On the recordJuly 23, 2015
I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. The man who killed Kathryn Steinle should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Perhaps more importantly, the officials who released the person who killed her--released this man from custody--dropped the ball, they should be held accountable. This bill punishes the police in my city of Los Angeles, the police in the city of Knoxville, and the police in Manchester, New Hampshire. It punishes police that had nothing to do with the crime that occurred in San Francisco. It takes away money from the police departments in Los Angeles, in Knoxville, and Manchester, when we need to put people and police on the street to protect all of us. This would deprive our cities of monies we have earned because we paid our taxes. Why? It is because the proponents of this bill say that our cities are violating the law. If we are violating the law, name the law we are violating. We are not violating any law. You just don't like the policy. Don't take the Donald Trump bait. Don't punish others for the crimes of someone else. In our country, you go after the person who is criminally liable; you go after that individual and lock them up forever, but don't tell the police in Los Angeles, Manchester, or in Knoxville, Tennessee, or other cities that are trying to have a working relationship between their police and growing immigrant communities that they won't be able to collaborate so we can go after the criminals--because that is what you are doing.…
