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Floor Speech
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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, yesterday I was in the Oval Office with the President of the United States, and President Trump signed into law five appropriations bills. And as a result, 96 percent of the Federal Government is funded through the end of the fiscal year. That is good news for the American people.
We accomplished all of this through the normal legislative process--a bill going through the House, through the Senate, and then to the White House. This is how Congress is supposed to work. The Appropriations Committee, led by Senator Susan Collins of Maine, made it happen here in the Senate. This is a welcome change from how things were done in the past during the Democrat administration.
Today, Republicans work to continue to fully fund the last 4 percent of government, and that is the Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security is charged with one of the Federal Government's most basic duties, and that is to keep Americans safe. The Department of Homeland Security enforces our Nation's immigration laws; it oversees TSA agents; it directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency; it commands the U.S. Coast Guard; and it protects our Nation from cyber attacks.
Republicans are ready to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security. We are ready to do it through the end of the fiscal year. And we have been ready to do it for weeks. Democrats are holding the funding hostage. Democrats have an unreasonable and growing list of demands. Democrats' demands would undermine law enforcement, and Democrats' demands would make our Nation less safe.
One of the Democrats' most dangerous demands is for local police to ignore Federal immigration law. Democrats in Congress and Democrats who run big cities do not want the law enforced. They have proven it by their words and by their actions.
For years, the Democrats have been the party of ``defund the police.'' Democrats have now taken it a step further. Now, they are the party of defund American security. The debate is about much more than Federal funding. It is about whether Federal law is enforced or ignored. It is about whether our communities are safe or not. Seventy- eight percent of Americans want to deport illegal immigrant criminals. Americans support more cooperation between local and Federal officials. This applies specifically to deporting illegal immigrant criminals.
Americans also say that local jails should transfer criminal illegal immigrants to Federal officials. Let me point out that in today's Washington Post--and I have a copy of it right here, of their editorial page--the Washington Post this morning, February 4, 2026:
Congress has its work cut out on DHS funding.
They start a paragraph that says:
Something else Schumer says he wants is an end to roving patrols.
Senator Schumer just spoke here on the floor of the U.S. Senate. The editorial said Democrat-run cities should ``hand over dangerous illegal immigrants in their jails'' instead of ``hiding behind sanctuary policies.''
The Washington Post this morning is advising the Democrats and, specifically, Senator Schumer by name that we need more cooperation, not less, which is what we are getting from Democrat-run cities in big Democrat bastions and promoted by each and every one of the Democrats on the floor of the U.S. Senate. We need more cooperation.
We have gotten to this place because of the law, specifically the Laken Riley law, which, Mr. President, you were one of the cosponsors and advocates and worked so hard on. Because of that law--the law that Senator Katie Britt wrote, you worked with, we got passed, signed into law--DHS has detained an additional 20,000 illegal immigrants who otherwise would have been released back onto the streets of our communities.
Clearly, when local officials cooperate with Federal officers, the American people are safer. By contrast, Senate Democrats--and we are going to hear it again today--want to enact sanctuary city policies on a national level. People in my home State and yours hate the idea of sanctuary cities. American cities--already, over a dozen Democrat- run States embrace these sanctuary city policies.
Let me tell you what the liberal Governor of New York now wants to do. She wants to make cooperating and coordinating with ICE illegal for the State of New York. We have seen who got elected mayor of New York City. Now, the Governor is following right behind him.
And in Minnesota, the liberal Governor, the liberal mayor of Minneapolis, and the liberal attorney general openly encourage citizens to obstruct Federal law. That is what they are doing in liberal bastions around the country. If Democrats have their way, every city in America would be a sanctuary city and every city in America would be less safe.
Here is why sanctuary cities are so dangerous: They are dangerous for the public, and they are dangerous for law enforcement. In sanctuary cities, local officials refuse to transfer illegal immigrants, even those convicted of crimes, to Federal law enforcement. These convicted criminals are often released from custody back onto the streets in our communities. That means Federal agents are forced to try to find these convicted criminals in the community, on the streets, instead of being able to secure and pick them up in the jails. It seems a lot safer way to do it for me.
Look at what is happening in New York City. Since last year, New York has released 7,000 illegal immigrant criminals instead of cooperating with Federal officials. Last month, New York knowingly released a convicted sex offender. They did this instead of transferring him into Federal custody, which is where he belongs. That is a criminal who has already been deported before and got back into the country.
Remember Joe Biden, 10,000 a day coming into the country--criminals, drug dealers, illegal immigrants who were part of criminal cartels--we had it all. Well, Federal officials were prepared to arrest him in New York. No, the local Democrats released him, let him blend in. Go away.
That is what sanctuary city policies do. They put criminals back on the streets in our cities and make our cities less safe. Not a single American is safer because of the sanctuary city policies that the Democrats are promoting. When liberal cities provide sanctuary for criminals, they deny the safety of law-abiding citizens.
If immigration laws are ignored nationwide, almost everyone who enters the United States illegally would remain here for the rest of their lives, free to do whatever they wanted, commit crimes, and not have to worry about ever being deported. Preventing cooperation between State and Federal officials would make the chaos of Joe Biden's wide- open borders permanent. The American people don't want that.
Let me tell you how this applies to the debate over the funding bill today for the Department of Homeland Security. The Democrats' list of demands is a liberal wish list. Republicans are not going to accept changes that make our communities less safe. Personally, I want to end sanctuary cities and sanctuary city policies completely and so do many of my Republican colleagues.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has introduced legislation to stop State and local officials from interfering with Federal immigration enforcement. It is a simple, commonsense concept: law enforcement officers should help law enforcement officers keep our communities safe.
The safest cities in America are those that cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. There is a clear cause-and-effect relationship. Congress should encourage more cooperation, do it nationwide, not less, which is what the Democrats want.
Republicans welcome this debate about immigration enforcement. Republicans are for cooperation. Democrats--they are the party of chaos. Republicans are for enforcing the law. Democrats are for sanctuary cities and once again side with illegal immigrants while Republicans stand on the side of making America more safe.
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