Speech #1140056389

Democrats here in the Senate decided to block consideration of this bill and to have that 60vote threshold in play. and as a consequence. it failed. We had 54 votes. I think only two Democratic Senators voted to proceed to this legislation. and I would argue that is very unfortunate because this is a piece of legislation which represents common sense and what I think the American people want us to be focused on when it comes to the issue of dealing with crime in our communities and illegal immigration in a way that ensures that those who come to this country and commit crimes arent allowed to stay here. According to the Department of Homeland Security. there are 334 jurisdictions across our country right now that have official policies discouraging cooperation with Federal immigration enforcement officers. Among other things. that means these jurisdictions regularly ignore what are called detainers. requests from the Department of Homeland Security to hold an individual for deportation. As a city prepares to release an illegal immigrant who has been convicted of or charged with a crime. the Department of Homeland Security will send a detainer asking that the individual be held for a brief periodusually 48 hoursuntil Federal immigration officers can take custody. In a majority of the cities across the country. law enforcement would simply comply with this request and hold the individual until the Department of Homeland Security can arrive. but in sanctuary cities officials regularly ignore these requests and simply release these individuals from jail and back into the population at largea practice that has resulted in the release of approximately 1.000 undocumented criminals per month. According to information from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 9.295 imprisoned individuals whom Federal officials sought to deport were released into the population between January 1 and September 30 of last year. They released 9.295 imprisoned individuals in just 9 months. Of those 9.295 individuals. 5.947. or 62 percent. had a significant prior criminal history or presented a threat to public safety even before the arrest that preceded their release. and many went on to be arrested again within a short period of time. There is a terrible human cost to sanctuary cities decision to refuse to cooperate with U.S. immigration law. There has been a lot of discussion on the floor about Kate Steinle. Kate Steinle paid that cost when she was murdered on a San Francisco pier while walking with her father on July 1. 2015. She was shot by an undocumented immigrant who had been convicted of no fewer than seven feloniesseven feloniesprior to the decision of the city of San Francisco to ignore a request from the Department of Homeland Security and then go on and release this man into the population. Unfortunately. Kate Steinle is not alone. Marilyn Pharis of Santa Maria. CA. was raped and then bludgeoned by an undocumented immigrant who had previously been arrested for battery but had been released after the local sheriffs office decided to ignore a request to detain him until he could be taken into Federal custody. A 2yearold California girla 2yearoldwas brutally beaten by her mothers boyfriend. an undocumented immigrant with felony drug and drunk driving convictions. who was released on bail after the crime despite a request from Federal officials that he be detained. In 2011. Dennis McCann was killed when he was hit and dragged by a car driven by a drunk driver with a blood alcohol content nearly four times the legal limit. His killer turned out to be Saul Chavez. an undocumented immigrant with a prior drunk driving conviction. After Dennis McCanns death. the Department of Homeland Security filed a request asking that Immigration and Customs Enforcement be notified if Chavez was scheduled to be released. Cook County. however. chose to ignore this request. and after being released on bail. Denniss killer apparently fled the country.