Below is an official statement from Florida Sen. Rick Scott regarding federal policy on the United States’s southern border security.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla) hosted a press conference with Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ron Johnson (R-Wis), Roger Marshall (R-Kan), Mike Braun (R-Ind), Eric Schmitt (R – Mo) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex) to outline their expectations for the ongoing negotiations on border security legislation. During the press conference, Senator Scott warned against allowing President Joe Biden’s lawless, open border polices becoming law which would make it much harder for the next president to actually secure the border and stop illegal immigration.

Senator Rick Scott said, “From what I have seen so far, this so-called ‘border deal’ just codifies into law Biden’s open-border-agenda and makes it near impossible for the next president to secure the border and stop illegal immigration. We are dealing with a lawless administration and a lawless president. Joe Biden is so committed to having an open border that he took Texas to the Supreme Court so that CBP could cut border fencing down. That is what we are dealing with here. Leader McConnell has said he won’t include any metrics or accountability that force a reduction in illegal crossings. That’s unacceptable. We need metrics and accountability that force Biden to comply with the law or lose something he cares about—otherwise, it is a non-starter.

“The little I have heard about this deal is that it actually ALLOWS illegal immigration. If Biden and Democrats get policies that allow first-come, first-serve entry into the United States to the first 5,000 people every day before any real border security laws kick in, that is a TOTAL FAILURE. That is 1.8 million illegal immigrants allowed in every year. If just 1% of those are bad people—like murderers, terrorists, human traffickers, or drug smugglers—that means we are letting 50 people in every day who want to hurt Americans. I won’t accept that. We need to see this bill, have real amendment votes, and actually secure the border. If Biden and the Democrats refuse to do that, we need to shut the border down.”