During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) spoke about President Trump's border security policies.
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00:00Senator from Oklahoma is recognized.
00:03Mr. President, I have six requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate.
00:07They have the approval of the majority and the minority leaders.
00:10Duly noted.
00:13Mr. President, I spent last weekend along our southern border again,
00:17as I have done many weekends to be able to get down on their border in different areas.
00:21Last weekend, I went down to the San Diego-Tijuana border area.
00:26That area, there's 1.3 million people living in San Diego.
00:30That city bumps right up against our border with Tijuana.
00:34Tijuana, Mexico has over 2 million people living in that town.
00:38There is a 30-foot fence that actually separates the two there.
00:42That is a double-section fence.
00:44It is incredibly important to be able to manage that border,
00:47not only for the crossing of traffic illegally, but also for the crossing of legal traffic.
00:53It's one of the largest ports and traffic movement of people and cargo in the world.
00:59It is right there.
01:00And it's an incredibly important location for us.
01:03I went there to be able to see the implementation of the new authorities
01:07and the things that the president is actually implementing there
01:10that has so precipitously dropped the movement of illegal immigration
01:14and has dramatically increased the number of interdiction of drugs that are moving through that area
01:20that literally benefits the entire country.
01:23What I found when I visited with the folks from CBP was that morale was up and the chaos is down.
01:33I found folks that are there that are law enforcement professionals actually doing law enforcement.
01:38When I visited with some of those same folks before during the Biden administration,
01:42they were being treated like hotel check-in staff.
01:45They were being asked to actually just move people into the country as fast as possible.
01:49Now they're actually able to do their job to actually enforce the law to do what they signed up to do.
01:56And they're eager to be able to protect the nation and know full well the threats that we are facing.
02:02That area in San Diego, we've had more what are called special interest aliens move through that area of our border
02:10than any other area of our entire 2,000-mile-long border with Mexico.
02:16People from Russia and China, from Central Africa, from Uzbekistan and multiple other places fly into Tijuana
02:24and then literally drive up to the gap in the fence and walk across right into the United States.
02:31At least that's how it used to be.
02:34That's not what's happening anymore.
02:37So I want to be able to talk through with this body a few of the things that I saw there
02:41and the work that is still undone.
02:43One, that section of the gap in the fence, it's right there at Tijuana on the eastern side of San Diego.
02:49That gap is still there, but something has changed. Construction is beginning to be able to close that gap.
02:57And it's incredibly important.
02:58It's one of the first places that CBP and Border Patrol took me and pointed out to say,
03:03we need this gap closed.
03:05It's very important that we actually get this gap secured because it's in a very remote area,
03:10difficult to traverse, and it's dangerous for our Border Patrol folks to have to be able to chase someone through that area.
03:16In fact, while I was in that area around that gap, I literally watched one of the Lakota helicopters come in
03:22and to be able to identify someone who was literally cutting through that area and smuggling right through that zone.
03:28The good news is things are different now.
03:30That person was caught because we have the manpower in place to be able to catch them,
03:35and that person will be deported immediately.
03:38That's also a big change that's actually occurred.
03:41So things are different in what's actually happening there, and grateful to be able to see the chaos going down
03:47and the morale and the enforcement going significantly up.
03:50That gap in the fence will be closed in the days ahead.
03:53And it's one of many requests that the Border Patrol has.
03:56Just help us have a deterrent in this area so that we can better patrol
04:02and to be able to chase folks down that are violating American law.
04:05They need additional personnel as well, and I'll talk a little bit about that in a moment.
04:10They need additional resources to be able to do their task, and they need additional authorities
04:15to be able to make sure they can fully execute the law that is put in front of them.
04:20Something that was interesting, the multiple times I've been down the border the last several years,
04:25often Border Patrol would tell me they can't put checkpoints up anymore.
04:28They used to have checkpoints on the major highways as they were headed north away from the border,
04:33and they would check vehicles for people that were being smuggled and drugs being smuggled in the country
04:38and other contraband.
04:39They weren't able to do that because they were asked to actually go to the border to facilitate people coming in,
04:44and so they could no longer do those checkpoints.
04:47Well, guess what?
04:48Those checkpoints are back up again.
04:50They're actually stopping people on the highways now to be able to check and see if there's drugs there
04:55that have found their way across the border and are moving north,
04:59and they're interdicting narcotics again there.
05:03They're able to actually process a lot faster on turning people around to have the people in the checkpoints
05:10and to be able to do the enforcement because the numbers are so precipitously lower than what they used to be.
05:17What does that mean side by side?
05:20A year ago, we had some days we had 12,000 people a day that were illegally crossing our southern border.
05:2712,000 people a day.
05:30Last week, most days were around 200.
05:35In fact, for the first time that I can remember in a very long time,
05:39when I checked in at the Border Patrol station and was talking with them about where things were going
05:45and how things were going and what's changed, as we walked past the area they would typically check in unaccompanied minors,
05:51that room was empty.
05:53I can't remember the last time I walked past and there were zero unaccompanied minors that were there.
06:00The border is being enforced.
06:04It's bringing some sanity to our southern border.
06:07It is an enormous help and change.
06:10But there are a couple areas for cartels that are obviously money-making organizations
06:15that they're very focused on what they're going to do next.
06:18Literally, right there at the port of entry, they discovered a tunnel being dug directly under the port of entry
06:26to be able to smuggle drugs and people in.
06:29Now, our teams were able to find it, identify it, and they're going to shut it down.
06:35But the cartels continue to be able to move and to be able to find other ways.
06:39We should make no mistake.
06:41Just across the border from San Diego, there are three active criminal cartels
06:46that are ruthlessly killing each other.
06:49They're ruthlessly killing anyone that would try to cross the border without paying their fee.
06:54And they're determined to bring violence to northern Mexico and chaos to the southern United States
07:01and push as much drugs as they can possibly into our country.
07:04We should make no mistake about that.
07:07They're determined to be able to do that.
07:09And we should do whatever we can to be able to stop that violence and that chaos.
07:15The other thing that came up over and over again was now that the southern border, the land border,
07:20is being shut down, the cartels, not only drilling tunnels now,
07:24but they're also putting folks in jet skis and in panga boats,
07:28taking them out into the Pacific and trying to be able to come around the maritime barrier
07:32and to be able to drop off somewhere on the California coast.
07:36Just this week, we had a smuggler that was smuggling folks in a panga boat just on that exact route
07:43that capsized in the Pacific and multiple people died.
07:47Our Coast Guard went and responded and rescued multiple people as well.
07:51Those folks will be processed and they'll be returned right back to Mexico again.
07:57But that's the kind of danger these folks face to be able to come across.
08:02The cartels don't care about the people that they're moving.
08:05They just care about the dollars.
08:06They don't care about America.
08:08They just care about pushing drugs into us and so that they can make more and more money.
08:13I had the opportunity to be able to do a ride along with some of the Coast Guard
08:16and to be able to see firsthand some of the things that they're doing.
08:19They need additional resources.
08:21This body should pay more attention to the Coast Guard.
08:23They're not only important for our national security from foreign threats coming at us,
08:27but for our port security and for rescues that are off coast.
08:31But they're also being pushed really hard right now by the cartels trying to be able to smuggle drugs and people into the United States.
08:38And the Coast Guard needs this body to be able to stand alongside of them so they can do their job.
08:44They're remarkable people that are literally out there every single day working to be able to help our country.
08:51And I was exceptionally grateful to get time with them to be able to see what their day looks like,
08:56how things are going, and the important work that they're doing.
08:59As Border Patrol is seeing fewer coming across land border, Coast Guard is seeing more.
09:04And so we've got to pay attention to all areas of our border.
09:09I did note a couple things that I've read that was interesting to me to be able to actually go down and to be able to see.
09:15Because I've seen all these media reports, all these different pieces of fake news that are coming up,
09:20or all these different challenges about what the Trump administration is doing in our border.
09:25So let me just highlight, I could highlight a bunch of them, but let me highlight a couple of them that came up.
09:29I've heard over and over and over again that the Trump administration is not honoring due process.
09:35They're not honoring due process. They're ignoring the Constitution to be able to do that.
09:39Interestingly enough, just last week, President Trump's DHS released an extensive release
09:45that they called 100 Days of Fighting Fake News.
09:48One of the items that they listed as the fake news that they are fighting is that aliens don't go through a process.
09:55Their statement, they do, according to the Constitution.
09:59Secretary Rubio also made that same statement on Meet the Press recently as well,
10:05saying everybody goes through due process. Everyone has a process.
10:09Illegal aliens do not have rights like American citizens. No one's denying that. That's a fact.
10:17But there is a process they're being taken through, and the law is being followed. I watched it personally.
10:24When people come across our border illegally, here's what's actually happening along our border.
10:30They're arrested. They're being instructed by law enforcement that they've violated American law,
10:37that they're not legally present, and they're being immediately turned around and sent back to their country.
10:42That is the legal process.
10:45For individuals that were coming in from China, and I saw several that were actually being processed through that,
10:51they're being detained, then they're being put on the next plane, out.
10:56Special interest aliens aren't being released into the country anymore like they were under the Biden administration by the thousands.
11:03They're now being sent back to their countries as exactly should be following the exact legal process that it should be done.
11:11And I saw for the first time in a very long time a legal process being done that if you cross our southern border and you've been deported before,
11:21which is why we don't just grab them at the border and turn them around, we actually get fingerprints, we get information on people in the processing.
11:28If you're coming a second or a third time, I watched the prosecution of U.S. attorneys actually prosecuting individuals there through that process,
11:39getting them a felony, and then putting them on a bus back to Mexico again.
11:44They're following the law.
11:47They're going through exactly what the process is doing.
11:50They are doing the legal process.
11:52I also heard over and over again this fake news about our military going down and our military taking over our border.
11:59I actually got a chance to be able to meet some of our military down there.
12:02They're doing pretty remarkable work along our border.
12:05We've got engineering groups that are there that are helping beef up that border wall,
12:10finding areas where folks are finding ways to be able to scale a 30-foot wall,
12:14and finding ways to be able to strengthen that wall to make sure that never happens again.
12:19That's some of our military engineering groups doing that.
12:22I watched that Lakota helicopter that I mentioned before.
12:25That Lakota helicopter is actually a military helicopter.
12:28Their job is not to arrest.
12:29That's federal law enforcement on the ground that's doing it.
12:31But they're able to be an extra set of eyes in the air to be able to identify folks that are getting around those gaps in the wall,
12:38smuggling in people and smuggling in drugs, so our Border Patrol can focus in on those areas.
12:44I watch members of our military sitting at a workstation with the Coast Guard at the port area,
12:50helping monitor the different cameras that are in our port area,
12:54looking for those jet skis and those panga boats that are smuggling in people and drugs.
13:00They're doing a great job, and I'm grateful those folks are there.
13:04But this body needs to have a further conversation about how do we move more Coast Guard folks there
13:10that they can take on that job, allow our military going back to doing their first job,
13:15how we can actually reinforce some of the resources that are needed so that our military can do their first task
13:21and our DHS folks can do their first task.
13:26So yeah, it's more fake news that our military is there actually being law enforcement.
13:31They're not being law enforcement, but they are helping our law enforcement to make our law enforcement even more effective.
13:38I'm grateful to be able to see the numbers drop so much and allowing our law enforcement to go back.
13:45And if I can just make this one last statement, I won't ever forget standing at that port, which is incredibly busy,
13:54lots of trucks coming through, lots of custom screenings and all the things that are happening,
13:58and I asked some of the customs folks there, what's changed?
14:02And they said, we're able to catch a lot more drugs now than we were able to catch
14:07because we've got more time to focus in on catching those drugs.
14:12This is going to make a huge difference in America for us to be able to focus on illegal activity coming across our border.
14:20When those numbers drop, we're able to go more after what is the worst of the worst coming into our country.
14:26I am grateful to see the work that's happening on our southern border.
14:30We all should go see it.
14:32With that, I yield the floor.