Speech #1140011841

Allow me to describe my bill very briefly. Specifically. it does four things. First. it bars the administration from using funds to implement the immigration orders issued by the President in November of last year. Second. it has absolutely no effect on the much more constrained and limited Executive orders the President issued in 2012. the socalled DACA Program that protects the DREAMers. to whom I am very sympathetic. Third. it directs the Department to give the highest enforcement priority to the deportation of foreign nationals in our country illegally who have been convicted of domestic violence. child abuse. exploitation. or a sex crime. Why would we want to keep in this country someone who is deportable who is a sex offender. who has been convicted of child molestation or domestic violence? It makes no sense. Ironically. just this week the Senate Judiciary Committee held an excellent hearing on sex trafficking. We heard heartbreaking stories of very young girls who had been abused by men. If there are foreign nationals in this country who have been convicted of these crimes. they should be deported. And. fourth. it includes a senseoftheSenate resolution that the executive branch should not act to give foreign nationals who are here illegally an edge in competing for jobs against American citizens or legal residents with green cards. The Founders gave us a system of separation of powers and checks and balances not to tear us apart but to pull us together. They gave us no shortcuts on purpose. The Presidents November 2014 Executive actions are illadvised precisely because they attempt to shortcut the process by usurping Congresss authority to pass legislation. My legislation would block that effort without in any way altering or diminishing the more constrained and important 2012 DACA Program. I want to see the Department of Homeland Security fully funded. It has an absolutely vital mission at a time when our country faces numerous threats.