Just one year ago, several Democrats supported the same amendment
WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today spoke on the Senate floor and urged his colleagues to support his motion to direct the Judiciary Committee to reprioritize funding in the Democrats’ tax-increase legislation to ensure that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has sufficient resources to detain and deport a greater number of illegal aliens who have been convicted of a criminal offense in the United States.
The motion was not adopted because all 50 Senate Democrats voted against the measure, despite that during the budget resolution process last August, this same amendment was supported by four Democrats and adopted by the Senate, 53-46. Now—with a worse crisis at the border, a rising nationwide crime wave, and with a real opportunity to provide critical funding to address this public safety and national security crisis—Democrats abandoned their prior support for deportation of illegal aliens who have been convicted of a criminal offense.
Remarks as prepared for delivery:
Mr. President,
In fiscal year 2021, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more than 12,000 illegal aliens with aggravated felony convictions. An all-time record number of illegal border crossers entered our country last year. This is an unprecedented national security crisis.
Before we spend billions of dollars on Green New Deal programs, the department should first do its core job of securing the Homeland.
This same policy was adopted 53 to 46 during the budget resolution process last August with four of my Democrat colleagues joining me. Now, one year later, we have a worse crisis and an opportunity to provide real funding to protect our citizens from individuals who endanger our communities.
I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will maintain their previous support for this commonsense approach to fund law enforcement and put public safety and national security over partisan politics.
We have a chance to address this in a real manner right now. Solving a major crisis like this is worth taking a little more time. I urge my colleagues to support this motion.
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