I will tell my Republican colleague from Georgia, and his colleagues,
that the only lawlessness that exists here is the lawlessness of
President Trump in trying to do this to such an extent that a Federal
court order stopped him. And they will also, I believe, stop Governor
Abbott on his outrageous Senate Bill 4. Our police chiefs in San Antonio and in Austin, our courageous
Sheriff, Sally Hernandez, like many law enforcement professionals from
Texas to New Jersey, they say that maintaining the trust and confidence
of the immigrant community to report crime, to be witnesses concerning
crime, that this makes us all safer--immigrant and nonimmigrant alike. Any proper arrest warrant presented by ICE will be honored
everywhere. Detainers, which are merely a bureaucratic message saying
the bureaucracy is suspicious of someone who should be imprisoned based
on that suspicion, will not be kept imprisoned--and Federal courts have
said they should not be--under the Constitution. I would say that the only sanctuary that this bill provides is a
sanctuary for prejudice. It is a sanctuary that defies the reality of
the America we have today, particularly in the Southwest. We should reject this bill and affirm welcoming cities, like mine,
that are a refuge from anti-immigrant hysteria, but have a strong
commitment to safety and to effective law enforcement, and looking to
our local law enforcement, not political interference from Washington
telling us how to protect our families. This very week, four years ago, an overwhelming bipartisan United
States Senate majority approved comprehensive immigration reform. And
like the amendments that are being blocked today, these House
Republicans were so fearful that that bill might become law that they
will not even permit us to even debate it four years later on the floor
of this House. Instead of this anti-immigrant hysteria, instead of this sorry piece
of legislation, what we need is broad immigration reform, and we need
it now.
Keywords matched
immigration anti-immigrant immigrant