WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, Senator Thom Tillis delivered remarks on the Senate floor to highlight the serious national security and humanitarian crises at our Southern border. The speech comes as U.S. Border Patrol recorded over 300,000 illegal crossings at our Southern border in December alone, setting a new record high for illegal crossings in a single month.
Watch Senator Tillis’ full remarks HERE.
Senator Tillis on Abuse of the Asylum System:
“Since President Biden has entered office, the number of encounters at the border is over eight million. Eight million since President Biden entered office. That population exceeds the population of 30 U.S. states, the population of 30 individual U.S. states. That’s the number we’re talking about here. And ladies and gentlemen, a lot of them are the people that we just described. Of course, the United States wants to be a haven for people who are suffering, fearing for their lives, suffering from oppression. But the goal of asylum is to get them immediately out of that dangerous situation, not to suddenly decide: ‘I want to go through two or three or four other jurisdictions because what I ultimately want to do is get to the United States.’ They are demeaning and devaluing the concept of asylum.”
Senator Tillis on Public Support for a Secure Border:
“Fortunately, now, we have a majority of Americans that expect this administration to come to the table and negotiate in good faith with conservatives. People like me have negotiated several bipartisan deals to solve this problem. And if any Democrats are concerned with how far the negotiations are going, I don’t think that they need to. This is not a political loser for people who are concerned with voting on a bipartisan compromise.”
Senator Tillis on Cartels Taking Advantage of Our Open Border:
“The only people who love the stalemate that we have in this nation today are the cartels, who are charging from $5,000 to $50,000 a person to get you across the border. Not everybody has $5,000 though. So, do you know what they do? They say, ‘Well, you don’t have to pay. But, once you get across the border, you’re going to participate in criminal enterprises until we think your debt is done.’ That’s not an exaggeration either. Talk to law enforcement. Talk to people in these communities. These cartels are like a cancer metastasizing through illegally present communities exploiting them and causing some people who may not have had a criminal record in the country of their origin to become criminals here.”
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