Ignoring Border Crisis Undermines National Security
‘[I]n today’s Democratic party, some of our colleagues appear to be so terrified of their radical base that they’re convinced open borders are worth jeopardizing U.S. security around the world… That securing America’s borders is less urgent than helping our partners defend theirs.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding national security priorities:
“Later today, Senate Republicans are going to deny cloture on a bill that fails to address America’s top national security priorities in a serious way. As we’ve said for weeks, legislation that doesn’t include policy changes to secure our borders will not pass the Senate.
“The situation unfolding at our southern border on President Biden’s watch is a crisis of historic proportions. It’s glaring. It’s acute. And it’s undermining America’s national security.
“President Obama’s DHS Secretary used to say that 1,000 border crossings a day ‘overwhelms the system’.
“Today, CBP are reportedly encountering over 10,000 people a day down at the border. A large town’s worth of illegal aliens a day.
“And thanks to a broken asylum and parole system, the vast majority of them are admitted into the country before their legal status is even determined.
“Now Mr. President, 10,000 arrivals a day would mean a population the size of a middle-sized town in Kentucky arriving in America every month.
“The sheer volume has forced officials in the Tucson, Arizona sector – which has recently accounted for nearly 3,000 of those daily arrivals by itself – to shut down one port of entry all together.
“This is the crisis undermining America’s national security right here at home. And today, some of our Democratic colleagues are showing just how little they want to do anything about it.
“Senate Republicans know this isn’t an either-or proposition. We know that national security begins with border security.
“I’ve spent months highlighting the undeniable links between the threats we face in Europe, in the Middle East, and in in the Indo-Pacific. But Democratic leadership appears to be telling us today that they’re willing to risk each of these urgent priorities to avoid fixing our own borders right here at home.
“Apparently, some of our colleagues would rather let Russia trample a sovereign nation in Europe than do what it takes to enforce America’s own sovereign borders.
“It wasn’t always like this. Democrats didn’t always have such a hard time following the logic that national security begins right here at home.
“I’m reminded of the commission President Reagan set up in the mid-80s to assess the importance of peace and security in the western hemisphere.
“This was a bipartisan exercise – it included everyone from Henry Kissinger to the former chair of the DNC and the president of the AFL-CIO.
“The commission concluded that America’s security in the world, ‘depends on the inherent security of its land borders…’ and that our adversaries would reap, ‘a major strategic coup to impose on the United States the burden of defending our southern approaches.’
“‘A major strategic coup,’ for our adversaries. That’s what a past generation of Democrats understood the logic implicitly when it pertained to the threat of Soviet influence.
“Well, that logic applies even more today to the instability, cartel violence, terror, and drugs pouring over our southern border.
“But in today’s Democratic party, some of our colleagues appear to be so terrified of their radical base that they’re convinced open borders are worth jeopardizing U.S. security around the world… That securing America’s borders is less urgent than helping our partners defend theirs.
“The Democratic Leader has insisted repeatedly that border security is an ‘important issue’. But whatever our colleagues want to call the issue, their actions suggest they’re not at all that interested in actually solving it!
“Demanding serious border policy changes isn’t ‘injecting’ an unrelated issue into the conversation. President Biden’s own request wanted us to throw billions of dollars at this exact problem!
“Fixing a badly broken asylum and parole system isn’t ‘hijacking’ the supplemental. It’s strengthening it.
“Securing our southern border isn’t extraneous to our national security. It’s essential. I know some of our Democratic colleagues understand this.
“I know not all of them are beholden to the same radical base that demands open borders at home and supports an intifada abroad.
“And I invite them to work with Republicans on meaningful, lasting border security.
“But if today’s vote is what it takes for the Democratic Leader to recognize that Senate Republicans mean what we say, then let’s vote.
“And then, let’s finally start meeting America’s national security priorities, including right here at home.”
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Related Issues: Russia, Border Security, Ukraine, China, Iran, National Security
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