Political Quotes

“My amendment would simply make clear to the Department of Homeland Security that these funds, which Congress is specifically dedicating to the Coast Guard's environmental remediation efforts as a result of hurricane damage, cannot be reprogrammed to increase DHS's detention capacity. Madam Chair, this amendment is critical. Just a few months ago, we learned that DHS transferred $169 million from other agencies to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain and remove people. Madam Chair, $10 million of that money came from FEMA, diverting funds from the disaster relief agency at the start of the hurricane season when Hurricane Florence was heading toward the East Coast; $1.8 million of that diverted money came from the Domestic Nuclear Detention Office; $29 million was taken out from the Coast Guard's budget; and over $34 million came from several TSA programs. That is simply unacceptable. ICE continues to spend far above its appropriated funding to detain people, but these funds are being transferred from other critical agencies, in clear violation of congressionally mandated funding. As of January 1, more than 48,000 people were being held in ICE custody, even though they only have funding appropriated by Congress to detain 40,520 people.…”