Sen. Cruz on the Senate Floor: President Biden’s Dangerous Refusal to Enforce our Laws has Created a Humanitarian Crisis in Del Rio

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) this week delivered remarks on the Senate floor to demand President Biden and his administration take accountability for their disastrous political decisions that directly resulted in the crisis on our southern border. As upwards of 10,000 illegal immigrants flood the Del Rio International Bridge due to an overcapacity at migrant housing facilities, Sen. Cruz called on President Biden to enforce federal immigration law and protect the safety and security of Texas border communities. Read excerpts of his floor remarks below.

WATCH: Sen. Cruz on Senate Floor: Crisis in Del Rio a Direct Result of President Biden's Political Decisions

"I rise today to call attention to the humanitarian crisis that is happening right now in the state of Texas. Another one happening right now in Del Rio, Texas. Yet Another consequence of President Biden's and vice president Harris's dangerous refusal to enforce our laws, or to protect our border, and refusal that is causing people to die, that is causing young girls to be trafficked, that is causing drugs to pour into our state, and that is causing our communities to become much less safe.

"Right now, thousands of Haitians are camped under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, after illegally entering our country. Six days ago, I went down to Del Rio myself to see firsthand what was going on, and why this was happening. The sheer number of people under the bridge took my breath away. People were struggling enormously, including infants, including young children. And I learned from authorities on the ground, what had happened, and that this was a man-made crisis."

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"When I was in Del Rio, the 700 people under the bridge had become 10,503. That's what the total was the day I was there. 10,503 packed in deplorable conditions. They'd already crossed into the United States. They were packed under that bridge because the Border Patrol lacks the capacity to process anything close to that number. Within a couple more days, the 10,503 had become 15,000 people. That's unprecedented. To put that in perspective, the city of Del Rio has a population of 35,000 people - nearly half the population of Del Rio was under that bridge.

"We've seen bread and water, and toilet paper and basic necessities flying off store shelves in Del Rio, which wasn't expecting to have to handle such a massive influx of illegal immigrants. The people of Del Rio are concerned, they're dismayed. They don't understand why the federal government refuses to enforce the law. Law enforcement is concerned and dismayed, and doesn't understand why Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won't enforce the law."

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"The Biden administration has also shut down five Border Patrol checkpoints in the Del Rio sector area of responsibility so they could redirect personnel just to process the mass of illegal immigrants under the bridge in Del Rio. Then, of course, it's at those checkpoints that trucks carrying illegal immigrants or trucks carrying drugs into our country are caught.

"So with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris pulling the personnel away from that, we know yet more illegal immigrants will stream into this country, we know yet more women will be raped and sexually assaulted by human traffickers. We know more children, more little boys, and more little girls will face physical assault and sexual assault from human traffickers. We also know that more heroin, more fentanyl, more illegal drugs will pour into our states; and by the way, not just the state of Texas, but every state in the union will have more people die from illegal drugs because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris refuse to enforce the law and are pulling law enforcement off of their job of protecting our communities.

"On Monday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas went down to Del Rio. Let me say I'm glad he did. Joe Biden hasn't been to Del Rio. Kamala Harris hasn't been to Del Rio, she is ostensibly the Border Control Czar, and can't be bothered to actually go to the southern border where the crisis is occurring.

"Secretary Mayorkas in Del Rio said, ‘We are very concerned that Haitians who are taking this irregular migration path are receiving false information that the border is open.' Well, I wonder why they think the border is open. Maybe it's because the Biden administration halted the deportation flights to Haiti. Maybe it's because Joe Biden is releasing Haitians who illegally cross the border at Del Rio into the United States at a staggering scale. Maybe it's because Joe Biden halted construction of the border wall the day that he became president. Maybe it's because Joe Biden reinstated the failed catch-and-release policy. Or maybe it's because Joe Biden, on day one of the presidency, ended the incredibly successful ‘Remain in Mexico' policy, which was an international agreement that President Trump had negotiated with the government of Mexico that provided that when people cross illegally into Mexico, they would remain in Mexico while their U.S. asylum case was proceeding. That agreement was phenomenally successful. So much so that last year in 2020, we had the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years."

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"This year since Joe Biden has been president, over 1.2 million illegal immigrants have come into the United States. We are on pace for more than 2 million this year, which is the highest rate in 20 years, you want to see how much policy and politics matter. We went from the lowest rate and 45 years last year, to the highest rate in 21 years this year. And it's all because of politics because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had made promises to the open border radicals in their party.

"I'll tell you, I've been to the border. I've been to the Biden cages. For four years, Democrats went on and on, the corrupt corporate media went on and on about kids in cages. You couldn't turn on the evening news without hearing [about] kids in cages. What they didn't tell you is Barack Obama built those cages. And today under Joe Biden, the cages are bigger, and they're more full than they were before."

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"Why does Joe Biden refuse to go to the Rio Grande Valley? Because if he goes, the TV cameras will come with him. Why does Kamala Harris, who's supposed to be the Border Czar, she's supposed to be in charge of this - why won't she go to the Rio Grande Valley? Because if she went, the TV cameras would come and would show the Biden cages. And the Democrats are counting on the corrupt corporate media to suddenly say, ‘Nothing to see here.'"

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"I invite every Democrat here to go to Brooks County, Brooks County in South Texas. It's just north of the border. Brooks county over and over again., they are dead bodies of illegal immigrants. The traffickers who are bringing them in, they're not nice guys. They're not humanitarians. They don't give a damn. That means if one of the illegal immigrants is a pregnant woman, is a young child, is elderly, is sick - they just abandon them. They leave them in the rough terrain, in the summer heat, and over and over again, the farmers and ranchers encounter dead bodies on their property where the traffickers have abandoned them. I ask you, is that humane? Is that compassionate - the Joe Biden-Harris policy that encourages, that puts people in harm's way and results in people dying?"

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"We haven't had a single hearing on the humanitarian crisis at the border. Not a single hearing on the Biden cages. Is it really the case that no Democrat in this chamber cares about the children being assaulted, about the children catching COVID, cares about the illegal immigrants being released by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris with COVID into our communities?"

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"It's easy for Democrats to say, ‘Well, that's not my problem.' It's easy for Democrats to say, ‘I've never been to Del Rio, why do I care about those folks in South Texas?' I ask you, how would this issue be different if those illegal immigrants, if their point of entry was Martha's Vineyard? How would this issue be different if their point of entry was Silicon Valley - perhaps right outside the headquarters of Google? 15,000 illegal immigrants under bridges, the corrupt corporate media doesn't care. The Democrats I hope will demonstrate that they do. I'll tell you this, the American people care. What is happening on our southern border is wrong, and it needs to end."

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