During remarks on the Senate floor Monday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) spoke about the border policies of the Biden administration.
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00:00Mr. President, it's no secret to the people of Texas that they carried a disproportionate
00:12share of the burden from President Biden's mismanagement of the southern border during
00:18the last four years.
00:21In an attempt to shield our state from this crisis of historic mass migration, drug trafficking
00:27and human trafficking, Governor Abbott and our state leadership initiated something called
00:33Operation Lone Star, which resulted in the apprehension of more than a half million illegal
00:39immigrants by Texas law enforcement.
00:43Since the start of this mission, law enforcement in Texas has arrested more than 50,000 criminals,
00:50built more than 240 miles of border barrier, and seized more than a half billion deadly
00:57doses of fentanyl.
01:00Governor Abbott has said that this effort enabled Texas to reduce illegal immigration across
01:04the state border by 87 percent.
01:09But these efforts were not without cost to Texas taxpayers.
01:14And recall, this is an international border, which by definition means it's a federal responsibility.
01:22But what's the state supposed to do when the federal government simply drops the ball or refuses
01:27to enforce the law?
01:32Operation Lone Star cost my state billions of dollars.
01:37And this was only necessary because the federal government simply abdicated its responsibility.
01:49Last week I introduced legislation to fulfill Governor Abbott's request that the state be reimbursed
01:55for the more than $11 billion that the state of Texas has had to spend on border enforcement
02:01to fill the gaps left by President Biden's open border policies.
02:07My State Border Security Assistance Act will provide funds to the Department of Justice and the Department
02:12of Homeland Security to reimburse states for actions they took after President Biden's failure to secure the border.
02:23They will reimburse states the costs of border wall construction, border surveillance,
02:29and the apprehension, detention, and prosecution of individuals who violate U.S. laws.
02:36This legislation will appropriate the funds needed to reimburse Texas,
02:40and it will sunset at the end of the Trump administration,
02:44returning any remaining money to the U.S. Treasury.
02:50While this effort is supported by the entire Republican Texas delegation,
02:54my colleague and fellow Texan Congressman Chip Roy, a member of the Rules Committee,
03:00is taking the lead on similar legislation in the House,
03:03and I'm thankful for his partnership and his leadership in this effort.
03:09But there's no doubt that this historic crisis was a direct result of President Biden's policies.
03:15Starting on the campaign trail,
03:18President Biden invited the massive wave of illegal immigration to the United States
03:23by essentially holding up a big welcome sign.
03:27Illegal migrants from around the world cheered President Biden's election and his open border policies,
03:34and the Biden-Harris administration did not disappoint them.
03:39President Biden abused our immigration processes and rolled out the red carpet to let in millions of unvetted illegal migrants.
03:50And the number he let in through illegitimate means does not even account for the millions more of gotaways,
03:58which is what the border patrol calls them, people trying to actively evade law enforcement activity.
04:05President Biden could have been more destructive of border security if he had tried.
04:12Early in his presidency, he ended President Trump's remain in Mexico policy that had been remarkably effective.
04:22The Biden administration halted construction of President Trump's border wall and instead used federal funds to store already-paid-for wall materials.
04:34As this crisis continued to evolve, President Biden ended Title 42, the COVID-era policy that was our last line of defense,
04:44when President Biden refused to do anything else to limit the flow of illegal immigration.
04:52After undoing all of the successful policies of the first Trump administration,
04:58President Biden then decided to circumvent Congress and attempt to make illegal immigration legal
05:05by abusing authorities under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
05:11His Department of Homeland Security actually created an app called the CBP, or Customs and Border Protection app,
05:18which allowed migrants to register in advance to schedule an appointment to then be released into the interior of the United States.
05:29Another Biden-Harris administration program allowed up to 30,000 migrants a month to enter from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
05:41They were allowed to enter without any questions, any vetting, and they were also given work permits,
05:49so they could then compete with American citizens and people legally in the United States.
05:55Of course, we know the tragic consequences of these misguided policies resulted in a crisis of mass illegal immigration.
06:04But not just illegal immigration, it also included human trafficking and drug trafficking across our southern border.
06:14During all four years of the Biden administration, the number of illegal migrant encounters with Customs and Border Protection totaled more than 10 million.
06:23There were more than 1.7 million people from around the world showing up at the border only to be waved through by the Biden-Harris administration.
06:33There were more than 1.7 million known gotaways who evaded Border Patrol entirely and are roaming freely somewhere in the interior of the country up to who knows what.
06:48Fentanyl, which has taken far too many lives in this country, particularly our youngsters,
06:57is made with Chinese precursor chemicals that were smuggled through the open border and, as I said, has taken far too many innocent lives.
07:09There could be no question about who's responsible for this crisis of gross proportion.
07:16The responsibility belongs with President Biden and his misguided policies.
07:22This has become even more obvious when we look at the great success that President Trump has had in securing the border in a few short months and actually reversing the ongoing crisis.
07:36After four-year highs of illegal immigration, Customs and Border Protection is now facing record lows in border encounters.
07:47As soon as President Trump was elected, but even before he took office, the numbers began to go down
07:53because people understood they would no longer be able to cross the border indiscriminately and without proper legal credentials.
08:03In November and December of last year, encounters were at their lowest levels between ports of entry since August of 2020.
08:12And for the first two weeks of January this year, Customs and Border Protection encounters were nearly 50 percent lower than they were at the same point in 2021 at the start of the Biden administration.
08:26During the latter half of the month when President Trump actually took office, apprehensions fell by a staggering 85 percent compared to the same period in 2024.
08:40And during the entire month of January, there were less than 1,500 apprehensions a day, which sounds like a lot, but it was a 40 percent decline from December of last year.
08:53In President Trump's first 100 days in office, daily border encounters decreased by approximately 95 percent.
09:05Now I recall that President Biden and our colleagues across the aisle said in the run-up to the campaign,
09:12we need to pass some more laws so that the border can be secured.
09:19But what this demonstrates is that we didn't need any new laws.
09:23We needed a president who would actually enforce the law, which is what we got with President Trump.
09:31These wins by the Trump administration since President Trump was sworn into office were a direct result of the deterrent effect created by President Trump's policy changes.
09:46The migrants and the coyotes and the cartels who smuggle people across our border along with drugs and engage in all sorts of other illegal activity know now that our laws will be enforced under President Trump and Secretary Noem.
10:03And so they are deterred from even trying in many instances.
10:08Why spend $10,000 or so to have a human smuggler try to get you into the country if you know that you're unlikely to be successful under President Trump's policies?
10:20That is the deterrent effect of actually enforcing the law, something President Biden refused to do.
10:27This is pretty basic stuff, Mr. President. This is not rocket science.
10:34Instead of rolling out the welcome mat like President Biden, President Trump began his second administration by pulling up the drawbridge.
10:44On day one of his administration, President Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border, giving him flexibility under our laws to restore order.
10:56He ended the disastrous policies of catch and release and reinstated his own tested and proven Remain in Mexico policy.
11:06Secretary Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, began her tenure as the head of President Trump's Homeland Security agenda by sending a clear message that she intends to enforce the laws to prevent illegal immigration.
11:22But she didn't stop there.
11:25Under her leadership, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, otherwise known as ICE, their arrests have increased by more than 600 percent.
11:36This includes arrests of criminal migrants which have more than doubled.
11:40President Trump and Secretary Noem returned to a common-sense case-by-case approach to humanitarian parole, which had been abused under the Biden administration.
11:52And they've clawed back about $80 million spent by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to house illegal immigrants and luxury hotels in places like New York City.
12:07These policies were part of the reason President Trump got elected.
12:14What we had on November the 5th was a referendum on President Biden's border policies, and obviously the voters preferred President Trump's approach.
12:26But my point is, Mr. President, that in the four years of the Biden administration, somebody had to deal with this flow of humanity and drugs and trafficking across the border.
12:40And in my state, my governor and the state leadership, to their credit, stepped up.
12:47Texans have had to bear the brunt of open borders, rampant crime, and deadly fentanyl for the past four years.
12:56I'm very thankful to President Trump and Secretary Noem for their leadership in ensuring that Americans and Texans once again are safe and secure.
13:08But the damage done by President Biden and his policies must be undone.
13:13It must be rectified.
13:15Congress must reimburse the state of Texas for the costs incurred fulfilling in for our then absentee president.
13:25I'll continue working with President Trump, Governor Abbott, and the entire Texas delegation, as well as Senator John Thune and Speaker Johnson to ensure that this priority is included in the reconciliation bill.
13:41President Biden abdicated his duty to keep our citizens safe, and the state of Texas must be made whole for its effort to protect Texans and the rest of the country from the consequences of his misguided policies.