“My bill would shut down our borders until the Department of Homeland Security regains operational control”
WASHINGTON – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and his Republican colleagues forced a vote on the Border Safety and Security Act, a bill that would shut down the border until the Department of Homeland Security regains operational control. Democrats blocked the bill.
In a floor speech, Senator Tuberville explained that he and his Republican colleagues have offered real solutions to fix the border crisis while Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) “bipartisan” border deal before the Senate is nothing but a messaging exercise to give vulnerable Democrat senators cover during an election year. Meanwhile, Sen. Schumer’s bill would cost taxpayers $20 billion and do absolutely nothing to secure the border.
Senator Tuberville also penned an op-ed about this in The Hill.
Read excerpts from the floor speech below or watch on Youtube or Rumble.
Three weeks ago, two illegal immigrants attempted to break into the Marine base at Quantico in Virginia. Both individuals are Jordanian nationals who were apprehended by Customs and Border Patrol Protection at the southern border and released into the United States. One of them is allegedly on the terrorist watch list.
Now, how did we get here? How did we get to the point where two people who entered the country illegally and were not screened or vetted tried to drive a truck onto a military base? Let me say that again. These people are not being screened or vetted. We have no idea who these people are. But here’s what we do know about the people who have invaded our country. 25,000 Chinese nationals have entered our country since October 1, 2023. 184,000 Haitians have entered under Joe Biden’s mass parole program, along with 1,100 Venezuelans, 91,000 from Cuba, [and] 75,000 Nicaraguans. And this doesn’t count the 76,000 Afghans who came here after Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
As I have repeatedly said, I have got no problem with legal immigration – nor do my Republican colleagues. America is the land of freedom and opportunity. If people wanna come here legally, we’ll welcome them. But we cannot – we cannot – have terrorists crossing our borders unverified – ask the FBI. Beyond the safety concerns, we simply cannot afford to support the 11 million illegal immigrants who have illegally crossed our borders in the past three and a half years. I don’t know if Joe Biden missed the memo, but folks, we are dead broke. Dead broke. Yet we’re shelling out hundreds of billions of dollars to support these 11 million illegal immigrants. And this does not count the millions of what we call got-aways who, obviously, if they can come across and not be apprehended, why in the world would they go somewhere and [turn themselves in to] the border patrol? It’s because they are criminals.
A recent report from the House Committee on Homeland Security estimated the southern border surge is costing the American taxpayers about $450 billion dollars a year. You got that right. It’s costing American taxpayers $450 billion dollars a year. After ten years, we’re looking at a $5 trillion dollar bill. In terms of actual benefits, it is estimated that illegals have received $42 billion in welfare annually, $68 billion in education, [and] $7 billion in healthcare. We’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars to support all these people. The American taxpayers can simply not afford it.
So, why are Joe Biden and the globalist Democrats allowing this to happen? Why is this going on? It is simply because Democrats care more about keeping power than they do about safety and protecting the American taxpayer and American citizen. A New York congresswoman confirmed this. She says she welcomes illegal immigration because it helps with redistricting. The president and his progressive left Democrat Party know that the more people that they can get in this country, the longer they stay in power by increasing the population in the blue districts. Simple fact.
But, enough is enough. Too many American lives have been lost due to the blatant disregard of U.S. law by the Biden administration. It is time elected officials fulfill their obligations and the oath of office starting by protecting the country from all enemies, foreign and domestic. So, this bill, the Border Act of 2024, that Schumer is forcing us to vote on is basically an absolute joke. And by the way, President Trump has never told me [how to vote on this] and I talked to him weekly. Never said one word about [this border bill]. I don’t know where my colleague from Georgia got this information, but it’s false. If he’d have told anybody, he’d have told me.
This bill, the Border Act of 2024, doesn’t even have the word “security” in the title. That’s because this bill will only make the crisis at the southern border worse. It’s a border invasion bill. It’s not a border bill. It’s a border giveaway paid for by the American taxpayers – trillions of dollars. It also weakens the power of the president by suggesting the president close the border only when [Customs and Border Protection]has apprehended 4,000 illegal immigrants a day. Yeah, you heard that – a day. So, we’re gonna pass a bill that’s gonna allow 4,000 people to come here a day? That’s insane. Last time I checked, the commander in chief already has full authority to secure the border. Nothing new about that. That’s supposed to be a basic requirement of his job. Protect the American citizens, protect our borders, protect our country. The bill also includes zero funding for the border wall. Zero. And it codifies dangerous catch and release policies.
So, how did we get here? How is a border bill crafted that does nothing to secure the border? Republican leadership put together this bill. They push things without telling the rest of the caucus and said, ‘At the end of the day, this is the bill that we’ve come up with,’ and we rejected it. Most of us didn’t even know what was in the bill, even at almost the time of the vote.
The bill is just another public relations stunt from globalist democrats pretending to care about the border during an election year. We need to get serious about national security created by open borders – serious. If we don’t believe that, we need to ask our allies over in Europe that have pretty much had their countries destroyed by immigration. The American people don’t want another messaging exercise. They want to feel safe in their neighborhoods. They pay our bills. They deserve it. We’re here for them.
Over the last three years, Americans have watched in disbelief as Joe Biden has intentionally erased our borders and invited millions of illegal immigrants to invade our country. My bill, the Border Safety and Security Act, would shut down our borders until the Department of Homeland Security regains operational control – because as we speak, the border is being overrun. That means the border would be completely closed until DHS is able to track exactly who is coming into the country by either detaining them or setting up a program similar to Remain in Mexico.
It’s that simple. If Democrats are serious about securing the border, they will support the Border Safety and Security Act.”
BACKGROUND:
Senator Tuberville supports common-sense policies that strengthen our border and national security like building the wall and reinstating the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the Remain in Mexico policy. Senator Tuberville has spoken about his concerns on the floor of the U.S. Senate and called on the Biden administration to act. In September 2023, Senator Tuberville helped introduce the Secure the Border Act of 2023, the Senate companion of the bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year, commonly known as H.R. 2.
During his first three years in the United States Senate, Senator Tuberville has made multiple visits to the southern border and worked on many legislative initiatives to secure the border, including giving law enforcement the tools needed to keep our communities safe and reforming immigration law to crack down on abuse and discourage illegal immigration.
In April 2024, Senator Tuberville delivered a floor speech urging his colleagues to hold Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas accountable. Sen. Tuberville voted for a full and fair trial – but all 51 Democrats blocked it.
In March 2024, Senator Tuberville cosponsored the Laken Riley Act, legislation that would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest illegal aliens who commit theft, burglary, larceny, or shoplifting offenses and would mandate that these aliens are detained until they are removed from the United States so they cannot commit other crimes.
Senator Tuberville slammed Joe Biden ahead of his State of the Union speech for remaining silent about Americans who have been killed by illegal aliens. Following the tragic death of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley, Senator Tuberville delivered a floor speech urging Democrats to take action to prevent other Americans from being murdered at the hands of illegal aliens. He subsequently penned an op-ed concerning this same issue. Sadly, a few weeks later, he gave another floor speech after another American was killed by an illegal alien.
In December 2023, Senator Tuberville called on the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement to overhaul its harmful and deficient policies regarding the treatment of unaccompanied alien children in the United States.
In November 2023, Senator Tuberville cosponsored the Southern Border Transparency Act. The legislation would force DHS to increase its reporting of data about illegal immigrants entering the country, in turn providing greater transparency to the American people.
In August 2023, Senator Tuberville called on the Department of Defense to halt the sale of border wall construction materials after reports that the Department was moving quickly to dispose of the parts in violation of law.
In July 2023, Senator Tuberville introduced a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to strike down President Biden’s Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule, which funnels illegal immigrants into unlawful parole programs that DHS established without Congress’ consent. This funneling effect has allowed, and encouraged, more people with weak or non-existent asylum claims to enter the U.S.
In May 2023, following the expiration of Title 42, Senator Tuberville reintroduced The Empowering Law Enforcement Act, which would grant state and local law enforcement inherent immigration enforcement authority to investigate, identify, apprehend, arrest, detain, or transfer an illegal immigrant who has entered the U.S. Additionally, this legislation would provide the DHS Secretary flexibility on how long a criminal alien may be detained, extending the current 180-day period to ensure violent criminals are not released back into communities.
In March 2023, Senator Tuberville introduced the Border Safety and Security Act to protect Americans by combatting the border crisis created by President Biden’s immigration policies. The legislation puts more responsibility on the DHS Secretary and gives increased authority to state attorneys general to hold DHS accountable if the Department fails in its duty to restrict entry and detain illegal immigrants.
Also in March 2023, Senator Tuberville cosponsored the Stopping Border Surges Act to address loopholes in our immigration system that encourage vulnerable immigrant populations to take dangerous, illegal paths of entry into the United States. The legislation includes reforms that would reduce unsustainable surges of illegal immigrants, strengthen our asylum process, eliminate the incentive to send children to the border, and dampen the exploitative power of coyotes and cartels.
In 2021, Senator Tuberville introduced his first piece of legislation as U.S. Senator, which would require DHS to issue notices to appear to every single person paroled or released into the U.S., after media reported on the border becoming so overrun that Customs and Border Protection officers were forced to quickly release illegal immigrants into U.S. communities with no follow up for a date in immigration court.
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, and HELP Committees.
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