Grassley on the Growing Border Crisis

Prepared Floor Remark by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa

On the Growing Border Crisis

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

 

I want to speak once again about the border crisis created by the Biden administration.

 

I spoke on this issue last week, and the situation has not improved since then. Encounters with family units and unaccompanied alien children continue to increase.

 

There are now reports that, in some segments of the border, illegal immigrants are being released into the interior of the United States without receiving a notice to appear in immigration court.

 

To be clear, it appears the Biden administration is now releasing some illegal immigrants into the United States without even attempting to give them an immigration court date, much less taking any real steps to ensure that they actually schedule their hearings or show up for their court date in the future.

 

This is totally unacceptable. This is catch and release without even pretending to care whether illegal immigrants show up for court or are removed from the country in the future.

 

This is also not sustainable. Every sovereign nation has a right and a duty to its citizens to control its borders.

 

What we are seeing from the Biden administration isn’t border control or security. It’s chaos. It’s what happens when you broadcast to the world that you have no intention of enforcing our nation’s immigration laws.

 

President Biden could take action to end this crisis today if he actually wanted to. He could restore the Migrant Protection Protocols and the asylum cooperative agreements the Trump administration signed with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

 

He could start building more physical infrastructure along our southern border, as administrations of both parties have done for over 20 years – including the administration in which he served as Vice President.

 

Rather than propose unserious blanket amnesty legislation that contains no real border security measures, he could work with Congress on common sense changes to our immigration laws that we all know are needed.

 

Finally, he could make clear that he is in favor of fully enforcing our immigration laws, as written, across the board.

 

Unfortunately, the Biden administration believes that the surge in illegal immigrants at the southern border due to its policies is a process to be managed rather than a crisis to be stopped.

 

As long as that’s the case, we won’t be able to truly secure our border and cut off the flow of illegal immigration to this country. Let’s hope things change soon.