On the recordNovember 5, 2015
2 weeks ago, the Senate was unable to proceed to consider a very important piece of legislation called the Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act. The goal of this legislation is to protect our communities from criminals who violate our laws and who pose a danger to those communities--often minority communities themselves. The aim of this legislation is to restore law and order across the country by holding those accountable who are defying Federal law and refusing to cooperate with the Federal Government when it comes to communicating the status of people who are illegally present in the country who have committed other more serious crimes and refusing to honor Federal detainers. As we discussed the need for this bill, several of my colleagues highlighted the importance of this issue, but unfortunately, we lost that vote because only 54 Senators voted to proceed to the bill and obviously we needed 60 votes. I am concerned that this debate does not focus on the people harmed the most because of the status quo, and that is why I have come here to the floor to talk about the larger problem of violent crime committed by those who are here illegally and are not being punished according to our laws. I also want to highlight the importance of the victims and families across the country who are suffering because we have not taken the appropriate action to stop these criminals. There is one person in particular whom I wish to talk about today.…
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