Speech #1140056384

Basically. the Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act encourages compliance with Federal law. as I said a moment ago. and uses the power of the purse to withhold Federal funds from those jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with the Federal law. The goal. as I said. is to protect our communities from those who would pose a danger to our society. It does not target legal immigrants who seek to live a lawabiding and productive life here. Frankly. I do not understand the Democratswith the exception of two who voted to get on this legislation and offer amendments and constructive suggestionsrefusal to move this legislation forward. because it harms the public safety and it causes our country to become a confederation of different jurisdictions that can pick and choose which laws they want to enforce. I mentioned one terrible incident over the summer. the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco by an illegal immigrant with a known and lengthy criminal record. This is just one example. This sad story poignantly demonstrates the consequences of the administrations abject failure when it comes to enforcing our immigration laws. People get hurt. People get killed. This legislation would address the root cause of this tragedy by targeting criminal aliens and those local entities that refuse to do anything to help the Kate Steinles of the world. and it would specifically serve to counter the policies of those city governments. such as San Francisco. that are known to shield criminal aliens from deportation. They openly defy the 1996 Federal law that requires information sharing. They openly refuse to cooperate with Federal orders and detainers and to notify the Federal Government when people are released from their jail sentence even though they know there is an outstanding deportation order pending. This bill also extends the mandatory minimum sentence for those who attempt to reenter the country after being removed for breaking our laws. Time and again we are met with the tragic news of some other American citizen who was killed. injured or assaulted by somebody who has reentered the country. after being removed for violating our laws. and keeps coming back and committing other criminal acts. We need to send a clear signal to those who attempt to enter our country illegally and violate and ignore our laws that they will have to answer for them and certainly will not be allowed to come back. Some have rightly noted that this bill is not about immigration reform. and I agree. This bill is simply about enforcing our current law and holding those jurisdictions that refuse to comply with current law accountable by withholding Federal funds. This legislation underscores the concept that. unbelievably. has been lost among municipalities across the country. Despite what the current administration might have us think. upholding the Federal law is not a suggestion. It is a legal requirement for all of us. We cant. in good faith. ask the American people to trust us when it comes to reforming our broken immigration system until they see us willing to stand up and enforce the laws that are currently on the books and hold those jurisdictions. municipalities. States. and other local entities that refuse to comply with Federal law accountable. That is why organizations such as the National Sheriffs Association and the National Association of Police Organizations have voiced their support for this legislation. To sum up. the Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act really serves as a confidencebuilding exercise for Congress. If the American people dont see us actually stepping up and demanding that local jurisdictions enforce current law. how can they expect us to pass complex immigration reform legislation to address our broken immigration system? Unfortunately. in this confidencebuilding exercise. the Senate. led by our colleagues across the aisle. has failed in that confidencebuilding exercise. What they have done is to reinforce the belief that there are Members of the Senate who believe that local jurisdictions can openly defy Federal law and there will be no recourse and no accountability.