Spectator NZ

Source: United States Senator for West Virginia Shelley Moore Capito

Source: United States Senator for Colorado Michael Bennet

Washington, D.C. — Today, Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper celebrated Denise Maes’ appointment to serve as General Services Administration (GSA) Regional Administrator for regions 5, 6, and 8 – overseeing the Great Lakes, Great Plains, and Mountain West. In March 2022, Bennet and Hickenlooper wrote to the White House in support of Maes’ appointment. 

“Denise Maes is a respected public servant with decades of legal and policy experience that have equipped her to lead the vital work of the General Services Administration. Throughout her career, Denise has always fought for Coloradans, especially our LGBTQ+ and Latino communities. Her appointment is a major step forward to ensure our federal leaders reflect the diversity of the American people,” said Bennet.

“Denise’s entire career from the Obama White House, to her advocacy for Colorado’s Latino community, and her leadership at the ACLU of Colorado, has focused on opening the door of opportunity to people who have been excluded,” said Hickenlooper. “Denise will bring that same energy to the U.S. General Services Administration, making sure everyone has a seat at the table.”

Prior to joining GSA, Denise served for almost twelve years as the Public Policy Director at the ACLU of Colorado, where she was responsible for all legislative initiatives at the state and local levels. Maes also served as the Director of Administration in the Office of the Vice President for Vice President Joseph Biden and as General Counsel in the Executive Office of the President of the United States for President Barack Obama. Maes is a Board Member of the Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Maes received her Bachelor’s degree at the University of New Mexico and a Juris Doctorate from the University of New Mexico School of Law. 

Source: United States Senator for Illinois Tammy Duckworth

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Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Bob Menendez

JERSEY CITY, N.J.– U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (both-D-N.J.) announced a combined total of $23,070,897 to the State Police of New Jersey and Hackensack Meridian Health, Inc. from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DOH) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). These grants will cover emergency protective equipment costs incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic including cleaning and disinfection services, personal protective equipment (PPE), and testing.

“COVID-19 impacted all facets of life in the U.S., including our first responders’ and frontline health workers’ ability to protect and serve their communities. This fast-spreading, deadly virus put the men and women working in hospitals, health centers, and law enforcement in the difficult position of compromising their health for the sake of others,”said Sen. Menendez. “That’s why this funding is critical in eliminating the potential financial burden these organizations may face with the costs used to acquire life-saving equipment, contracted cleaning and maintenance services, and hiring additional staff.”

“Since the onset of Covid-19, our first responders and health care workers have put their lives on the line to keep our communities healthy and safe,”said Sen. Booker. “Federal funding such as this ensures that they can continue to provide essential services that are crucial to keeping all New Jerseyans protected.”

The New Jersey State Police was awarded $13,880,057.66 to cover COVID operations through contracted services, equipment, materials, warehouse storage for PPE, vaccines and supplies, refrigerator unites and forklifts, testing services, and maintenance for the equipment, generators and ventilators. Hackensack Meridian Health was awarded $9,190,839.45 to cover the costs incurred during the pandemic for materials and services such as contract disinfection services, cleaning supplies, PPE storage, disposable supplies, and temperature screening services.

In March,Sens. Menendez and Booker announced $16.3M in FEMA funding to NJ medical centers, including Centrastate Healthcare System, Holy Name Hospital, and Middlesex, Essex and Morris Counties. In the same month,Sens. Menendez and Booker announced $48.2M in FEMA funding to Hackensack Meridian Health Inc. for testing, staffing, personal protective equipment and medical supply costs. Also in March,Sens. Menendez and Booker announced $2.9M in FEMA funding for staffing costs incurred during the COVID-19 pandemicby Valley Hospital and Cape Regional Medical Center.

Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts Ed Markey

Washington (June 7, 2023) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) joined Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representatives Jim McGovern (MA-02), Stephen Lynch (MA-08), Bill Keating (MA-09), Katherine Clark (MA-05), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), and Lori Trahan (MA-03) in sending a letter to Brent Parton, Acting Assistant Secretary of Employment and Training Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), urging DOL to work with Massachusetts to find a solution to the over withdrawal of federal unemployment insurance (UI) funds that occurred during the Baker administration. The letter calls on DOL to support the Healey administration in addressing the problem while minimizing the impact on families and businesses in the Commonwealth.

“Congress enacted new and supplemental federal UI programs to alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for millions of families in Massachusetts and across the country. However, as a result of prioritizing disbursements to claimants due to heightened need as well as outdated infrastructure, many states have encountered issues in administering federal pandemic UI funds. This includes Massachusetts, where under Governor Baker’s administration, an accounting error resulted in roughly $2.5 billion being over withdrawn from federal UI funds instead of the state UI trust fund. While UI claimants will not be affected by this issue, we urge you to work with the state government to find a solution that will allow Massachusetts to address the problem while minimizing the impact on hardworking people and small businesses in the Commonwealth,” wrote the lawmakers. 

Federal emergency unemployment programs passed during the COVID-19 pandemic have been vital lifelines to diminishing hardships for families and stabilizing the economy – keeping millions of Americans from falling into poverty. 

“Over the new UI programs’ 18-month duration, Massachusetts disbursed an unprecedented roughly $33 billion in benefits to more than 4 million claimants. This funding came at a critical time – in June and July 2020, Massachusetts had the highest state unemployment rate in the nation at 17.7 percent.  The boost in UI helped Bay Staters experiencing pandemic-induced or -exacerbated hardship: during a time when a quarter of adults had difficulty covering basic household expenses, UI benefits helped them make ends meet. This injection of funds into the economy also helped businesses keep their doors open, sustaining demand for consumer goods and services even as people were forced out of work. Thanks to this emergency funding, unemployment in Massachusetts has fallen nearly to pre-pandemic lows of just over 3 percent, and as businesses bounce back, job growth continues to rise,” continued the lawmakers. 

The lawmakers note that states have faced significant obstacles in administering federal pandemic UI funds due to the unprecedented volume of the programs and speed of disbursement, but also the federal government’s underinvestment in federal and state UI infrastructure. They note that in Massachusetts, the Healey administration’s Employment Modernization and Transformation Project will directly address these issues by modernizing and transforming the state UI program’s operations and underlying systems, but that the federal government must make long-term investments in strengthening UI benefits and administration – making it easier for states to correct mistakes as they arise. 

“We understand the need to ensure accountability for federal dollars, while also ensuring that any resolution does not unnecessarily and negatively impact Massachusetts families and businesses. Governor Maura Healey’s staff assumed office earlier this year and, since being notified of this issue, has been working diligently with the state comptroller and DOL to discern the scope of this discrepancy and determine how to respond appropriately while minimizing the impact on the Commonwealth. Critically, Governor Healey’s office has assured us that repayment of these dollars will not affect claimants who received benefits using the over withdrawn funds,” concluded the lawmakers. 

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Source: United States Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) today re-introduced the End Child Trafficking Now Act, which would require a DNA test to determine the relationship between illegal immigrants coming across the border and any accompanying children.

This comes as the Biden administration reportedly ended all DNA familial testing at the border last week on May 31, 2023.

Senator Blackburn was joined by Senators Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and John Hoeven (R-N.D.). Representative Lance Gooden (R-Texas) introduced the companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“As many as 30% of children DNA tested were found not to be related to the illegal immigrants posing as family members. Meanwhile, drug cartels and gangs use minors to falsely present themselves as family units and seek asylum at our southern border,” said Senator Blackburn. “The Biden administration’s decision to halt all DNA familial testing is a grave misstep that not only puts the safety of Americans at risk but also increases the number of migrant children being trafficked. My legislation would stop criminals in their tracks and help protect children from exploitation – an idea we should all be able to support.”

“The deterioration of our southern border empowers cartels, human traffickers, and smugglers to exploit innocent children,” said Senator Hagerty. “Human smugglers pair children with single adults so they can enter as a family units. The End Child Trafficking Now Act includes common sense safeguards to prevent children from being trafficked by cartels, which perpetuates the endless cycle of human smuggling.”

“Unaccompanied children are crossing the Southern border with the help of strangers and members of cartels, putting them at an increased risk of sexual abuse and human trafficking,” said Senator Tillis. “This is completely unacceptable and the Biden Administration’s response has been severely lacking. This legislation is a commonsense, humane reform that will help prevent innocent children from being abused.”

“The Biden administration’s decision to end DNA familial testing ignores due diligence and common sense when it comes to protecting vulnerable children, who are too often being trafficked across the border by sex traffickers, gang members, or other bad actors,” said Senator Hyde-Smith. “This bill would be a step toward strengthening border security and helping children.”

“Cartels are trafficking millions of illegal immigrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, and they are exploiting every loophole in our laws to do so,” said Senator Cruz. “By performing DNA testing, we can verify whether a child is truly traveling with a relative, or is instead being sold into slavery. I’m proud to work with Sen. Marsha Blackburn and my colleagues to fight for the human rights of those being trafficked, and against the billion-dollar cartel human trafficking network.”

“Failure to secure our southern border has created a humanitarian crisis and tragically greenlit the trafficking of innocent children. This practice must end for the well-being of children and the security of our nation. By putting DNA testing in place, we can address this problem to ensure no unaccompanied minor is used as a pawn by someone illegally crossing our border,” said Senator Ernst.

“Biden’s open border crisis is also a humanitarian crisis—children are being used and abused by cartels and others to take advantage of our immigration laws. It is high time we secure the border and stop facilitating human trafficking and the exploitation of children,” said Senator Daines.

“The crisis at the southern border isn’t ending any time soon,” said Dr. Cassidy. “It’s an open door for human traffickers and cartels. The End Child Trafficking Now Act stops Biden from undoing safeguards for children like familial DNA testing.”

“I’ve traveled to the southern border repeatedly over the last few years, and we need to stop the illegal immigration crisis,” said Senator Hoeven. “Children are being trafficked at the border by individuals claiming to have family ties in order to exploit our immigration laws. This humanitarian crisis needs to stop. ICE and CBP officials agree Rapid DNA testing deters illegal crossings. Mandating DNA testing will help to ensure that bad actors are punished for trafficking these children.”

“Every child deserves protection, particularly those most vulnerable,” said Representative Gooden. “The exploitation of underage aliens by human traffickers is one of the most sickening results of the border crisis. This legislation will ensure that young children are no longer viewed as “skip the line” tickets by cartel members.”

At the center of the illegal immigration debate should be the horrific physical and sexual abuse of children, often at the hands of unrelated adults.  Mandatory DNA testing and significant penalties for adults refusing to comply would help stop the incredible heartbreak of the criminal “recycling” of children.  Very often these abused minors end up living a life of sex trafficking, drug abuse and worse, and the National Police Association strongly encourages the support and passage of the “End Child Sex Trafficking Now Act,” said Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith, Spokesman, National Police Association.

“We know based on numerous DNA tests done under the Trump Administration that many of these families are not families and these children are being rented and trafficked with the help of criminal cartels. Not only is this Administration not conducting DNA tests at the level they should, their mediocre vetting has resulting in nearly 100, 000 missing children. Where is the humanity they claim they brought to the crisis? The devastating results thus far are far worse than anything I have seen in my 35 years enforcing border security,” said Tom Homan, former Acting Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“We in Law Enforcement all along the Border and now throughout the united states have witnessed the dilution and lack of Border security that has enabled the Cartels in Mexico to flourish not only in the smuggling of Illicit narcotics but also in the trafficking and acts of indentured servitude of Migrants smuggled into the united states to pay off their debts, Juveniles are not left out of this equation with the recycling of children to portray family units  and it is imperative that this administration continue to do DNA testing on all Migrants taken into custody to positively identify children in the company of Migrants as well as to positively identify Criminals trying to conceal their true identity to enter this country and further victimize those that we serve,” said Sheriff Leon Wilmot, Yuma County, Arizona.

BACKGROUND:

• Senator Blackburn originally introduced this legislation in 2019.
• In 2019, the ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Executive Associate Director said, “It is clear on-site DNA testing has a strong deterrent effect, as HSI agents witnessed multiple instances of individuals confessing to faux families prior to being tested as well.”

Specifically, the End Child Trafficking Now Act would: 

• Require DHS to deport illegal immigrant adults if they refuse a DNA test;
• Mandate a maximum 10-year prison sentence for all illegal immigrant adults who fabricate family ties or guardianship over a minor;
• Criminalize “child recycling,” which happens when the same child is used repeatedly to gain entry by illegal immigrant adults who are neither relatives nor legal guardians; and
• Require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to process the child as an unaccompanied minor under current law if family ties or legal guardianship cannot be proven with the accompanying adult.

Click here for the video.

Click here for the bill text.

Source: United States Senator for South Dakota John Thune

Click here to watch the video.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed how, under President Biden’s leadership, Democrats’ failed policies and reckless spending have helped create significant economic and security challenges that are impacting South Dakotans. Thune noted that it’s time for President Biden to acknowledge the realities of his out-of-touch agenda and address the many crises that have unfolded during his presidency.    
Thune’s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):
“Mr. President, last week Congress successfully passed legislation – the Fiscal Responsibility Act – to raise the debt ceiling and avert a default.
 
“And I am pleased that the final legislation paired an increase in the debt ceiling with real spending reforms.
 
“But I don’t need to tell anyone that things came down to the wire.
 
“President Biden wasted months refusing to negotiate on a debt ceiling deal before finally yielding to the political realities of divided government and coming to the negotiating table.
 
“And while we got about as good of an agreement as we could have hoped for in this situation – again, including meaningful spending reforms that Democrats initially rejected – things did not need to come to a crisis point.
 
“Had President Biden come to the negotiating table sooner, we might not have been passing the Fiscal Responsibility Act just days before our nation would have defaulted.
 
“And, Mr. President, this isn’t the first crisis of inaction in his presidency.
 
“President Biden has made a habit of ignoring or failing to meet crisis situations – with predictably problematic results.
 
“The border crisis is one notable example.
 
“It took two years of record-breaking numbers of illegal crossings at our southern border before the president made any real move to even begin to address the crisis.  
 
“Two years.
 
“Two years in which he mostly pretended that the border crisis didn’t even exist.
 
“The president didn’t want there to be a border crisis – presumably because he knew that it would serve as an indictment of his open-border policies – and so he simply ignored the reality.
 
“Unfortunately, Border Patrol agents and our nation’s overwhelmed border communities didn’t have that option.
 
“They have had to spend two-plus years dealing with all the ramifications of unchecked illegal immigration at our southern border.
 
“And while it’s a good thing that the president has finally made some moves to address the crisis, his inaction has taken a terrible toll on Border Patrol agents and our border communities – and on migrants themselves.
 
“Mr. President, we’ve seen a similar situation with inflation.
 
“Even as it became clear that Democrats’ so-called American Rescue Plan Act had helped set off a serious inflation crisis, the president and his administration dismissed the problem.
 
“And they didn’t just dismiss the problem.
“They doubled down on the strategy that got our country into this mess in the first place.
 
“And while the president was eventually forced to at least halfheartedly acknowledge our inflation crisis, he still can’t bring himself to acknowledge what caused it – Democrats’ big-spending policies.
 
“And he has continued to pursue new government spending – from his nearly trillion-dollar student loan giveaway to a budget that in a few short years would have us spending $10 trillion annually.
 
“Mr. President, perhaps the most devastating example of the president’s failure to recognize – and act on – the realities of a situation came with his disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
 
“Even as it was becoming appallingly clear that Afghanistan was headed for takeover by the Taliban, the president delayed – or simply failed to take – the necessary steps to withdraw American citizens and the Afghan allies who aided us.
 
“The result was a chaotic evacuation that saw the deaths of 13 U.S. servicemembers and scores of Afghan civilians – and left both U.S. citizens and thousands of our Afghan allies behind as the Taliban took over the country.
 
“Mr. President, it is fortunate that the months President Biden spent refusing to acknowledge the need to negotiate on a debt ceiling agreement did not result in serious consequences for our country.
 
“Things were not looking good for a while, but the president ultimately recognized that divided government requires negotiation and compromise.
 
“But a lot of his other leadership failures have had serious – and permanent – consequences. 
 
“The president’s failure to acknowledge and address the reality of the border crisis has allowed hundreds of thousands of individuals to evade law enforcement and enter our country illegally, left border communities and American cities struggling to provide for the massive influx of migrants, and undoubtedly facilitated the flow of cross-border criminal activity like fentanyl trafficking. 
 
“And, as I said, the president’s failure to recognize and acknowledge the reality of the situation in Afghanistan, including by ignoring the State Department dissent cable, resulted in the deaths of American servicemembers and Afghan civilians.
 
“Meanwhile, the president’s persistent failure to fully recognize the realities of inflation – and its root in Democrats’ reckless spending – continues to leave our economy, and American families, vulnerable to more of Democrats’ big-spending policies.
 
“Mr. President, there are around 18 months left in the president’s current term, and a lot of challenges for our nation to address.
 
“I hope the debt ceiling negotiations mark the start of a new era – one in which the president spends more time dealing with things as they are and less time pursuing an agenda divorced from the reality of the economic and security challenges our nation faces.
 
“Because our country – and the American people – cannot afford a repeat of the first two years of the president’s administration.
 
“Mr. President, I yield the floor.”

Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Cory Booker

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and U.S. Representatives Annie Kuster (D-NH) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) reintroduced the bicameral, bipartisan legislation to end the outdated Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy (MIEP), which strips justice-involved individuals of their Medicaid coverage, passing the cost on to counties and states. The Humane Correctional Health Care Actwould help disrupt the cycle of recidivism in our justice system and provide continuity of care for justice-involved individuals serving in public institutions.

“Denying Medicaid and CHIP coverage to people at a time when many of them are in dire need of health care coverage, including treatment for mental health and substance use disorders, defies common sense,” said Senator Booker. “The Medicaid Inmate Exclusion not only worsens health outcomes, but also increases the likelihood of recidivism and drug overdoses. We can help put an end to this cruel cycle that continues to harm families and communities by ensuring that more people receive the help they need to successfully reintegrate into their communities. That is why I am proud to join my colleagues in reintroducing this bill that would end this outdated policy and increase access to Medicaid and life-saving care and treatment for those incarcerated.”

“For decades, the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy has fed into the cycle of addiction and incarceration we see across our country and created a massive financial burden for local communities,” said Representative Kuster, founder and co-chair of the Bipartisan Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Task Force. “We must improve this destructive policy and try to end the cycle of recidivism by helping justice-involved individuals receive the treatment and care they need. I am proud to reintroduce legislation to help people reenter their communities, and I urge my colleagues to join us in getting this done.”

“Mental health and substance use disorder challenges affect millions of Americans, including those in our criminal justice system,” said Representative Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the Bipartisan Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Task Force.“The Humane Correctional Health Care Act will ensure that struggling Americans who are transitioning back into society have adequate access to mental health resources.”

“Ending the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion policy will help our justice system better operate and ensure continuity of care,” said Doug Iosue, Superintendent of Cheshire County Department of Corrections. “We are seeing a higher percentage of people come to us with complex medical needs, and without Medicaid coverage, the cost of this care falls to the justice system to cover and absorb. That is not a sustainable model and creates an incredible burden. I thank Congresswoman Kuster for introducing the Humane Correctional Health Care Act to finally close this gap in our justice system, lessen the burden on local communities, and allow us to provide a higher level of medical care when needed.”

This legislation is endorsed by ASAM, Boston Medical Center Health System, COCHS, NAMI, and Partnership to End Addiction.

The full text of the bill can be found here.

Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Lankford

06.07.23

Lankford: “ The national security of our country is counting on us having adult conversations.”

CLICK HERE to watch Lankford’s remarks on YouTube.

CLICK HERE to watch Lankford’s remarks on Rumble.

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today spoke on the Senate floor about the Biden Administration’s latest press release saying their border plan is working as intended, when in reality they have changed how they report the numbers of illegal crossings so the numbers sound better, even though they’re the basically the same as a few months ago.

Lankford remains the leading voice in the Senate to secure our southern border, end catch-and-release, and fix the broken asylum process. Lankford got Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to admit that our asylum process is broken and being abused and that our entire immigration process is broken.

Lankford recently visited the US-Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona, after Title 42 authority was lifted, and he saw first-hand the ways our asylum process is being abused to let more and more people into the interior of the country with the promise of a hearing in as many as 10 years. Lankford also learned how the criminal cartels are using the new CBP One app to manipulate Border Patrol locations to scatter groups along the border so they can’t possibly all be interdicted.

Transcript

The White House and the Department of Homeland Security released a press release yesterday to talk about what’s happening on the border currently, especially on our southwest land border. I wanted to read just one line from the press release that was put out by Homeland Security yesterday where they state in their press release, ‘The Administration’s plan is working as intended.’

The Administration’s plan is working as intended. Now, what they were referencing was what’s happening on the southwest border and the number of people that are crossing our border that are ‘being encountered’ at the border. That’s the new term from Homeland Security, the number of people that cross our border illegally. They’re ‘encountered’.

In the past those individuals—and what I mean in the past, I mean in the past two years—those individuals crossed our southern border, asked for asylum because they were told by the cartels what to say. The cartels would say to each individual as they crossed and pay the fee to the cartel, ‘Tell them you’re afraid in your country.’ They would cross the border. They would say the words, ‘I’m afraid in my country.’ They would be given an asylum hearing date in the future. That date is anywhere depending on where they go in the country between three years and seven years in the future. And they’re told they can go anywhere in the United States they want to travel during that time period.

Now, that’s what it used to be. The Administration came forward and said, ‘We have a whole new plan. ‘Our new plan’—post Title 42, that’s the end of the pandemic restrictions—’Our new plan is that we’re going to tell people there’s a rebuttal presumption that you don’t qualify, so don’t come.’

So here’s what’s happened. Now you cross the border and there’s two ways you can cross the border. This is the new plan: you can either fill out the paperwork before you come or when you cross, we’ll fill out the paperwork for you. If we fill out the paperwork for you, it will take longer for you to come into the country and cross the border, or you can fill out the paperwork before. What is that called? It’s called CBP One. It’s an app that now you can download from anywhere in the world, fill out your paperwork ahead of time, and when you cross, they’ll quickly expedite you into the country for your asylum hearing anywhere between three and seven years in the future. Or if you cross between ports of entry, then it’s going to take you probably another eight hours or so for them to get all the paperwork filled out for you and then you’ll still be released into the country and have a hearing three to seven years in the future.

What does the Administration mean when they said, ‘The Administration’s plan is working as intended’? They’ve now split up the numbers, and they’ve announced, ‘Look, our numbers are less than 4,000 people now that are crossing the border illegally. It was just 10,000 people two weeks ago.’ Of course what they didn’t say was the week before that, it walls right at 5,000. But what they’re not saying is they’ve actually taken, if you fill out on the app ahead of time, they don’t count those numbers anymore.

Here’s what’s happening. We have the same number of people illegally crossing our border this week that we had three weeks ago, and we had three weeks before that. The Administration now has just split up the numbers how they’re counted. If you fill out the app in advance, that we fill it out for you when you cross the border, those are now two sets of numbers, but they’re the same, exact people that are crossing into the country except when I was at the border just two weeks ago and asked how well all of this is working,

I asked a very simple question: what are you noticing that’s different now than what’s different before? The response from CBP was, ‘Well, it’s the same.’ People are still moving in. They’re allowed to be able to come into the country. Between ports of entry or at ports of entry. That’s the same. But what’s changed is a dramatic increase in the number of non-Spanish speakers that are coming. And the first words I had from several different individuals that I spoke with, both from nongovernmental organizations and from our federal law enforcement when I was there last was, ‘We are worried for our national security.’

In fact, federal law enforcement used the exact term. We have ‘military-age, single adult men’ coming into our country from non-Spanish speaking nations in the Middle East, in west Africa, from Russia, and from China now in much higher numbers than we had before.

Just to set the context of what’s happening now while the administration is saying the plan is working as intended, here’s what’s happened. In the first two weeks of the end of Title 42, we’ve had 1,000 men from Mauritania, west Africa, come across our border, a thousand. Exactly none of them we have criminal background information on. None of them. So far this year—let me just compare two years ago to this year. So far this year, this year is not over, if I look at Mauritania, we had 90 people two years ago from Mauritania. So far this year, 4,300. So far this year. And, by the way, that doesn’t include the main number that I was just saying that’s a thousand more. So we’re well in excess of 5,000 in year so far from Mauritania. And from Iran, it’s gone from 62 to almost 300. If i want to see from Syria, where we have no background information, we have had 2,000 people come so far from Syria. From Pakistan we’ve had over 500. From Somalia, we’ve had over 1,600.

From China, we’ve had right at 10,000 people in year. If I go back two years from China, it was 450, yet there is a huge shift that’s actually occurring of Middle Eastern men, from Russia and China that are accelerating across our southern border because right now apparently, the Administration’s plan is working as intended, and we have thousands of people that are still crossing our border.

I’ve heard even some recent reporting in the news on this that the numbers are way down, the numbers are way down, but apparently the press doesn’t take the time to look and see that the numbers have been split out into two different categories. The numbers are not down. In fact, the numbers right now would average somewhere around 450,000 a month right now.

The highest, the highest month during the peak of the immigration surge under the Obama Administration, the highest month that happened during that time period when there was chaos and cameras that were focused on the southwest border, the highest month was 69,000.

The Administration is now saying, ‘Our plan is working,’ when there is 150,000 a month coming across the border.

It’s not working. It’s fudging the numbers.

It’s trying to tell the American people, ‘Look away.’ It’s trying to say, ‘We’re doing a whole new set of enforcement on the border,’ when really what’s happening is people are being released into the country, same as they’ve always been released in the country for the last two years. The difference is they’re told, ‘Hey, if you show up for your hearing three years from now, we may be more strict to you.’ But at the border they’re moving through just the same, being waved through.

Now, I bring this up to this body to ask a simple question: have we learned nothing from 9/11? Thousands of Americans died because a group of individuals overstayed their visas here in the United States, no one went to check on them, no one went to track on it, and just ignored the realities of what could be there.

We have a huge national security risk. God forbid we have a huge terrorist attack again, just because we want to tell everyone, ‘The plan is working as intended. Look away. The numbers are down,’ when we literally have people coming in from all over the world that may be coming to work here or may be coming in for nefarious reasons. We don’t know. We don’t know if these folks are fleeing poverty or fleeing justice because we have no criminal history on these individuals coming in from around the world, none. In fact, as frightening as it may seem, right now the current policy happening at the southwest border is if someone shows up without any identification or with a photocopy of an ID that they say is theirs, it’s being accepted as real.

They can literally come in and say, ‘I’m from Mauritania or Somalia or Syria or Iron or China or Russia, and this is my name.’ And they have no ID. We’re writing down, creating for them a new ID card that’s an American ID card and handing them a new identity and saying, ‘Show up at your hearing three years from now in the future, travel anywhere you want in the country. You can use this card to fly or to travel or to show as ID,’ when we literally have no idea if that’s what their name is or that’s the country they’re from—that is the plan that is working as intended right now on our southwest border.

I think it’s a huge national security vulnerability.

We need to talk about asylum. We need to talk about how to define the national security risk for the United States. This body needs to have a real conversation about what legal immigration looks like and what we’re going to say to the world about illegal immigration.

If any of these individuals were to travel into Canada right now, the Canadians already have a clear law dealing with asylum. These folks would not be accepted into Canada because it would violate their basic asylum rules and how they handle it. But they’re being literally waved into our country with no ID, with no criminal background check and released into the country under the promise that they’ll show up for a hearing three years in the future. Can someone explain to me why that’s logical?

If these same folks moved into Germany and said they want to claim asylum, Germany would put them in a humanitarian center where they would stay. They wouldn’t be released into Germany. Germany would never do that. They would stay in in that one humanitarian area while they were processed through their asylum claim, and if they didn’t qualify for asylum, they would be sent back to their original country. And that’s usually within two to three months.

We are instead handing them a brand-new ID, which we have no idea is their real name, releasing them into the country, and saying, ‘We hope you show up three to seven years from now at your hearing.’ Can somebody tell me that’s wise? I’m not asking for something crazy or for something that quite frankly the rest of the world doesn’t already do. But for some reason this body has locked up to talk about what everyone sees as obvious, and we refuse to even debate the issues of asylum and national security.

This is not caustic and hard. This is reasonable, where most Americans are. But we’re not even talking about it on the floor right now. But we should—because it matters. The national security of our country is counting on us having adult conversations. I encourage us to get started on this sooner rather than later for the sake of our future as a nation.

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