Republican Senators hold a press briefing to slam President Biden's border policy and a new executive order to limit asylum.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Well, good morning, everybody.
00:15We're here to talk about the President's latest executive order on the border.
00:22By my count, he's issued 94 executive orders since he's been President of the United States.
00:29But he's waited until today to actually do what he calls effective action to secure
00:37the border.
00:38And my question to him is, why did you wait until now if you were serious about doing
00:44it?
00:45The simple answer is he's not serious about securing the border.
00:50You know, we had some discussion about whether or not new laws were required to be passed.
00:55There were some negotiations on a potential border bill that was not successful.
01:00But the simple fact of the matter is that the same laws that were in effect back when
01:04President Trump was in office are still in effect.
01:09But the difference is the unwillingness of this White House and this administration simply
01:15to enforce the law.
01:17And you know the numbers, the numbers of people coming across have just been unprecedented,
01:23along with the drugs that have come across that have taken the lives of 108,000 Americans,
01:28including 71,000 due to fentanyl, the leading cause of death among 18- to 45-year-olds.
01:34And then there's the 400,000 unaccompanied children that have been placed with sponsors
01:39in the United States and simply lost by the Biden administration.
01:43They can't tell you whether these children are going to school, getting the healthcare
01:47they need, whether they're being trafficked for sex or forced into labor, as the New York
01:52Times investigative piece months ago disclosed.
01:56So they simply don't know, and frankly, they just don't care.
02:01And now we read, according to the New York Post, that all the asylum claims that have
02:06been stacked up in immigration courts that the Biden administration plans to simply dismiss
02:12approximately 350,000 of those cases.
02:16So they've opened the front door, and when the room gets too crowded, they open the back
02:20door.
02:22And it is a shell game.
02:26It is a shell game.
02:28They are not serious about it.
02:29This is a conversion based on the proximity of the next election and sinking poll numbers,
02:36and we think it deserves to be called out for what it is.
02:41Senator Graham.
02:43Senator, to friends in Texas and along the border, we definitely feel your pain.
02:50I talked to President Trump this morning, and he says this is a scam and people will
02:55see through it.
02:56I think he's dead right.
02:58If you want the border secured and you're waiting on this group to do it, you're going
03:02to die waiting.
03:04So the policy, as I understand it, is going to be an economic boom for the cartels.
03:09This is literally some of the best things that could happen for the business of illegal
03:13immigration because there's going to be a cap where you kind of shut it down every day.
03:19So if you're a cartel, you're going to rack and stack them.
03:22You're going to find out exactly how many can get through a day, and you say, who would
03:26like to pay more to move up to the line?
03:28The biggest beneficiary of this policy is going to be human trafficking cartels who
03:34will charge more to get in the group that's going to go through.
03:38And at the end of the day, you'll have to wait longer and pay more, but you're coming
03:43in.
03:45And if you want to stop the flow, here's what President Trump said he will do on day
03:51one.
03:52They will keep coming until they see people leaving.
03:56He told me this morning, when he gets to be president, not only is he going to secure
04:01the border, he's going to deport hundreds of thousands of people here illegally.
04:06If you want to shut down illegal immigration, those coming need to see an outflow by the
04:12tens and hundreds of thousands.
04:15That will deter.
04:16The only policy change that will work is to have mass deportations, because people will
04:22stop coming when they see people leaving.
04:26Senator Kennedy.
04:32Okay.
04:34I want you to listen up.
04:43Here's the drill.
04:47President Biden is in trouble politically.
04:54He's polling right up there with fungal infections.
04:59Part of the reason for that is that he gave in to the loon wing of his party, and he dissolved
05:07the southern border.
05:11Now five months before an election, he has to appear to be willing to do something about
05:19it.
05:20Hence this executive order.
05:24And he expects you to report this epiphany that he has had.
05:32Take what the White House is telling you, balance it on your noses like trained seals,
05:42and report it uncritically.
05:48For three years, we have watched President Biden push on a door that has been clearly
05:58marked full.
06:00He's mismanaged Congress, COVID, the national debt, the economy, inflation, crime, Afghanistan,
06:09Iran, the war in Gaza, the war in Ukraine, and now, of course, the border.
06:19And every time I think the president has hit rock bottom, he has managed to find a shovel
06:28and continue to dig.
06:32Hence this executive order.
06:35And I think that's what the American people see.
06:38The first question I would ask President Biden is this.
06:42It's a little late, isn't it, Mr. President?
06:47It's a little late.
06:51You can't make this cat walk backwards.
06:54The president's border policies have allowed 8 million people to come into our country
07:00illegally.
07:02If you try to come into our country today illegally, you are a sucker.
07:08You are a sucker.
07:10All you have to do is present yourself at the southern border.
07:14Now, for three years, President Biden told us all, there is no crisis at the southern
07:22border for reasons clearly stated on the teleprompter.
07:27And his plan to deal with the crisis at the border was to pretend that there wasn't a
07:34crisis at the border.
07:36Some of you reported that.
07:38Some of you didn't.
07:39Well, when the American people figured it out, because they may be poorer under President
07:45Biden, but they're not stupid, the Biden administration shifted its strategy.
07:51It then said, well, we know there's a crisis at the border, but we don't have any authority
07:55to fix it.
07:57That didn't work either, because the American people aren't so deep stupid.
08:03So now he has decided to tell you that he has been born again.
08:10He has had an epiphany.
08:12He is now a border hawk.
08:16And that's what he wants you to report.
08:20Look, you can cut the hypocrisy with a knife.
08:28You know, I have seen the good side of politics, but I've also seen the dark side.
08:35I spent 25 years in the major leagues of Louisiana politics before I was sent down to the miners
08:43here in Washington.
08:45I have seen the good side, but I've seen the dark side.
08:49This is the most, one of the most cynical things that I have ever seen a politician
08:56attempt to do five months before an election.
09:01It is insulting.
09:03It is cheap.
09:06It is contemptuous.
09:08The American people see that.
09:11And I hope, I hope you do too.
09:20You're the man.
09:21All right.
09:22Thank you, John.
09:23It has been nearly three years since President Biden put Vice President Harris in charge
09:30of addressing the open southern border that we have.
09:34And now we have this executive order that President Biden wants us to believe is going
09:40to fix this.
09:42It just shows how unserious he is about addressing and securing our southern border.
09:50President Obama's National Homeland Security Secretary, Jeh Johnson, said a thousand people
09:56trying to cross the border in a single day was a crisis.
10:02This executive order is going to be two and a half times that.
10:08President Biden isn't addressing the crisis.
10:11He's maintaining a catastrophe.
10:15Since he's been in office, he has allowed all the Trump era policies that worked so
10:21successfully to either go away, not enforced, or he's repealed them.
10:26In his first hundred days of office, he had issued 94 executive orders.
10:31President Trump built 500 miles of wall.
10:35President Biden stopped that with his executive order.
10:39He stopped deportations.
10:42President Trump was doing internal immigration enforcement, going after sanctuary cities.
10:48President Biden signed an executive order repealing that.
10:52He ended the Remain in Mexico policy.
10:55And what do we get when President Biden undoes all President Trump's policies that worked
11:00so effectively, that brought illegal border crossings down to a 40-year low?
11:05Well, we get nearly 10 million people who've tried to enter our country illegally.
11:10We've seen a humanitarian crisis, drug trafficking crisis, sex trafficking, child trafficking,
11:17a national security crisis.
11:19Last year, 172 people on the terrorist watch list, the FBI terrorist watch list, tried
11:25to cross into our country.
11:26And those are just the ones we caught.
11:29Under President Trump's four years, that number was 14.
11:34This president is not serious.
11:38He has opened our southern border.
11:40And now, because it's election year, he's trying to show the American people that he's
11:46taking steps.
11:47But we're not going to believe it.
11:50If he were serious, he would implement the Trump-era policies that so successfully brought
11:56the numbers of illegal people crossing our border down.
12:01He is not serious.
12:02I am proud here to stand with my Republican colleagues, to call on the president to get
12:07serious about securing our southern border and protect the American people, because he
12:11is failing, he is endangering our country, and the American people will not be fooled
12:17by this political ploy.
12:23Too little, too late.
12:24Mr. President, Joe Biden, this is too little, this is too late, and the American public
12:30knows it's too late.
12:32This stunt is not going to save your political life.
12:35Thanks to you, the 11 million people that have crossed this border illegally, this is
12:39now the number one defining issue of this presidential election.
12:44I, too, want to say thanks to Senator Cornyn for leading this.
12:47No one's been impacted more by this than the state of Texas.
12:52Why is this important to Kansans?
12:54There's three arteries that come out of the state of Texas and go right through my home
12:58in Kansas, and then it bifurcates and goes east and west, and consequently, we're seeing
13:04record numbers of fentanyl deaths, record amounts of human trafficking, and everything
13:09else that goes along with this.
13:12Today I address everybody here with a concerned heart and a deep sense of urgency.
13:18You know, concerned for the fact that families don't feel safe anymore in the state of Kansas.
13:26For over three years, this administration has treated our national security and sovereignty
13:30as mere afterthoughts.
13:32Our borders have been left vulnerable and the safety of our citizens compromised.
13:37And here we stand just five months before this critical election, with Joe Biden and
13:42the Democrats grasping for a political lifeline.
13:46Their recent announcement is nothing more than a desperate ploy to distract from their
13:50failures, but let me be once again unequivocal.
13:54This is too little, too late.
13:57This administration's neglect is a direct affront to every American family who has endured
14:02the devastation of fentanyl poisoning and violent crime linked to illegal migration.
14:07I suppose we're up to 250,000 Americans, young adults, that have died from fentanyl poisoning
14:13under Joe Biden's watch.
14:15That's three times more than the number of soldiers we lost in Vietnam.
14:22This President's reactions, his steps, are a cruel slap in the face to families like
14:27Lake and Riley's and to all families that are mourning loved ones lost to crime or fentanyl
14:32poisoning.
14:34But make no mistake, the only ones celebrating Joe Biden's so-called solutions are the cartels.
14:40These criminal organizations have taken control of our border operations, turning them into
14:44a sophisticated enterprise of human trafficking and drug smuggling.
14:49This is not about securing our borders.
14:51This is about Joe Biden's enabling organized crime.
14:55Now, despite their claims, the policy represents nothing more than a superficial gesture, allowing
15:022,500 illegal aliens to cross the borders between the ports of entry.
15:07That's just 2,500 between the ports of entry.
15:10That's not counting the number of people that are coming in through the ports of entry.
15:13It's not counting the number of gotaways, known or unknown gotaways.
15:19This translates to over a million illegal entries per year under Joe Biden's watch.
15:25This isn't just negligence, it's complicity.
15:29Joe Biden is not failing to stop this invasion.
15:32He's actively facilitating the invasion by ignoring the crisis.
15:37He's empowering the very criminals who seek to destabilize our nation.
15:42Like Senator Ricketts said, let's not forget the words of the Obama-Biden DHS Secretary
15:48Jay Johnson, who stated in 2009 that 1,000 illegal crossings a day overwhelms the system.
15:55So at this 2,500 number, the system will be overwhelmed, and again, we're not going to
16:00be able to keep track of the known or unknown gotaways.
16:05Joe Biden's decisions are basically rubber stamping the presence of cartel and criminal
16:09enterprises at our borders and really throughout the entire nation now.
16:13This is not a policy.
16:14This is a betrayal of the American people by the White House.
16:18It's high time we demand accountability and real solutions to secure our borders and protect
16:22our nation.
16:24Thank you, Senator Cornyn, for putting together this press conference, and as my colleagues
16:33have stated, we have seen a real crisis in the United States, and why?
16:40It didn't have to happen.
16:42On day one of his presidency, Joe Biden rolled into the White House, he got into the Oval,
16:48and he dismantled everything that President Trump had in place that kept a lid on these
16:56illegal border crossings.
16:58So now here we are years later, and it has taken 10 million illegal border crossings
17:06for President Biden to step up and acknowledge that there is a crisis at the border, and
17:13you know what, folks?
17:14It's his own making.
17:16He really could have used his authority all along.
17:19We all know that, and yet he chose to do absolutely nothing about it.
17:25So why is he doing it now?
17:27Well, folks, you don't have to be that intelligent to see what's going on.
17:32We have an election just a few months away.
17:35And this is the number one issue across the United States.
17:39In Iowa, it's gone back and forth between the border and inflation, both caused by President
17:46Joe Biden.
17:47But right now, you ask Iowans, what's the major issue on the horizon?
17:53And they will tell you it is our southern border.
17:57So Biden halted border wall construction that was underway.
18:02Build the border.
18:03That's what we saw in the Trump administration.
18:06He reinstated catch and release.
18:07He's just dumping illegal border crossers into the United States.
18:12He has been selling off the materials purchased to build the wall for pennies on the dollar.
18:21Pennies on the dollar, taxpayer dollars.
18:23And the Democrats have blocked Sarah's law, which is really important to me.
18:30Sarah Root was killed by an illegal alien years and years ago.
18:35And we have been trying to do something about this, and yet we see Democrats in cahoots
18:40with Joe Biden saying, no way, just let these violent illegals go free.
18:47And you know what?
18:48Again, this is all a stunt.
18:50It's a political stunt.
18:52You know, there's doublespeak in the White House.
18:54We hear it all the time.
18:55You know, I'll give you some examples.
18:57I have an ironclad commitment to Israel.
19:01Oh, but let's support Hamas and the Palestinians in their protests.
19:05Let's block weapons from going to Israel.
19:09Let's put sanctions on Iran.
19:11Oh, but let's not enforce them.
19:14Well, here we have it again.
19:16Yet once again, another stunt.
19:19Another stunt.
19:20Oh, let's do an executive order on the border, but, you know, let's make it so it really
19:26doesn't do a darn thing.
19:28It just helps us get through to November.
19:30This is such a ridiculous point in time.
19:34So much so that over the weekend, I had a family gathering.
19:38And my mother said, you know, one of our family members that she was talking with, she's a
19:44lifelong Democrat.
19:46She is a lifelong Democrat, folks.
19:49Her husband had to write me a campaign check because she didn't want her name associated
19:53with a Republican.
19:55That's how Democrat she is.
19:57And she told my mother, I'm thinking of voting for President Trump.
20:00I will not cast my vote for President Biden.
20:04That's how bad things are, folks.
20:06People are seeing through it.
20:07Iowans are seeing through it.
20:09This is just a joke.
20:11Let's do something about the border.
20:14And you know what?
20:15I think we're going to have to wait until January when President Trump comes back into
20:18office to actually see something done about it.
20:24Thank you, Senator Cornyn.
20:25Thank you for your leadership on this issue.
20:29The American people are living the results of this open border.
20:35Every town is a border town.
20:37Every state is a border state.
20:40And it is all because Joe Biden's border policy is an open border.
20:47And we have seen that from day one.
20:52Let's look at the 94 executive actions that he took in his first 100 days, 94 that opened
21:02up the border and made legal immigration more difficult, and opened the way for illegal
21:11immigration.
21:12Indeed, you could say that one of the focuses of this administration has been to make illegal
21:19legal.
21:21Think about it.
21:22We have an American president who is choosing to find ways to help people circumvent the
21:30rule of law.
21:32That is what this administration is doing.
21:35And you need look no further than Biden's border policy by the numbers.
21:42The 94 executive actions, the 10 million illegal aliens that have crossed into this
21:52country, the over 350 known terrorists – 350 – that have come to that southern border.
22:05Then you have the 350 aliens who entered and were trying to get asylum, and their cases
22:13are dismissed.
22:14They are free to stay – 350,000.
22:20Start to add up these numbers.
22:23Look at what it gives you.
22:25It gives you the number one issue with the American people, which is the open southern
22:32border.
22:33It is the 108,000 drug deaths from last year, people that are dying of fentanyl.
22:41It is the gangs that are in our communities that have never seen a gang, the crime that
22:48is in our streets, the human trafficking, the sex trafficking.
22:53The numbers are adding up.
22:56And here you go with an election year political gimmick to try to push this issue aside so
23:03that he can go to a debate and say, well, I did something.
23:07You're right.
23:09He did do something.
23:11He did it on day one by dismantling a secure border that President Trump had handed over
23:19to him and turning it into an open border where we do not know who is coming into the
23:26country or the reason that they are coming into the country.
23:31I'd like to thank Senator Cruz for co-hosting this and invite him to take the podium, and
23:37then we'll close it out and move on.
23:40Joe Biden and the Democrats have presided over a criminal invasion of the United States
23:44of America.
23:45We are facing the worst illegal immigration our nation has ever seen.
23:49Seven million illegal immigrants have come in, invited by the Democrats.
23:55When Joe Biden came into office, he inherited the lowest rate of illegal immigration in
23:5945 years.
24:00All he had to do was nothing, just sit there and stare at the wall.
24:08But instead, he deliberately broke the system.
24:13This chart on the right shows when Biden came into office, you had historic lows.
24:19The instant he was sworn in, the numbers skyrocketed.
24:24It went from the lowest rate in 45 years to today, the highest rate in the history of
24:31our nation.
24:32This is deliberate.
24:33Now, today, President Biden and the Democrats have a press conference.
24:37And here's what they're announcing.
24:40He could have stopped this every single day of his presidency.
24:44When he signs this executive order, the only question anyone should ask is, why didn't
24:49you do this in 2021?
24:51Why didn't you do this in 2022?
24:53Why didn't you do this in 2023?
24:54Why didn't you do this last month, or the month before, or the month before?
24:58How many dead bodies is enough?
25:04You want to understand the consequences, take a look at the two police officers in New York
25:09who were shot this week by an illegal alien that Joe Biden and the Democrats released.
25:17The assailant, Bernardo Raul Castro Mata, is a name really out of Charles Dickens.
25:24Mata is Spanish for he kills.
25:27His middle name is a communist murdering dictator.
25:31And what happened?
25:32He came illegally from Venezuela.
25:34He came to John and my home state of Texas.
25:36He came to Eagle Pass.
25:38We had him apprehended.
25:39And what did he do?
25:40He did what Joe Biden and the Democrats have done for three and a half years.
25:43He let him go.
25:45He let him go.
25:47And Mr. Mata went to New York City and shot two New York cops this week.
25:55That's happening every single week.
25:57We have not had a week go by when someone is not shot, someone is not murdered, a child
26:02is not raped by an illegal immigrant released by Joe Biden and the Democrats.
26:10Now understand what is going on here.
26:13This is election year politics.
26:15And by the way, we've seen this game before.
26:17Apparently, the Democrats have one playbook, which is create a crisis and then a couple
26:22of months before the election, do something very mild to address the crisis and say, see
26:27problem solved.
26:28We saw this with gas prices.
26:30Right before the last election, gas prices had doubled.
26:33People were hurting.
26:34And what did he do?
26:35Right before the election, he releases oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
26:39Gas prices fell a little bit.
26:41And they victory lap that they've reduced gas prices a tiny bit from the massive historic
26:46highs they've had.
26:47We also saw this on student loans.
26:49Last election, right before the election, what does Joe Biden do?
26:52He says, I'm giving away a trillion dollars to young people.
26:54By the way, young people, come vote for Democrats now.
26:57Now, he knew he was lying to them.
27:01He knew what he was doing was illegal.
27:02He knew the Supreme Court would strike it down.
27:03And of course, it did.
27:05This is the same game.
27:07What they are announcing is they're going to issue an executive order that normalizes
27:12illegal immigration at 4,000 people a day.
27:154,000 people a day is 1.5 million a year.
27:19And understand on this chart, I'm actually going to pull this chart over here, because
27:22what they're doing is unusually cynical.
27:26He came in here.
27:27The numbers skyrocketed here.
27:294,000 a day is 120,000.
27:31So we're right here.
27:32He's proposing to lower it to right here, to lower it just a bit, and then to play the
27:39same game he played on gas prices.
27:40They say, look at the great victory.
27:42And by the way, if God forbid Joe Biden is reelected, the number will go from 120 back
27:48up to here, because this is what they want.
27:52The Democrats want that criminal invasion.
27:57And the police officers being shot, the young women being murdered, the children being raped,
28:02they're unwilling to stand up and protect them.
28:05It's immoral.
28:06It's wrong.
28:07And what the White House is doing today is they're just playing a political game.
28:11Well, let's do the math.
28:21Open border, closed border.
28:23You come into office.
28:24President Biden comes into office.
28:2670 executive orders on the border and immigration, 10 plus million people come in legally across
28:33our border.
28:35Now five months before the election, he's going to issue an order, an executive order
28:41that's supposedly going to secure the border, except it doesn't.
28:45Check it out.
28:46I mean, it doesn't even begin until you have more than a million people coming here illegally
28:52on top of the million that come legally.
28:56So do the math.
28:57What's this really about?
28:59How can you argue the actual numbers?
29:02Look at the numbers.
29:03Furthermore, how is this going to secure the border?
29:05He's got all these exceptions, and he refuses to enforce remain in Mexico or third state
29:11country or build the border wall.
29:15So this is just more talk for the campaign.
29:18Five months, five months before the campaign, he comes out with one executive order after
29:24issuing 70 throughout his administration, allowing more than 10 million plus people
29:30in here, 169 on the terrorist watch list.
29:34And you heard what Senator Cruz just said about the recent shooting of two policemen
29:39in New York City from an illegal immigrant who was in custody and was released.
29:46How bad does it have to get?
29:48How bad does it have to get before we look through the campaign rhetoric and lip service
29:54and secure this border?
29:55And it's this simple.
29:56It's this simple.
29:58All President Biden has to do is enforce the law, enforce the law, enforce the law.
30:04Third safe country remain in Mexico.
30:07Now you do that.
30:09And maybe we can have a serious discussion about this administration doing something
30:13other than continue to promote open borders so that he can get elected and run that spigot
30:19wide open again.
30:21What?
30:22The corner.
30:23I mean, timing aside, are you happy with some of the contents of this executive order?
30:30Is this a step in the right direction, albeit, you know, a late one?
30:34No, it's a fig leaf.
30:36He has absolutely no intention of actually enforcing any of this.
30:41If he did, he would have done enforce the law, as we've heard time and time again at
30:46the beginning of his administration, whether than piecemeal dismantle through all these
30:50executive orders you've heard about the existing border security protection.
30:55So this is not an improvement.
30:59This is a fig leaf.
31:00And I think the American people are not going to be fooled.
31:03Yes, ma'am.
31:04Curiosity.
31:05You've obviously worked with Democrats before on a number of issues, including trying to
31:10negotiate something on the border.
31:11Do you hear anything from the Biden administration?
31:14Did they ask for any input ahead of this executive order today?
31:19Well, you know, passing legislation is hard and sometimes it takes a long, concerted effort.
31:26But the Biden administration basically is not engaged at all.
31:31They claim that a single negotiation that occurred a few months ago was supposed to
31:36be some panacea.
31:38The problem is, if they aren't enforcing current law, what gives you any confidence they will
31:43enforce any new laws?
31:45And that's another reason why I think this executive order is just political cover and
31:52the American people aren't going to be fooled.
31:54Ted, why don't you take the question?
31:58Yeah.
32:00You criticized this move as a political play.
32:03How would you respond to the administration's assertion that the rejection of the Senate
32:07border deal in February was a political play by Republicans?
32:11It's totally false.
32:13The Democrats' border legislation was terrible.
32:17The Democrats' border legislation that Chuck Schumer put forward was actually designed,
32:21it was the same thing as this executive order.
32:24It was political camouflage.
32:26It would have codified, it would have put into federal law, Joe Biden's catch and release,
32:35the practice when they apprehend an illegal immigrant, they let him go.
32:37By the way, it means Mr. Mata, who just shot two police officers, under the Democrat legislation,
32:43he would have been released.
32:44He would have been in New York.
32:45He would have shot those two cops.
32:47It puts into law that illegal immigrants, when they're released, automatically get a
32:52work permit.
32:53It ends up benefiting illegal immigrants and attracting even more.
32:57It puts into law that many illegal immigrants get a taxpayer-funded attorney.
33:05Not only that, that legislation also put into law billions of dollars for the NGOs that
33:11are actively facilitating the criminal invasion of this country, working with the cartels.
33:17And on top of that, it normalized 5,000 illegal immigrants a day.
33:22That is 1.8 million a year.
33:26And Chuck Schumer's fake immigration bill would have had 1.8 million illegal immigrants
33:32every year in perpetuity forever.
33:37Schumer at the outset said he was not willing to secure the border.
33:40He was not willing to agree to anything that actually secured the border.
33:44And the entire purpose of that bill was so Democrats could do, look, Joe Biden is going
33:50to claim, gosh, we had the Schumer bill.
33:54But mean President Trump didn't like it.
33:57And so that's why the criminal invasion happened, except if you look at the chart, the criminal
34:02invasion didn't happen two months ago.
34:04It happened in January 2021.
34:06What happened in January 2021?
34:08Joe Biden put his hand on the Bible and lied to the American people when he said he would
34:12faithfully execute the laws of this country.
34:15He hasn't done that.
34:18This is all about politics.
34:19Yeah.
34:20Senator, in all fairness, I mean, it's also Senator Lankford's border bill.
34:21I mean, was it a mistake politically for Senator Lankford to sit down with Democrats and try
34:22and hash something out?
34:23All right.
34:24Go ahead.
34:25Before the let me let me tell you what happened.
34:39Before the the foreign aid bill, Republicans in the Senate said, look, we would like to
34:47use this as an opportunity to try to secure the border.
34:51It's clear that President Biden is not going to do it on his own.
34:55Senator McConnell appointed Senator Lankford, a good man.
35:01To negotiate.
35:03Some sort of border security package.
35:06James was negotiating with two people, Chuck Schumer and Chris Murphy.
35:13Both of them, each of whom believes passionately in open borders.
35:19Those negotiations were held in private.
35:22Maybe my colleagues knew what the terms were being what terms were being discussed, but
35:30I didn't.
35:31In fact, I continuously cautioned our caucus.
35:36We need to know more about what we're doing here.
35:40And there was a concern about leaks.
35:41I get that.
35:43And there was a concern that it would make the Democrats mad if we all knew what was
35:48going on.
35:50And it took months.
35:51I'm not I'm not criticizing James.
35:53Let me say it again.
35:56He's negotiating to really three people, if you include President Biden, four if you include
36:00the Secretary of Homeland Security, all of whom believe in open borders.
36:07Finally they reveal the bill.
36:11And most, not all, but most Senate Republicans said, no, this won't do the job and we're
36:19not going to vote for it.
36:21Now that's what happened.
36:24And you can pretty it up all you want to.
36:27And the president can can spend the day play acting and issuing an executive order and
36:32saying I'm having to do this because Republicans refuse to act.
36:38But what I just told you is actually it's actually what happened.
36:41Let me add something just real simple to that.
36:47President Biden is for open borders.
36:49President Biden wants open borders.
36:50The evidence is there.
36:51It's right in front of you.
36:52So he is not going to agree to any legislation, nor will he issue an executive order to close
36:57the border.
36:58He can close the border right now.
36:59All he has to do is enforce existing law.
37:01It's as plain as the nose in your face.
37:04He wants open borders and he won't agree to anything that actually secures the border.
37:08Let me give you an example.
37:12One thing I would add to that.
37:13If you were interested in border security, then Durbin and Schumer would have taken up
37:20H.R. 2, which H.R. 2 arrived in the U.S. Senate on May 15th, 2023.
37:29Now, at Homeland Security Committee, at Judiciary Committee, we've had a lot of meetings.
37:34We've repeatedly asked, why don't we take up H.R. 2?
37:38If they didn't like H.R. 2, they could have amended H.R. 2.
37:43But they chose never to take up the issue of securing the border.
37:50What they did choose to do was say, let's deal with the aftermath of an open border
37:58and pass something that doesn't address the root cause.
38:04They had their shot.
38:05They chose not to take it.
38:07Donald Trump left them a secure border.
38:13There are the numbers on Ted's chart.
38:16They chose never to take an action that would keep those numbers low.
38:23And then they chose not to take up H.R. 2 that would give them a remedy.
38:40No, the White House won't agree to anything.
38:42So understand, Marcia just made a very important point on H.R. 2.
38:46The House passed strong legislation that would have secured the border, H.R. 2.
38:49It was designed to secure the border.
38:51I introduced H.R. 2 in the Senate.
38:53Twice I forced a vote on the Senate floor on H.R. 2.
38:56Twice.
38:57Every single Democrat voted no.
39:00Now, the press very meekly reported what Chuck Schumer said,
39:03which is H.R. 2 is dead in the Senate.
39:06Why?
39:07Because it's designed to work.
39:09H.R. 2 is designed to lower the numbers back to where they were when Biden came into office.
39:15It's designed to secure the border.
39:17So Schumer was right.
39:18H.R. 2 was dead in the Senate.
39:19Why?
39:19Because the Democrats want this border invasion.
39:24That is the outcome they want.
39:27So you can't negotiate.
39:28Now, I will say this.
39:29I'm going to make a prediction.
39:30In the next five months, we're going to see a very modest decrease in illegal immigration.
39:35Why?
39:35Because Joe Biden controls it.
39:38He caused this.
39:39The Democrats want this invasion.
39:42So the next five months, you're going to see the numbers go down slightly.
39:45So then they can say, see, we solved the problem.
39:48It's a lie.
39:50They know it's a lie.
39:52And if, God forbid, they win in November, the numbers will skyrocket again and more people will die.
39:58Go ahead.
39:58Last question.
39:59Yeah.
40:01Excuse me.
40:02A lot of you have talked about this being the number one issue for voters.
40:06You're running for re-election.
40:08There's a lot of polling, maybe not in Texas, but in other states where Democratic incumbents are polling better than Joe Biden.
40:17That maybe they're not facing the blowback that you think they should.
40:21I'm wondering, you've talked to a lot of states and a lot of other senators are trying to elect a Republican Senate.
40:28I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on how – on the messaging from Republicans to get across in states that are not on the border, states like Michigan or states like Ohio.
40:42Well, I can tell you in Texas, the invasion at our southern border is the number one issue in the state of Texas, and I believe it is compelling across the country.
40:50Now, you're right.
40:51Democrat senators, when they go home, there are a lot of senators that go home that pretend they're not crazy, that pretend they're actually moderate, middle of the road.
41:00It's an absolute lie.
41:02On this issue, every single Democrat, all of them, have voted for this over and over and over again.
41:10HR, too.
41:11They had the opportunity.
41:12Do you want to secure the border?
41:13Every Democrat voted no.
41:14John Tester, he goes back to Montana, says, it's terrible what's happening at the border, and then he votes against securing the border.
41:22Bob Casey goes back to Pennsylvania and says, oh, we've got to do something about immigration, and then he votes against securing the border.
41:29Every single Democrat, every one of them.
41:34I forced a vote a couple of years ago on Kate's law.
41:37All right, you want to talk about common sense legislation?
41:39Kate's law polls at about 90%.
41:42Why is that?
41:42Because it's named after Kate Steinle, beautiful young woman in California murdered on a California pier by an illegal immigrant who had been released over and over and over again through the revolving door of Democrats letting violent criminals go.
41:58Kate's law says that anyone who enters the country repeatedly illegally with an aggravated felony will face a mandatory minimum prison sentence.
42:07In any room in America, in the bluest state in America, if you ask people, they say, yeah, Kate's law makes perfect sense.
42:14I forced a vote on the Senate floor.
42:16Every single Democrat voted no on Kate's law.
42:22So the challenge is, frankly, our friends in the media who are here, repeat the adjective.
42:32When you discuss John Tester, you call him the moderate Democrat.
42:35He's not a moderate Democrat.
42:37Every single time he's voted in favor of this invasion.
42:41And there is a disconnect, because every Democrat goes home and pretends they don't want this problem to happen, but they all want it.
42:49And the reason is they look at that invasion and they see future Democrat voters.
42:55This is all about power.
42:57This is the most cynical decision I've ever seen.
42:59Listen, every one of us here has been down to the border multiple times.
43:03I'll tell you, when you look in the eyes of a little girl or a little boy who's been brutalized, who's been abused by human traffickers, when you see women who've been repeatedly raped.
43:15It's evil.
43:18And every Democrat votes in favor.
43:22Thank you, guys.