Barrasso: Election Security Begins with Border Security

"Democrats need to stop opposing every effort that we make on this Senate Floor to secure our border and to enforce our immigration laws. Election security begins with border security. Today's Democrats want neither border security nor election security."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) today highlighted how years of open-border policies from Democrats allowed millions of illegal immigrants into the country. Senator Barrasso specifically discussed how noncitizens voting in New Jersey elections is a direct consequence of the Democrats' failed open-border policies.

Click HERE to watch Senator Barrasso's remarks.

Sen. Barrasso's remarks as delivered:

"When it comes to elections in America, only American citizens should be allowed to vote.

"Big cities, blue states, illegal immigrants are registering to vote and are casting ballots. This week, the State of New Jersey admitted that 6,600 noncitizens made it onto their voting rolls. Every single one of them - every single one was registered to vote during the final years of the Biden administration - 6,600. Four hundred of them actually voted, and those are the ones that we know about.

"Here's how it happened. For four years, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris flung open our southern border. Ten million illegal immigrants flooded into our country. Among them were criminals, members of cartels, drug dealers, gang members, terror suspects. Sanctuary states and cities welcomed these illegal immigrants, and the State of New Jersey - where all this has happened - is one of them.

"New Jersey hands out driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Its Department of Motor Vehicles turns driver's licenses directly into voter registration. It's automatic. And in this case, the State of New Jersey, it registered 6,600 of these illegal immigrants to vote. It happened in the State of New Jersey, and they admit they did it.

"The liberal governor of New Jersey blames it all on a computer glitch. The real blame belongs to the Democrats and their sanctuary city and state policies. Democrats can't throw open the borders, hand illegal immigrants driver's licenses, and then pretend to be shocked - shocked the Democrats claim to be - when these illegal immigrants end up voting.

"Illegal immigrants must not be allowed to vote in American elections. States need to clean up their voter rolls aggressively and do it immediately. The National Voter Registration Act requires states to make, 'Reasonable efforts' to maintain accurate voter rolls. Many Democrat states refuse to follow the law.

"Senator Schumer said last week on this Floor that elections belong to the American people. And just moments ago right before he left the Floor, he talked about, so-called Democrats' 'Election Integrity Task Force.' I wrote it down as he said it. Democrats' 'Election Integrity Task Force.' You talk about an oxymoron like jumbo shrimp. Like pretty ugly. Like deafening silence. To me deafening silence is what's happening from the Democrats, and it is time for them to start actually acting.

"Democrats need to stop opposing every effort that we make on this Senate Floor to secure our border and to enforce our immigration laws. Election security begins with border security. Today's Democrats want neither border security nor election security. And they sure don't want voter I.D. They don't want to guarantee that only citizens vote.

"The modern Democrat Party is being driven today by extremists. And these extremists all around the country are winning Democrat primary elections. In New York, a Democrat nominee for Congress has vowed to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In Colorado, another Democrat nominee - who won a Democrat primary election in just the last couple of weeks - said abolishing ICE 'will not wait.' They want to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement in our nation. In Michigan, a leading Democrat candidate for this United States Senate has been fighting since 2018 - we're talking eight years - to abolish ICE. Eight years spent fighting our nation's Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He recently said ICE 'cannot be reformed. It can't be retrained. It must be abolished.' They want to open the borders, let anybody in, and let them stay forever. That's what the Democrat Party of today believes.

"They actually have a manifesto. That's the Democrat manifesto. It is a manifesto. They want mass amnesty for illegal immigrants, and that includes illegal immigrant criminals, even murderers. They want to release illegal immigrant criminals into our communities. Into our neighborhoods. And then the Democrats are demanding free healthcare for illegal immigrants paid for by American taxpayers. They're demanding illegal immigrants vote in our elections. That's what they really want. They want to abolish the Senate - that's part of their manifesto. They want to pack the Supreme Court - that's part of their manifesto. They want to abolish the Electoral College - that is part of the manifesto that is being elected in Democrat primaries around the country.

"They want to tear up the Constitution and tear down the United States of America. That's their agenda. It's radical. It's extreme. It is dangerous. It's scary. The American people ought to be scared about what's happening with the Democrat manifesto and what they're promoting for this country. The American people can't afford it, and they're certainly not going to accept it. It's not the America we know and love.

"The Department of Homeland Security recently released new data about the number of illegal border crossings in the month of June. It is at a 50-year low. That's because of the work being done by this administration. For the past 14 months, zero illegal immigrants have been released into the country. Absolutely zero. After millions and millions and millions under the Joe Biden catch and release disaster.

"Republicans have secured the border, but this fight isn't over. After years of Democrat open border policies, millions of illegal immigrants remain in our country today. Either we remove them or extreme Democrats are going to do everything they can to make it possible for them to vote in our elections. We already saw it happen in New Jersey. Republicans promised to deport illegal immigrant criminals, and it is time to continue on with that promise.

"The contrast is clear. Republicans want our laws enforced. Democrats want our laws ignored. The American people rejected open borders before, will reject them again. The American people want secure borders, safe communities, and only American citizens voting."

###