that this is not resolved, and they expect us to get things done. so why don't we do that. madam president, i have two staff members named sarah sites and jacob stubs who worked their tail off. they gave up thanksgiving, they gave up christmas, they gave up new year's to work on this. remarkable leaders. but it's not just about the time they gave up and the wisdom that they have as leaders. their focus on that was to solve a problem, that at the end of this day may still be a problem unsolved. and tomorrow we'll probably have 6,500 people illegally cross our border just like as what's happening right now today.

6,500 people. americans want that stopped. so let's actually sit down and figure out how we're going to the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. ms. sinema: i stand here today as the border crisis is devastating my state. just last week nogales officers seized 2.1 million fentanyl pills. just last week border patrol agent seized in the tucson desert enough fentanyl to kill 3,040 americans. just last week nearly 14,000 migrants crossed into arizona. many of them are military-age men coming from all across the globe. our broken border system is a national security crisis. last september, when my republican colleagues demanded with a clear and unified voice

that border security must be included in congress' national security package, i wholeheartedly agreed. finally, it seemed, we had the opportunity to solve the nightmare my state has lived for over 40 years. so i got to work. my republican colleagues chose senator james lankford, my partner, on the homeland security border management subcommittee. we have worked together for over five years on strong border policy. senator lankford has joined me at the arizona border to see the crisis firsthand. senator lankford is an incredibly smart, earnest, conservative lawmaker. i know he was chosen by his conference because of his expertise and knowledge of border security policy and his reputation as a serious, conservative lawmaker who cares deeply about getting policy right.

as we started the negotiations, senator lankford laid out four policy pillars the republican conference needed to secure the border. number one, asylum. raise the asylum standard and close the loopholes so cartels and economic migrants can no longer exploit the system. number two, save third country. ensure people who lived safely in another country don't backlog our system because they do not qualify for asylum. number three, close the border. create a title 42-like authority to shut down the border when our system is backlogged and overwhelmed. number four, parole. stop the administration from giving migrants at the border a free pass into our country. over the course of nearly five months, we worked every single day navigating intricate and difficult policy decisions to

meet these four pillars. and when we hit bumps, i reminded everyone at the table about what was happening on the ground at my border, what real life looks like in arizona because i knew that those four key pillars were necessary to secure the border and solve the crisis. you know, that's why just yesterday when endorsing our bill, yuma mayor doug nicoles said thank you for incorporating many of the specific issues that border leaders have asked to be addressed. so together with senators lankford and murphy and our incredibly talented staffs, including my staff director on the border management subcommittee, anthony papian who is here today, we worked through weekends and through holidays to get these policies right. senator murphy, senator lankford, and i, we all negotiated in good faith.

we delivered. we produced a bill many thought impossible. our bill overhauls the broken system. it stops the misuse of parole, and it closes the border during surges ensuring the quick detention and deportation of migrants who don't have a legal right to be here. we end catch and release. we add more detention beds. we increase deportation flights. we quickly decide asylum claims. we put border patrol back in the desert catching the bad guys and the drugs. and that's why the national border patrol council endorses our bill, not h.r. 2. we produced a bill that finally after decades of all talk and no action secures the border and solves the border crisis. our bill was ready for prime time. we were ready to bring the bill to the floor, open it up for debate and amendments.

you know, how the senate is supposed to work. and then pass the bill. but less than 24 hours after we released the bill, my republican colleagues changed their minds. turns out they want all talk and no action. it turns out border security is not a risk to our national security. it's just a talking point for the election. after all of their cable news appearances, after all those campaign photo ops in the desert, after all those trips to the border, this crisis isn't actually much of a crisis after all. sunday morning there was a real crisis at the border. monday morning that crisis magically disappeared. well, guess what, guys, the crisis is real. it's real in arizona. on sunday, the day we released our bill, over 6,000 migrants crossed the border. on monday, the day this body

decided the border crisis was no longer a crisis, over 6 j 500 -- 6 j 500 migrants crossed the border and yesterday, the day my republican conference members said we were not going to pass a border bill, the day my colleague said no, nearly 7,000 migrants crossed the border. the border emergency authority and our border bill would have shut the border down literally. every single day this year. now, i've been sharing the facts of our bill to anyone who would listen. i refuted the lie that says our bill allows 5,000 migrants to enter the country every day. in fact, our bill stops those migrants from coming into the country every day. meanwhile, by killing our bill, we have no title 42-like authority to shut down the border. so 5,000, 6,000, 7,000, 10,000, or even 14,000 migrants can

cross into our country every single day. make no mistake, a vote against this bill is a vote for the status quo. it is a vote for continued chaos at our border. our current system let's migrants into the country with nothing but a piece of paper, a notice to appear, for a court date years into the future, and no accountability structure to ensure they actually show up. in arizona this broken system is commonly called catch and release. it's been happening for years. our bill ends catch and release, but when this bill fails, catch and release will continue every single day. some people say the president has all the authority he needs to secure the border. then tell me why arizona has lived the nightmare of our border crisis for over 40 years

and through the past five administrations, republican and democrat. before covid, the last administration tried to shut down the border. the court stopped it. after covid the court struck down title 42. it is clear we need a law. i've heard from some that the only solution is the house republican bill, h.r. 2. to them i point out that our bill, unlike h.r. 2, actually includes penalties for those who try to cross the border when it shut down creating a one-year bar for anyone who tries to cross twice. h.r. 2, no consequences. h.r. 2 continues the current flawed policy that allows migrants to get work permits without any asylum interview. our bill ends that. that's idea conservative "wall street journal" editorial board called our bill the most restricted migrant legislation

in decades. we make sure that only those actually fleeing violence and persecution can stay here and work after they pass a new, faster, tougher screening. and if someone doesn't finish the asylum process, their work permit gets taken away. h.r. 2, silent. h.r. 2 doesn't even fund new detention beds, guys. h.r. 2, another example of all talk and no action. so if you want to spend the border crisis for your own political agendas, go right ahead. if you want to continue to use the southern border as a backdrop for your political campaign, that's fine. good luck to you. but i have a very clear message for anyone using the southern border for staged political events. don't come to arizona. take your political theater to texas. do not bring it to my state.

because in arizona we're serious. we don't have time for your political games. we are not interested in you posing for the cameras. in arizona we are busy. just ask county ranchers david and tina thompson. they live in the reality of our broken border every time that migrants attempt to break into their home. ask business bee -- bisbee city councilmember leslie johns who had to open the doors of the town city council building and clear out the chamber fors migrants to sleep on the floor after they were released into a tiny town with no shelter and just one bus stop. or ask yuma farmer john bolts who does his best to manage his farm despite the lettuce crops constantly trampled by migrants crossing his produce fields. or ask better debt, the manager of why not travel convenience star in arizona who lost

thousands of dollars every day before christmas while the lukeville port of entry was closed. or ask sierra vista mayor clea mccaw who lays in bed at night scared that his teenage daughter could die in one of the daily, deadly high-speed chases of teenagers smuggling drugs and people from the border up to phoenix and next into your state. or ask bisbee mayor ken budge who is pleading with each and every one of you to understand how your political games hurt border towns like his. as he said yesterday, i am saddened after all these months now some senators have second thoughts about this from both parties. i would like to ask any of them to reverse their roles and trade places with me, how they would like to live in my home as a

helicopter circled my home at 6:30 in the morning for about an hour as was the case today. hour as was the case today. this is life in my border state. this is is arizona. earlier this week it was noted that bored hasn't changed, the politics in the country have changed. i guess that's it. the politics changed. 3 weeks a ago everyone wanted to solve the border crisis. yesterday no one did. for four months we have been unable to move forward, unable to defend democracy overseas because of urgent need to secure the border. in the last 48 hours the border no longer matters.

some in this chamber just say let's just drop. it. let's just wait for the election. let's sort this out in the next congress. let's move on. arizona can't move on. you here can decide the crisis is over but the crisis is still in my state and it will be tomorrow and the next day and the next day. .. of our nature. when we work together we can solve problems. we did that here. and you decided no. you decided you don't even want to debate it. you don't want to amend it. you don't want to tackle the problem. partisanship won. partisanship won. the senate has failed arizona