U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Alabama) joined a group of colleagues this week at a press conference to highlight their concerns about the Biden Administration’s border policies. The Senators claim that Joe Biden’s continued denial of this national security crisis has incentivized illegal immigration and created a safe haven for terrorists.
The press conference was led by Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee) and included Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas), John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia), Ted Budd (R-North Carolina), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), and Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin).
“If you look back over his administration, there have been 2.3 million people that have come here (last fiscal year alone),” said Sen. Britt in the press conference. “Guys, you need to put that in perspective. Alabama is the 24th largest state in the nation, and that is about half of our population of 5 million. That was the last fiscal year alone. If you look at the total compilation to this point in his administration, we’re at about 7 million.”
“To what you heard earlier from my colleagues, we’re hitting about 9,000 migrants at our border a day,” Sen. Britt continued. “At the current rate, we will hit 3 million in this next fiscal year alone. That’s over 10 million migrants who have come here illegally, across our border, during President Biden’s tenure.”
“Over 844 people died at the border last year, and you all read the story about an 8-year-old drowning,” Britt continued. “As a mom, that is completely and totally gut-wrenching and unacceptable. I have talked to women who have not just told me that they were raped, but they’ve told me how many times a day they were raped at the hands of the drug cartels.”
“You look at the drug cartels and what they’ve done with fentanyl in every community around this great nation,” Britt said. “Last year alone in Alabama, we had to use Narcan 15 times the first two months of our school year because of overdoses on campus. There is a mom, a dad, a brother, a sister, a cousin who is sitting around a dining room table tonight who is missing somebody because President Biden will not do his job.”
“And then you look at terrorists,” said Britt. “The numbers here don’t lie guys. Look at the last administration. The last administration, in that total time span of those four years, do you know how many people we found on the wanted terrorist watch list at the border? Eight. Do you know how many people on the terrorist watch list that we have caught at the border in the [current] fiscal year alone? And we’re not finished yet. 244.”
“We have a national security threat of epic proportion [on] our border; yet, at the same time, this White House is so unserious about it, that they’re actually proposing to defund ICE as a condition to continue to keep the government open beyond September 30,” Sen. Hagerty said. “If you don’t believe me, take a look at page 51 of the language that is appended to their ‘clean CR.’ On page 51, it gives them the authority to reprogram all of ICE’s funding, over $8 billion, to reprogram that and turn ICE into a resettlement agency. All of these funds can be reprogrammed to more rapidly push people into America. Instead of buying plane tickets to send people that have come here illegally—often many of them with violent criminal records—instead of buying plane tickets to send them back to their home country, ICE will now be buying plane tickets to send them to a town near you or me. This is egregious. It’s got to stop, and I’m glad that my colleagues have joined me today to bring attention to what’s happening at our southern border.”
Britt has made border security a top focus during her first several months in office. Recently, she joined Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and 25 colleagues in introducing the Secure the Border Act.
Katie Britt is the Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee for the Senate Committee on Appropriations. She was elected to the Senate in 2022.
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