Speech #1140042273

Mr. President. I rise again in support of my sanctuary cities amendment and to urge us to come together around sensible legislation that will stop jurisdictions around the country from opposing and not following what is already Federal law. As the Presiding Officer knows. Federal law is very clear. It says deportation and immigration enforcement is a Federal responsibility. but local law enforcement authorities need to properly cooperate with Federal authorities regarding that. It doesnt mean they need to take it over or take on huge burdens or unfunded mandates. It does mean they need to properly cooperate with Federal authorities. Well. for several years. as the Presiding Officer knows. there have been hundreds. if not thousands. of socalled sanctuary cities in other jurisdictions around the country that have a formal policy that is completely at odds with that. These policies in various jurisdictions. such as the city of San Francisco. say straight out: We are not going to cooperate in any meaningful way with Federal immigration enforcement. I think that is flatout ridiculous. and tragically it leads to dangerous situations and horrible results. We saw one of those dangerous situations and horrible results just in the last few weeks with the murder of a completely innocent woman in San Francisco by an illegal alien who had been convicted of felonies seven times. deported five times. and released onto the streets of San Francisco. in part. because of San Franciscos sanctuary city policy. This absurdnesspolitical correctness gone haywireis to the detriment and danger of American citizens. and it has to end. That is why several years ago I brought legislation to the Senate. beginning in 2009. to put teeth in what is already Federal law. My legislation will ensure that there are consequences when jurisdictions. such as San Francisco. dont properly cooperate with Federal authorities over immigration enforcement. Unfortunately. that has been blocked and blocked and blocked in the Senate. I brought the same proposal as an amendment to the education bill that is on the floor now to revisit this issue and to urge us to come together around sound. sensible policy that ends sanctuary cities flaunting Federal law and creating very dangerous situations. I urge my colleagues to come around to a commonsense solution to that. I have fully cooperated with Senator ALEXANDER. who has been the floor leader on this important education bill. As part of that. I agreed not to demand a vote on that amendment on the floor this week if our Judiciary Committee. the appropriate committee of jurisdiction. takes up the issue in a timely waywe reached that agreement yesterday with Senator GRASSLEY. the chair of the Judiciary Committeeand that a Vitter bill on this topic would be taken up appropriately at a markup of the Judiciary Committee this work period. Well. that is certainly progress. and so lets use this opportunity to make real progress and end sanctuary cities flaunting Federal law and not properly cooperating with immigration enforcement. Lets come together around a strong. meaningful bill that doesnt allow that. that puts consequences and teeth in present Federal law that says local law enforcement has to properly cooperate with Federal immigration enforcement. I very much look forward to doing that in the Judiciary Committeethe committee of jurisdictionthanks to the work of Senator ALEXANDER and the agreement of Senator GRASSLEY to take up this measure to work with me and have a markup this work period. I very much look forward to that being a very constructive path forward.