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“Border Security (Executive Calendar)” mentioning Roger Marshall was published in the Senate section on pages S4027-S4028 on June 10.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
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The publication is reproduced in full below:
Border Security
Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. President, I come to the floor today following the conclusion of Vice President Harris's border evasion tour to Guatemala and Mexico earlier this week.
As a physician, I have had the opportunity to do multiple mission trips to Mexico and Central America, and I have been to the border now three times. I have seen the crisis firsthand, which is why it was so concerning to me that in the early days of this new administration, they followed through on a number of campaign promises related to opening our border and curbing control measures put in place by the previous administration.
Just to be clear, the current administration issued multiple Executive orders and actions on immigration, including halting construction of the border wall, ending the ``Remain in Mexico'' policy, and reaffirming the White House's commitment to grant blanket amnesty to 11 million illegal immigrants residing in the United States. While President Biden and his administration appear surprised by the massive influx of immigrants and migrants encountered in the aftermath, this was a predictable result.
As described by the President of Guatemala, once the message from the White House changed to, ``We're going to reunite families, we're going to reunite children. The very next day, the coyotes were here organizing groups of children to take them to the United States.''
On March 24, after months of resulting escalating crises on our southern border, President Biden tapped Vice President Harris to serve as his border czar. In the 10 weeks that have passed since her appointment, the situation at the border has continued to worsen. In April, Customs and Border Protection officials made more than 178,000 apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border. In May, they once again made more than 170,000 apprehensions, marking the third straight month over that figure. These are 20-year records.
As demonstrated in an interview with Lester Holt this week, Vice President Harris considers these staggering numbers a laughing matter. If she took her role seriously and actually visited our southern border, she would realize that Americans who live in border communities are not laughing. That is because their towns are being overwhelmed by migrants, and they feel their lives are in danger.
Now, the origin of these migrants has expanded as the crisis has gone on. In recent weeks and months, Border Patrol has encountered significant numbers of migrants from Ecuador, Venezuela, Cuba, and Brazil. While these arrivals have come from a wide variety of nations, the majority of the border crossings continue to come from Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
Despite years of foreign aid and assistance to the nations, this is a trend we have seen growing in recent years. Since 2018, Border Patrol has encountered approximately 5 percent of Honduras's population, 3.5 percent of Guatemala's, and roughly 3 percent of El Salvador's population. Now Vice President Harris is proposing to provide more than
$300 million in regional humanitarian aid and a $4 billion long-term plan for Central America.
However, as this graph shows, there is little evidence to show that this type of cash injection will reduce migration from these Northern Triangle nations, and Biden administration officials acknowledge that even if these efforts were successful, it would take years or possibly even decades to truly make an impact. This is not the type of urgency needed to address this raging crisis on our border. This is simply throwing good money after bad money.
Let's take a look how policy impacts the border. This graph proves the cause of the crisis is policy, and aid has been ineffective in remaking the economy of the Northern Triangle. These economies need much more than intermittent aid infusion. I like to use the phrase
``trade not aid.'' Since entering into CAFTA-DR in 2005, the United States has increased trade between the United States and the other six countries in the agreement: Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. As of 2019, goods traded among the countries included in the pact increased by 62 percent. By working to expand trade in the region, the United States could boost capital investment and prosperity.
This type of productivity could result in further good job opportunities and encourage individuals in the Northern Triangle to remain home rather than pouring across our southern border. It also has the potential to reconfigure supply chains away from China and bolster our relationship with nations in our hemisphere at a time when China is moving to exploit developing countries.
I have seen the empty warehouses and jobs leaving Central America firsthand in Honduras on mission trips--a result of China entering the World Trade Organization. Through stronger trade agreements, we can help bring jobs back to our hemisphere, particularly those that would help address some of our medical supply challenges, such as making medical gowns, masks, and gloves. These could easily be made in Central America.
At the same time, it is absurd that this administration cannot chew gum and walk at the same time. Proposing $4 billion of taxpayer funds in an aid package, when their recently proposed $6 trillion budget request does not include funding increases for the missions carried out by the Department of Homeland Security along the border, is astonishing.
A final point, Vice President Harris keeps saying she wants to get to the root of the problem, and while White House policy has created the crisis at the border, the true long-term root of the problem is the lack of law and order in Central America, which leads to unstable economies.
The policies first put in place by President Obama and now by the current administration have enriched the cartels, further encouraged violence, and harmed Central American economies. By not truly addressing the roots, their policies continue to encourage migrants to make the long dangerous journey north.
We must continue to build a wall along the southern border and increase funding for technology, radars, towers, air assets, and others. We must also reinstate the ``Remain in Mexico'' program. Our Vice President, acting as border czar, must visit our southern border communities and the CBP agents and officers overwhelmed by this self-
inflicted crisis.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
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