No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. OGLES. Mr. Chair, there are nearly 300 sanctuary jurisdictions in the United States. That is 300 places in our Nation that refuse to cooperate with Federal law enforcement to detain and remove illegal aliens. That is why this underlying bill is so important.

There is not a single so-called sanctuary jurisdiction locality that intentionally refuses to uphold the law who should be receiving Federal funds. Every city, county, or State that has laws, regulations, resolutions, or policies protecting illegal alien criminals from ICE should not receive a penny of Federal funding for the benefits of those illegal aliens.

Unfortunately, these jurisdictions received over $300 million from the Department of Justice in 2021 alone.

My concern with this legislation, and it is a fairly minor one, is the timeline. Right now, the bill says that there will be a complete funding prohibition on food, shelter, healthcare, and other services for illegal aliens in sanctuary jurisdictions, but the funding ineligibility kicks in at the beginning of the fiscal year after the date of an enactment.

Practically, that could raise a circumstance in which the funding prohibition described in this bill wouldn't kick in until nearly a year after this bill becomes law.

In my view, that is too long. It is too long of a timeframe for these sanctuary cities, these jurisdictions, to get away with violating our laws and taking tax dollars from hardworking Americans.

This amendment amends section 3 of the text to ensure that the funding ineligibility for these jurisdictions become effective no later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this act and potentially even sooner.

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Mr. OGLES. Mr. Chairman, these jurisdictions are aiding and abetting criminals. They are ignoring and violating Federal law. They created this problem, so if they have to call a special session to fix the problem they created, that is on them. It shouldn't be the taxpayers of Tennessee who have to fund it.

I have got veterans in my community that aren't getting services because of illegal immigrants. There are only so many dollars to go around. Tennessee spends roughly $850 million a year annually for illegal immigrants. That is textbooks, that is computers for our kids, that is psychological evaluations and treatment for our veterans. If I have to choose between a citizen and an illegal who is violating our laws, I choose an American every single time.

Mr. Chairman, if Soros-funded sanctuary jurisdictions want to violate the law and turn their backs on America, on our citizens, and on law enforcement personnel, they should not be financially rewarded for doing so. There is no good argument my colleagues on the other side of the aisle can make that involves asking my constituents, hardworking Americans in middle Tennessee, to subsidize the lives of lawbreakers as well as the decisions of sanctuary jurisdictions who want to protect those lawbreakers.

It is time to defund and to deport. This is our country. We get to decide who comes in, and we get to decide who has to leave.

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Mr. OGLES. Mr. Chairman, the crazy conjecture of the consequences is clearly confounding.

Let's be honest. We are talking about the food, the shelter, and the healthcare that is going directly to illegal immigrants, nothing to American citizens. Keep in mind, it is the jurisdictions who created this problem. It is the jurisdictions that are violating our laws and making a mockery of our system and turning their backs on law enforcement.

Mr. Chair, you have girls and women all across the country who have been sexually assaulted by illegals. These are crimes that would never have happened if they were back in their home country if they had never been allowed in this country, if they had not been given sanctuary, had they not been released.

So when the gentleman talks about consequences, why doesn't he ask those women and those children?

Why doesn't the gentleman ask those families?

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. OGLES. Mr. Chairman, what this does is asks Homeland Security to produce a report. So-called sanctuary jurisdictions choose to undermine Federal law enforcement when it attempts to enforce our immigration laws. I am grateful we are considering the underlying bill to hold them accountable. I thank the chairman.

One policy that would make a city a sanctuary city is a prohibition or a restriction on government entities or officials from complying with lawful requests from the Department of Homeland Security under section 236 or 287 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

My modest amendment just asks that DHS provide an annual report to Congress detailing which jurisdictions have failed to honor such lawful requests. I believe having that information and having the report is important. Without it, it could be difficult to know which jurisdictions are complying with the law.

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Mr. OGLES. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague for supporting my amendment.

As we look at the jurisdictions across the country that may be ignoring current Federal law, whether by ordinance, whether by order of the mayor, by statute, or just an unwritten rule, this report would illuminate and bring to light those jurisdictions that, quite frankly, are putting America at risk.

A border crisis is a disaster for the country. It has turned every State into a border State. It spurred drug trafficking, human trafficking, and other crime. There was just a bodega that was shut down that was trafficking illegals today.

It has caused resource crises for cities and towns across the country who have found that they don't have the resources to deal with the influx, the mass influx, of people the Biden-Harris administration has released upon them.

Again, this information is critical as we move forward, as we look for solutions and put an end to this crisis that is plaguing our country.

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Mr. OGLES. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, in closing, again, it is a simple report. It is valuable information. It is time that all cities, all communities enforce the Federal law. It is time to deport the illegals who are draining our system, taking money away from American citizens.

Mr. Chair, I urge adoption of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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