U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday harshly criticized the Obama administration’s handling of the immigration crisis at the southwest border. He also rejected the idea of borrowing money to fulfill the administration’s $3.7 billion “emergency” funding request to address the influx of child immigrants coming into the country, saying that he has no confidence that it would solve the current crisis.

Here is a lightly edited transcript of Shelby’s remarks during the hearing:

We are here because the Obama Administration, as well as previous administrations, has failed to secure our border and has ignored our existing immigration laws.

Over the years, we have spent billions of dollars on immigration “enforcement,” but to no avail. Currently, we have millions of illegal immigrants in our nation.

The result of President Obama’s failure to enforce the immigration laws currently on the books has been predictable – and that is one of the reasons that we are here this afternoon.

Now, we are being asked by President Obama to approve a $3.7 billion request to resolve the current crisis at our border.

There are several questions that I believe need to be answered. What exactly is the $3.7 billion going to address? Will this request be the end? Or will it be the beginning of many new requests by the Administration for “emergency” funding?

While the President is seeking billions for the admission, detention, and care of illegal children and adults, only $45.4 million is requested for the Department of Justice’s adjudication and immigration proceedings. This fact is very troubling to me.

Estimates suggest that the expense for HHS is more than $15,000 for every minor in U.S. custody. For HHS, alone, the President requests an additional $1.8 billion, with no firm policy to stem the influx and no way to pay for it.

I personally have no confidence that pouring billions of dollars into our current immigration system will solve this crisis. I think we have to get serious about enforcing our current laws and protecting our border if we are ever to get different results.

In 2011, HHS took custody of 6,560 unaccompanied children coming to this country illegally. Today, that number has skyrocketed. Indeed, since last October, roughly 52,000 unaccompanied children have illegally entered the United States. Customs and Border Protection estimates that as many as 150,000 children may attempt to cross the border in 2015.

If we continue to double down on the same failed immigration policies, where does that take us in 2016, 2017, and beyond?

I believe that we must start with actually securing our border, enforcing our nation’s immigration laws, and definitively saying “no” to people who come here illegally.

The Appropriations Committee is expected to markup the president’s request next week. It faces steep hurdles in both chambers as many Republicans wrestle with how to address a genuine humanitarian crisis while compelling the president to lock down the border, possibly with National Guard troops.

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