WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made the following remarks after the lastest vote in the Senate on border security.

“Our immigration system is broken. The situation at the border continues to be chaotic and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle know it. The American people know it. Yet when given a chance to pass strong bipartisan legislation that could directly address the problems, Republicans balked. Again. Republicans insisted that we could not pass a national security supplemental without border reforms. They said the situation was urgent, but they reversed course when President Trump instructed them to kill it for his own political gain. National security needs to come before politics. This legislation is not perfect, but it would have taken important steps forward in improving the situation at the border. It would address delays in the asylum system to allow for more timely and fair determinations, crack down on the flow of fentanyl entering the U.S. and surge resources to the border to help President Biden better manage the flow of migrants in a more orderly process.

“The Senate needs to keep voting on this border security package until Republicans remember that protecting our nation and supporting public safety and our economic security are more important than election-year politics. We should pass this bill plus more comprehensive reforms that recognize the critical value that immigrants bring to our country, including a pathway to citizenship for the Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, and long-time undocumented residents that now call the United States home.”