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Floor Speech

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Mr. KIM. Mr. President, I rise today as we debate funding for the Department of Homeland Security. It is a debate that 100 Americans allowed into this Chamber will have a chance to do, but that really is being had by millions of Americans across the country in their living rooms and their group chats, in the comments on social media. There are a lot of things that we debate here that fly under the radar that, maybe, impact a lot of people but are not on their minds. This is on everyone's mind. Whether we write another check to fund the Department of Homeland Security isn't just front page news--it is the thing that people who haven't picked up a newspaper in years are talking about.

Why is that?

It is because people can feel that something is wrong in this country, and they know it has to be stopped.

People can watch the videos of the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of Federal agents and see that something is wrong and that it isn't over. They can watch these videos of masked men who are roaming through neighborhoods or are physically assaulting people who are peacefully protesting and see that something is wrong. They are absolutely right in that feeling. How can you watch any of that and not see that it is wrong?

I hear from people whom I know--some friends of mine--who are telling me that they are now carrying their passports around with them because they are afraid of getting stopped and being targeted by Federal agents. I have heard from constituents who are anxious, who don't feel safe leaving their houses, who are afraid of door knocks at their houses, and are just afraid that this moment of fear will never end.

The tragic irony of this is that we are nearly 25 years in from the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security--25 years from another moment when people felt an incredible level of anxiety and unease. I was in college when 9/11 happened. It was a moment that led me toward public service. It was a crisis that brought me into a career in national security, working to keep our country safe. One of the things I have learned is that safety isn't our ability to project force or the tools we have at our disposal. Those things can make us safe, but if they are used improperly, they can make us less safe and less secure. And that is exactly what we are seeing from this administration. It is what Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, Tom Homan, and Kristi Noem are doing every day. They are using the tools that were meant to keep us safe and are distorting them to grow their own power, to fuel their own corruption.

What we are debating here today is whether we should continue to fund their efforts to use these tools against the American people and for their own twisted agenda. And, to that, there is a simple answer: We must say and vote no. We need to vote no on funding the DHS as this bill currently stands because it is not going to make us more safe and secure.

Everyone in America who has been carrying this feeling around with them for the past few days and weeks knows that. They know that they have been lied to by this administration. They know that the masked men who are flooding into our communities are not accountable to them. They know people like Stephen Miller, whom I have often called and said that he is the most dangerous person in our country, are not accountable to them. The American people are tired of it, and they are tired of the lies. They see right through them. They are tired of feeling like they have no say in this horrible feeling of insecurity and uncertainty.

How is it that, in the richest, most powerful country in the world, we have this much unpredictability and this much anxiety that hangs over us? But that can end today; that can end right here because, even though the millions and millions of people who are struggling to make sense of this moment aren't able to get into this Chamber and have a vote, there are 100 of us who do and who represent all of the other Americans in this Nation.

There are things that this administration can do today to restore that sense of safety and security. For instance, they can pull ICE and CBP agents out of their operations in Minnesota and in Maine and deescalate the fear that American communities are facing. The provocations are dangerous right now and the concern of powder kegs of what is going to happen next. It is not that we see this in the rearview mirror with the murder and the killing of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. People are wondering: Is this just the beginning? Is this going to continue and for how long? Is it going to get worse? That is the fear that people are feeling, which is something that this administration can immediately bring down if they pull these agents out.

This administration can also allow and clearly articulate the need for independent investigations into the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti--actually, in terms of all 12 of the shootings that DHS agents since September of last year have conducted. That deserves the same level of transparency and accountability. The reason we need this is that there is no trust right now. There is no trust right now from the American people in having DHS or this administration as a whole investigate themselves. It is antithetical to our understanding of transparency and accountability if that is the case. So we demand true independent investigations.

This administration can also fire their leaders who have clearly zero credibility--zero credibility--with the American people right now-- Stephen Miller, Tom Homan, Secretary Noem, and others--who have purposely weaponized our government for their own political agendas. The American people demand accountability. Forward movement as a nation in these troubled times cannot happen while having these administrative officials still in power, still in their jobs.

There are many other things we need to think through, but these are three things that can happen right now by this administration to show that we can try to turn a corner on this incredibly chaotic and dangerous moment for our country.

But even if that all happens, we owe it to the American people to take a stand, we owe it to them to give them the security they deserve, and we owe it to them to vote no on this appropriations bill.

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