Political Quotes

“I thank the Rules Committee for allowing an open rule, including the offering of my commonsense amendment which would save millions of dollars by cutting funding to 287(g), something that is called an immigration enforcement program which actually increases crime by expanding the mandate of our local crime-fighting officials. This program effectively adds responsibilities, which should be Federal responsibilities, to local law enforcement so that they effectively engage in Federal immigration enforcement. So instead of keeping serious criminals from threatening our communities, the 287(g) program forces police to waste their time trying to figure out the immigration status of noncriminals, as well as opening them up to charges of racial profiling which can be expensive to defend. Instead of using our precious national security dollars on these kinds of programs, this bill has estimated savings of $6.4 million for the next year alone. The inspector general found this program cost $68 million. These programs force local law enforcement officers to follow and enforce Federal laws even though they are not trained to do so. That is why law enforcement officers from across the country have spoken out against it. The IG found 33 problems the first time they investigated 287(g) last year. The biggest problem was that they found the program did not focus on noncitizens who actually pose a threat to public safety.…”