Speech #1090153385

It is a suggestion that law enforcement has actually put a welcome mat out for criminals. It is well known that any criminal that does a criminal act or is stopped for a traffic infraction is. in fact. taken care of by the local municipality. Where we have had failures is that we have not had sufficient funding for internal enforcement officers and others dealing with immigration issues for these individuals to be transferred. I cannot stand here on the floor and allow the debate to suggest that local law enforcement. sheriffs. constables. police are letting horrific criminals go. They simply are not. If you do the crime. you will be arrested and do the time if your law enforcement are engaged. This will punish cities who are not turning their law enforcement. their meager law enforcement resources. into immigration patrols. That is a responsibility of the Federal Government. And to suggest that this amendment is going to stop the railroad killer and others. that was a combination of U.S. Marshals and FBI and HPD and everyone who was focused on finding that killer. No one is letting killers get away. And this particular amendment is not what Members may think it is. a way to get and to stand tall on illegal immigration. This is a way to undermine your respective local jurisdictions who have the responsibility of the enforcement of the law to protect the citizens of the jurisdiction or this Nation. All this does is jeopardize their funding when one citizen says. "You know what? They let this individual go that looked like they were undocumented. and they were driving a car." This is what this does. And you go to any of your towns and find out that there are individuals whose surnames are other than ours or other than what you would perceive to be a standard name. if you will. and has a Hispanic sound or has some other sound to it and you want law enforcement then to arrest them. and you would suggest that law enforcement is not doing their job if they release them. This is the kind of determination you are going to ask on the streets of your respective cities and counties and jurisdictions when you should be dealing with this from the funding perspective of the Federal Government.