On the recordMay 23, 2024
I stand here today, yet again, as the border crisis continues to devastate my State. On February 7, I stood here, angry that rank partisanship tanked the single most important piece of border security and immigration legislation produced in decades. As we all remember, last October, I joined with Senators James Lankford of Oklahoma and Chris Murphy of Connecticut to craft this legislation. We worked every single day for over 4 months, navigating difficult policy positions, working carefully to get it right. After months of tireless negotiations, we delivered a strong product. We produced a bill many thought impossible. We ended catch-and-release. We added more detention beds. We increased deportation flights. We quickly decided asylum claims, and we put Border Patrol back in the field where they belong--securing the border, not stuck inside processing paperwork. Yet, less than 24 hours after we released the bill, my Republican colleagues blocked it, despite the fact that this is the most restrictive migrant legislation in decades. My Democratic colleagues blamed Republican political theater for blocking action. So did I. They were right. I spoke here on the Senate floor twice in defense of our legislation. It turns out that my Republican colleagues were all talk and no action. Today, though, my Democratic colleagues have chosen more political theater instead of real efforts to solve this crisis. All talk and no actions goes both ways.…
