Senator Blackburn: I Refuse to Support Legalizing Illegal Immigration

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., gave a seething critique of the Senate border bill that was released Sunday evening, also known as the Biden administration’s supplemental spending request, which would tie aid to Israel and Ukraine.

In a press release, Blackburn states that the $118 billion bill is against the law.

“It is against the law for an individual to illegally cross into our country — it’s incredible that still needs to be said,” Blackburn maintained in a statement.

Text from the bill cites that it would allow up to 5,000 illegal migrants per day before measures are taken to enforce security.

“We are a nation of law and order, yet the Biden administration has allowed over 8.8 million illegal immigrants to flood our border,” the congresswoman continued.

“Meanwhile, at least 85,000 migrant children have gone missing under the watch of Biden’s HHS [Department of Health and Human Services] as cartels and unvetted sponsors take advantage of them. That is unacceptable, and allowing even one immigrant to enter our country illegally is unacceptable. I will never vote to make illegal immigration legal, and I will not support this deal. If my Democratic colleagues are serious about working with us to secure the border, they should call for a vote on the Secure the Border Act (H.R.2), which arrived in the Senate on May 15 and has languished without even a hearing.”

In the dawn hours of the bill being revealed in the Senate, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote in a series of posts on X: “No self-respecting senator should agree to vote on this 370-page bill this week.

“Any 41 senators can prevent the bill from proceeding,” he added. “If you agree that senators should have this bill for at least a few weeks (and certainly more than a few days) before voting on it, say so!”

Lee went on to note that the bill would allocate more funds to Ukraine’s military than the United States’ own Marines budget.

“Fun fact,” Lee writes, “the U.S. Marine Corps budget in FY23 was $53.8 billion. This bill would give Ukraine more than $60 billion.”

In one section of the bill highlighted by Lee, the senator adds, “Democrats want to defund the police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the U.S. but send $300 million to Ukrainian law enforcement and the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service.”