Unanimous Consent Request--S. 80

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. The Senator from Iowa tells us a compelling story of Sarah Root, whose death at the hands of a drunk driver is a tragedy. However, I respectfully suggest this legislation is not the answer.

This bill that she is proposing would require the mandatory detention of immigrants charged--not convicted--charged with certain crimes. The mere allegation of criminal conduct would result in months, possibly years, of detention before case adjudication.

Indefinitely detaining immigrants, regardless of whether they actually committed a crime, regardless of circumstances, violates a principle that is deeply embedded in the American legal system: innocent until proven guilty. Under this bill, someone wrongly arrested wouldn't be eligible for individualized bond determination. This is not consistent with the basic tenets of due process in our Constitution.

Creating a new category of immigrants subject to indefinite detention for being charged also could be harmful to the survivors of domestic violence. Over 20 years ago, I was introduced to a group in Chicago. The name of the group--and I am sorry if I don't pronounce it correctly, pretty close--is Mujeres Latinas en Accion. This is a group that came together to try to protect undocumented mothers and wives from domestic abuse. The reason they came together was these poor women were being victimized and abused in ways unthinkable and were so afraid to report it to police because of their undocumented status. So this group of women in the community came together and said: We have to build a shelter. These women had to get away from their abusive husbands who, many times, were also abusing the children. That is what happened. Today it is still there, and it is still needed.

These survivors of domestic abuse, many times in desperation, would finally strike back at the abusive husband, and some of them were even subject to arrest for assault against the abusing husband. Under the proposal today that is being suggested by the Senator from Iowa, that woman, having been abused by that husband for so many years, finally striking back and assaulting the husband and being charged, would automatically be incarcerated. There wouldn't be a judge to consider the reality of the circumstances in her life.

Survivors of human trafficking, sexual assault, and domestic violence are often at risk of arrest initially, but many times in court, the circumstances are explained, and a different conclusion is reached.

In one study, nearly half of the incarcerated women in the study described assaults they had committed in their own defense. This bill has no exception for immigrants who are charged with crimes that resulted from their defending themselves against violence.

Let me add, too, that this bill is not necessary. Our immigration laws give to ICE the authority to detain people who are deported. In fact, there are thousands of people detained, right now, using this authority.

There is no question that our immigration system is far from perfect and is a broken system. We have a responsibility and we have authority in Congress to reform our immigration law.

If the Senator from Iowa is interested in working on bipartisan immigration reform, I welcome the opportunity to ask her to join us to try to find pragmatic, bipartisan solutions. We had an initial meeting today, a bipartisan meeting of Senators, to open the conversation. But trying to pass this bill by unanimous consent is not the way to approach this very complex problem. We need to roll up our sleeves and say: Let's, as Senators on a bipartisan basis, do it.

I stand ready to do so. I hope the Senator from Iowa does too. As tough as it may be, we need to tackle these issues and not ignore them as they were for the last 4 years under the previous Republican President.

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