves over to law enforcement authorities. They are not running away because they have figured out the gaps in our law better than we have.
The administration has wasted valuable time that could have been spent addressing this crisis, and instead, it has just gotten worse. Now the question is, What are they going to do about it? If they are looking for ideas, I am happy to offer a suggestion.
There is already a grassroots plan out there that was built from the bottom up by Senators and Congressmen most familiar with this crisis. Last month, Senator Sinema, the Senator from Arizona, and I introduced the Bipartisan Border Solutions Act, a straightforward, commonsense way to address this crisis. We have been proud to work with two House Members. The Presiding Officer knows Congressman Cuellar from Laredo, TX, along with Tony Gonzales, who represents one of the biggest congressional districts contiguous to the U.S.-Mexico border, and they are our cosponsors in the House.
So a bipartisan, bicameral bill to address the very crisis that Vice President Harris and President Biden have been trying to avoid learning more about, at least until now--this legislation has the support, as I said, of Members of both parties and in both Chambers, as well as a diverse range of well-respected organizations. The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the National Border Patrol Council, the National Immigration Forum, and more than a dozen other organizations support this legislation.
I would be more than happy to sit down with the President and the Vice President to discuss our bill, which includes the input of leaders who are dealing with the brunt of the crisis along the border. If the administration truly wants to address this crisis, they need to get serious about how to do so, and a photo op simply will not get the job done.
The Vice President, I think, would be well served and would be serving the people of this country well if she would visit the Rio Grande Valley and listen to the law enforcement, elected officials, NGOs, and other men and women who are doing their best to try to deal with this crisis without much help from the administration.
The administration has wasted too much time already. Now is not the time for another empty gesture.
I yield the floor.
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
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