Speech #CREC-2017-03-30-pt1-PgH2578-6_t4

Speaker, I wish to thank the gentleman from Iowa, my good friend for yielding to me. I rise to express my strong support for the announced policy by Attorney General Jeff Sessions that will terminate U.S. Department of Justice grants to sanctuary cities. These are the localities that have chosen not to cooperate with the Federal Government when its seeks to deport already-detained criminal aliens. Under this Trump policy, your hard-earned tax dollars will no longer go to cities and counties that thumb their nose at the Federal immigration authorities and refuse to cooperate. In President Trump's first 2 months in office, this administration has acted to secure our borders, to encourage compliance with Federal immigration law, and to deport criminal aliens. The previous administration put out the welcome mat for criminal aliens. Thanks to Trump, the welcome mat has now been removed. A few short days ago, the national news broke on how two illegal aliens from Central America raped a 14-year-old girl in the boys bathroom of a public high school in Rockville, Maryland. These two young men, Henry Sanchez-Milian, an 18-year-old from Guatemala, and Jose Montano, a 17-year-old from El Salvador, came across our southern border last year as unaccompanied minors. The Obama administration initially targeted them for deportation proceedings, but they were later released to join relatives in Maryland. When asked about the situation, Rockville school officials said that the legal status of these two individuals did not matter, as Rockville has declared itself to be a sanctuary city. I beg to differ. It does matter. If the Federal Government had done its duty and immediately returned these illegal immigrants to their home country, this young girl would not have been brutally raped. For the sake of this young girl, we must secure our borders. This vicious crime would never have taken place had the Obama administration followed the law and secured our borders. The good news is that the new administration is working hard to secure our borders, to deport criminal aliens, and to protect the lives of American citizens. Cracking down on sanctuary cities is an important first step. In the first month of the Trump administration, ICE issued 3,083 detainers. These are orders for local authorities to keep criminal aliens in custody for 48 hours to enable U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents to come and get these criminal aliens for deportation. 206 of these detainees were just declined, meaning that local authorities deliberately ignored ICE's detainer requests and released these individuals back out onto American streets. This is especially concerning because 44 percent of those individuals had already been convicted of crimes in the United States. These weren't just petty crimes, folks. These include: homicide, rape, assault, domestic violence, indecent exposure with a minor, sex offense against a minor, aggravated assault with a weapon, resisting an officer, vehicle theft, kidnapping, driving under the influence, hit- and-run, and sexual assault. Thank you, Mr. President, for holding accountable these sanctuary cities that released these criminals back out onto our streets. We are also working to force foreign countries to take back their criminal alien citizens; 25-year-old Casey Chadwick was murdered by an illegal alien from Haiti, Jean Jacques. Jacques had been released 6 months earlier and ordered deported after serving a 19-year sentence for attempted murder. Haiti had refused multiple times to take back Jacques, and under the Obama administration policy, Jacques was simply released onto U.S. streets to return to his life of crime, although Haiti had gladly taken billions of U.S. aid. That is why I have introduced H.R. 82, the Criminal Alien Deportation Enforcement Act. My bill withholds foreign aid from countries that do not repatriate their criminal aliens. This commonsense step ensures that countries that benefit from the goodwill of the United States must hold up their end of the bargain and take back their criminal aliens. And through his recent executive order, President Trump declared that he would restrict the issuance of visas to certain residents of noncooperative countries. Congress should support the President by locking in this enforcement with legislation so that a future President does not reverse this enforcement. On behalf of the American people, I applaud President Trump and I call on my colleagues to cosponsor my legislation to lock in these protections for future generations of Americans and keep them safe.