Speech #1140056139

Mr. President. tomorrow we are going to be voting on a very important bill. We will have the opportunity to vote to proceed to a bill that deals with sanctuary cities and immigration policies that are a serious threat to the public safety. We will move to take up the Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Acta bill that should put an end to sanctuary jurisdictions. give law enforcement important tools they need to detain criminals. and increase penalties for dangerous and repeat offenders of our immigration laws. Some of these sanctuary policies are created when a local government unit. such as a city or county executive body. passes an ordinance prohibiting their officers from communicating with Federal immigration and law enforcement officials. Now. there is another way: Some sanctuary policies come about simply because local law enforcement initiates its own policies of providing safe harbor for undocumented immigrants. And then another way: Some sanctuary policies develop because law enforcement officers are afraid they will be sued if they enforce immigration laws and detain an individual for their unlawful immigration status. In summation. these policies and practices have allowed thousands of dangerous criminals to be released back into the community. and the effects have been disastrous. I am going to speak about those effects. America saw these policies play out in July when Kate Steinle was innocently killed while walking along a San Francisco pier with her father. The murderer. who was illegally in the country and actually deported five times prior to that day. was released into the community by a sanctuary jurisdiction that did not honor the detainer issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The suspect in Kates death admitted he was in San Francisco because of its sanctuary policies. That sums up the problem our bill addresses. Here is Kateno longer with usas one example. I have several other examples because people tried to tell us you should not change policy based upon one murder. Maybe so. maybe not. but 5 years of statistics shows about 121 people killed by people that have been deported for criminal activities in this country and then come back in. I want to tell you what our bill does about that. but I want to first tell you about some examples. In July. our Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing called "Oversight of the Administrations Misdirected Immigration Enforcement Policies: Examining the Impact on Public Safety and Honoring the Victims." That is the committees hearing title. This hearing was an opportunity to hear the voices of Americans who have been impacted by these very indefensible policies while also conducting oversight of the administrations policies and tolerance toward sanctuary jurisdictions. Jim Steinle. Kates father. expressed his familys desire to see legislation enacted to take undocumented felons off our streets. The committee was very moved by his presence and testimonyobviously something that wasnt very easy for him. He talked about how Kate "had a special soul. a kind and giving heart. the most contagious laugh. and a smile that would light up a room." He told us how she died in his arms that day. despite her plea in her dying words of "Help me. Dad." The suspect in Kate Steinles murder had seven prior felony convictions and had been deported five times. Yet he was shieldedprotected. in other wordsby San Franciscos sanctuary policy. The Kate Steinle story is not a singular case. Too many Americans have lost their lives. and too many families have had to feel the real and devastating impact caused by sanctuary cities and lax enforcement policies. Our committee heard powerful testimony from families other than Kate Steinles father. We heard from Mrs.