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Floor Speech

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Mr. PETERS. Madam President, I staunchly oppose Robert Law's nomination to be Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans at the Department of Homeland Security.

If confirmed, Robert Law will be responsible for developing policies for all of DHS's critical national security missions, including border security and immigration enforcement, cyber security, protecting critical infrastructure, counterterrorism, and disaster management.

This role requires someone who understands the full mission of DHS and can manage strategy across all of these components. Given his record and views, I have serious concerns about how he will carry out these responsibilities.

First, he has shown that he has limited understanding of some of DHS's most critical missions. In comments before my committee, he has maligned DHS cyber security and election security missions, and he downplayed terrorism threats that DHS is charged with countering. He has dismissed the work of key DHS components like FEMA and CISA as ``off mission,'' and I am deeply concerned that he will abandon critical emergency management and cyber security missions that protect our communities every day.

I am also concerned about Robert Law's promotion of discriminatory travel bans and mass deportations. He has a record of working with organizations that were founded by White nationalists, whose extremist policy positions he himself has enforced and advocated for.

Robert Law currently serves as Senior Counselor to Secretary Noem and is supporting DHS's ongoing efforts to indiscriminately ramp up deportation of law-abiding individuals and families while losing focus on counterterrorism, cyber security, and disaster preparedness.

During the first Trump administration, Robert Law worked at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, where he helped implement the travel ban targeting many Muslim nations, creating, essentially, a religious test for entering the United States. Robert Law also supports ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, known as DACA, and has referred to Dreamers as ``human shields.''

To make matters worse, he denied to my committee that the Trump administration has a family separation policy when, in fact, we know that there are children who still have not been reunited with their parents.

If Robert Law is confirmed, I am concerned that he will neglect vital missions of the Department and make Americans less safe. Because of this, I strongly oppose Robert Law's nomination, and I would urge all of my colleagues to do the same.

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