III 118th CONGRESS 2d Session S. RES. 779 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 30, 2024 Mrs. Blackburn submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs RESOLUTION Strongly condemning the Biden administration and its border czar , Kamala Harris, for failing to secure the United States border.

Whereas, on March 24, 2021, President Biden asked Vice President Kamala Harris to lead, as border czar , the Administration’s diplomatic efforts to address the root causes of illegal immigration into the United States from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras; Whereas Vice President Kamala Harris did not even visit the southern border until June 25, 2021, 93 days after being named border czar ; Whereas when Vice President Kamala Harris traveled near the southern border for the first time on June 25, 2021, she decided to travel to El Paso, Texas, which is located 800 miles from the Lower Rio Grande Valley; Whereas former United States Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz stated that during his nearly 2 years in that position between August 2021 and June 2023, he never had one conversation with [President Biden] or the [Vice President Harris], for that matter. I was the Chief of the Border Patrol, I commanded 21,000 people. That’s a problem. ; Whereas current United States Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens stated that Vice President Kamala Harris has not spoken with him since he was appointed in July 2023; Whereas, since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris became President and Vice President, respectively there have been— (1) more than 9,700,000 illegal immigrant encounters nationwide; (2) more than 7,900,000 illegal immigrant encounters at the United States southern border; and (3) an estimated 2,000,000 known gotaways who evaded the United States Border Patrol, which is more known gotaways than evaded the Border Patrol during the entire previous decade; Whereas, in May 2024, there were 170,723 illegal immigrant encounters at the United States southern border, which represents a 185 percent increase from the average May encounter total during the administration of President Trump; Whereas May 2024 was the 39th straight month where monthly illegal immigrant encounters have been higher than the highest month under President Trump; Whereas illegal immigrants with violent criminal histories who have murdered innocent Americans, including Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungary, Rachel Morin, and others throughout the United States, pose an existential threat to the safety and security of the American people; Whereas, in June 2024, NBC News reported that more than 50 illegal immigrants with ties to ISIS were on the loose in the United States after having been released by officials of the Biden administration; Whereas, during the Biden administration, more than 350 illegal immigrants with ties to ISIS and whose names appear on the terrorist watch list were stopped while trying to cross the southern border; Whereas, during less than the first 10 months of fiscal year 2024, a record-breaking 31,077 Communist Chinese nationals have been encountered at the southwest border; Whereas the Biden border crisis is costing the United States approximately $150,700,000,000 each year, which equals an annual cost of $1,156 per taxpayer; Whereas, in May 2024, Republican members of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate released documents showing the Biden administration secretly flew more than 400,000 illegal immigrants into the United States; Whereas the far left open border policies of President Biden, border czar Harris, and the Democratic Party are to blame for this historic immigration crisis; and Whereas, in August 2022, President Biden' administration decided to make the border crisis significantly worse by formally ending former President Trump’s successful Remain in Mexico program: Now, therefore, be it

That the Senate— (1) strongly condemns the Biden administration and border czar Kamala Harris for failing to secure the United States border; (2) affirms that the people of the United States deserve elected officials who— (A) understand the gravity of the crisis at the border; and (B) will execute policies that will fix the border crisis; and (3) clearly and firmly states that the continuation of the Biden-Harris border policies would be disastrous for the United States and its citizens.