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Floor Speech

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Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, so DHS apparently is going to shut down. Hopefully, we can get it back open. What is this all about? Obey the law?

You know what. I have an idea for you if you want people to obey the law in this country: Do away with sanctuary cities.

Senator Murphy is from Connecticut. It is 1 of 12 sanctuary States. What does that mean? Local officials, State officials, refuse to work with the Federal Government to turn people over to the Federal Government as required by Federal law. So you want to obey the law in Connecticut? Stop being a sanctuary State.

You want to fix immigration? Have policies that make sense.

You all act like, for 4 years, Biden wasn't President. Every Democratic Senator aided and abetted the Biden administration with a massive invasion of this country. You turned the other way. You never said a word. You let Biden obliterate our border. You let him send people into the interior on planes, trains, and automobiles. Only God knows what happened, who is here. You sat by, and you did nothing.

And here is what I have learned about my friends on the Democratic side: They are never going to agree to deport anybody because all their proposals make it pretty much impossible to deport anybody.

Body cameras, that makes sense. If you want to find out how to make ICE more professional, count me in.

But your proposal is to require a judicial warrant to deport somebody. Can you imagine how many judges you would need if you got 15 million illegal people here, to go get a warrant from a judge? This is not a criminal proceeding. This is an administrative proceeding. The President, as the Commander in Chief, has the ability to detain and deport people administratively. You don't need a Federal judge.

You are trying to create a mechanism so we will fail cleaning up your mess. We got elected to clean up your mess.

We are going to hold ICE agents accountable if they went too far. Tom Homan went to Minnesota to turn the heat down. Great.

Democratic politicians all over this country have been turning the heat up. You are wedded to lousy, dangerous policies.

Senator Murphy, why don't you get Connecticut right with Federal law?

Here is what has happened: We got 12 sanctuary States, 200-plus sanctuary communities, 25,000 people--ICE has requested a detainer, ignored for 2 years. States have refused to work with ICE for 25,000 people that have a detainer at the Federal level.

Sanctuary city law is a magnet for future illegal immigration. Sanctuary city policies are full of fraud like in Minneapolis. They bring out the worst in the system, not the best, and it breaks down law and order.

We have been talking for weeks about you wanting to fix things. You are blocking a debate. I can't believe I am here. I thought we were going to work together to try to find out how to reform ICE and also address the bottom-line problem, which is sanctuary city law abuse. That is the problem--not ICE, not Miller, not me, not Noem--policies that have been in place that entice more illegal immigration.

Every Democratic Senator turned the other way during the 4 years of Biden. You didn't do anything to bring reason to chaos.

How many of you spoke about Laken Riley? Talking about children being abused, how many thousands of people have been raped and abused, stolen and mistreated because of this invasion of illegal immigrants from virtually all over the world with people from gangs, you name it. So you never talk about the victims.

Just want to talk about TV in Minnesota. I am all for these ICE agents being reviewed. I am all for making them more professional. But I am not all for stopping the mandate that President Trump was given, which is to deal with illegal immigration and the criminal elements therein.

So I have legislation, S. 3805, and it says: If a State or local official does not turn over to the Federal Government an illegal immigrant who is facing criminal charges, been convicted or facing criminal charges, then that State or local official can go to jail.

You have an obligation under Federal law to turn these people over. Sanctuary States and cities--25,000 ICE detainers denied. Twenty-five thousand people that should be deported have not been turned over to the Federal Government because of these 12 States and these 200 sanctuary cities. Let's get to the root cause of the problem.

I am going to ask unanimous consent that we vote on S. 3805. That would make it a crime for a State or local official not to turn over to Federal authorities a criminal illegal immigrant, somebody who is charged with a crime or convicted with a crime. And if you don't turn them over, you would face punishment. That will stop illegal sanctuary city policy. If people knew they would go to jail for breaking Federal law, I think they would stop.

You have had weeks, and we are not even debating. You are never going to change. If you want to have immigration policed, our Democratic friends will never be there for you. They turned their back on you and your family and allowed this Nation to be invaded by 10, 15, 20 million people--who the hell knows.

We are trying to fix it. We are trying to fix it, and we are not going to give up. And until you change the policies, you never stop illegal immigration.

If there are 12 States that have sanctuary status, they will keep coming. All they have to do is get to one of these States. It is magnets for future illegal immigration. It breaks down law and order, and it needs to stop.

318, S. 3805; further, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

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Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I thank my good friend Senator Padilla.

No. 1, we are going to have an election in November. Senator Padilla says that sanctuary policies are not part of the problem. I think they are. I think the American people believe that, when 12 States refuse to cooperate with the Federal Government when it comes to enforcing Federal law, they become sanctuary States and cities, and it entices more illegal immigration.

Do you know why we are not voting on my amendment? It is because most people don't agree with him, and they are afraid to vote. The only reason we are not voting on my amendment is that you would have to go back and tell the country why you voted against stopping sanctuary city policy, which is one of the biggest magnets of illegal immigration that leads to massive fraud and the breakdown of law and order.

The parties are in two different places. Democrats and Senator Padilla believe that sanctuary policies are no problem. The Republicans, including me and President Trump, believe we will never have orderly immigration until you get to the root cause of the problem. You have got 12 very liberal States and 200 cities that refuse to work with the Federal Government to turn over people who are subject to deportation.

They don't want that vote. You are never going to stop sanctuary cities until you make the people in charge of the State and the city pay a price for ignoring Federal law.

To the American people, you are not wrong to believe sanctuary city policy is bad for your country. Democrats are wrong to support it and want to continue it.

So what do we hear on the floor today? Not only is it that they don't believe it is a problem but that they wish to continue it.

This is why I want a vote. We are going to have a vote on this. You want to continue these policies. You don't think they are a problem. I want to end them. Let's have a vote, a debate and a vote. You bring up any amendment you want to bring up about making ICE better, defund it. Whatever you want to bring up I will vote on, but you are denying me a vote today on the root cause of the problem because you have absolutely no interest in recognizing it to be the root cause of the problem.

As a matter of fact, the Senator said I am wrong to believe that sanctuary policy is bad for our country.

No. You are wrong. You are wrong to have turned your back on the 15 million, 10 million, 20 million coming into our country for 4 years. You are wrong to sit by and watch these States obliterate the law. There are 25,000 people that local governments and State governments refuse to turn over to ICE who are eligible to be turned over, and there are 8 million people in these illegal sanctuary States and cities.

This is a debate worthy of the U.S. Senate and of a great nation.

Is Senator Padilla right that sanctuary policies are not bad for the country and that they should continue or am I right that we should reform ICE but that we also should end the biggest magnet to illegal immigration out there, I think, which are 12 States that violate, routinely, Federal law?

There are 12 States wherein, if an illegal believes you can get there, you are never going to leave the country. If we don't fix this problem, we will never fix illegal immigration. In the Gang of 8 bill, we actually fixed this problem.

So what have I learned?

I have learned that I can't get a vote on an amendment that would require State and local officials to obey the law or go to jail themselves when it comes to criminal illegal aliens.

My amendment says, if you have got a criminal in your custody and you don't turn the criminal over to the Federal Government, as you are supposed to, you could go to jail. They should go to jail. We can't have that vote. We can't have that debate.

This is a phenomenal day for the U.S. Senate. We have got the Senator from California overtly saying: We have no desire to change sanctuary policy. We think it is OK. Then we have got me and all of us on this side saying that you need to end this; that this will continue.

I am sad and disappointed we didn't have a bunch of votes today. Why aren't we voting? Because they blocked it. Why aren't we defunding DHS? Because they don't want to talk and fix the problem.

So here is the deal: No matter what--no matter how this ends--I am going to stay on this until I can't stay on it anymore. I want a simple vote as a U.S. Senator to have a debate as to whether or not sanctuary city policy, State policy, is bad for America or good for America. I think it is terrible for America.

For those engaging in sanctuary city practices, you are hurting the other 38 States. You are creating chaos for your country, and you should be held accountable.

One last thought: There was a clerk of the court in Kentucky who was a very religious woman. She did not want to recognize a gay marriage in Kentucky. She issued marriage licenses. The Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage was the law of the land. She refused. I said she needed to do her job. She went to jail for 5 days, and she should have because you can't let your personal opinion take over your government function. You can't just obey the laws you like.

It is the same thing here--and every liberal clapped when I did that. It is the same thing here. If you have got a Governor or a mayor who will not turn over a criminal illegal immigrant, as required by Federal law, they should go to jail.

I want a vote. I want a debate. I am not going to let this go. The battle lines have been drawn.

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