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Floor Speech

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Mr. KING. Mr. President, I am somewhat perplexed by the comments of my colleague because six times in the last week and a half, measures have been put forth on this floor that would have paid TSA, would have paid the Coast Guard, would have paid FEMA, would pay CISA, and his party blocked every one of them. There was a vote just today that would have led to the funding of TSA, and I don't know how the gentleman voted, but I suspect he voted no. So this idea that somehow this side of the aisle is defunding and not voting for these other Agencies--it is just not true. There have been six--at least in the last week and a half--motions to move forward with the funding of the non-ICE Agencies, and each time, a representative of the party across the aisle has risen to object.

So let's be clear who is blocking funding for the TSA. It is not over here. We are ready to fund it tonight. We had a vote a few hours ago that would have funded it. So let's be clear about who is blocking funding for the TSA. It is right over here.

The second piece is, Why are we talking about ICE? If ICE, as the Senator suggested, were talking about criminal aliens, we wouldn't be here having this debate. The problem is that that is not what is happening.

In my State of Maine--in Portland--we had an ICE surge back in January and February that was similar to what happened in Minneapolis. It wasn't as large, and it wasn't as violent, but it was, nonetheless, a similar kind of surge, wherein a lot of agents came in, and a lot of arrests were made.

We have had a hard time in getting the actual data, but here is what we do know: Over 200 people were arrested or detained, many of whom were sent far away to Louisiana or to Texas or somewhere else.

But the website--I just looked it up. The DHS actually has a website called the Worst of the Worst, wherein they give you the picture and the name and the crime of the people whom they have arrested to demonstrate that, in fact, this is what they are doing.

Here is the problem: What we know is they arrested or detained over 200 people, and the DHS' Worst of the Worst website lists 21. That is 10 percent. Who are the other 90 percent?

I can tell you, from knowing my constituents, a lot of them are people who were asylum seekers, who were paying taxes, who were working people, who were refugees. One guy was approved to be a prison guard in our local county jail.

So, if it were the worst of the worst--the Senator kept using terms like ``criminal illegal aliens,'' and he gave these horrible cases. If that is what ICE was doing, we wouldn't have had a problem. The problem is the untargeted mass searching and picking up of people because of their accents or their color. That is what we are talking about here, and that is what we should be focused on. Indeed, there are discussions going on right now to try to find some resolution.

By the way, nobody is talking about defunding ICE. Nobody I have heard of is talking about defunding DHS or defunding the police. We are talking about guardrails being applied to ICE that are similar to the guardrails and the codes of conduct that apply to every police force in America.

I would suspect the city of Miami has a code of conduct that talks about how you respond to use of force and when warrants are required. They may also have something about identification. Those are the kinds of things that we are talking about. We are talking about guardrails. We are not talking about defunding anybody.

So let's be honest with the American people about what this debate is about.

I believe deeply--listen, I understand about the TSA and the Coast Guard, which is very important to my State. They should be getting paid, and that is why, starting several weeks ago, this side of the aisle has been bringing forward unanimous consent agreements that would fund those Agencies--only for them to be objected to. If we could have one of those unanimous consent agreements tonight or tomorrow, we could get those Agencies funded right away and then focus on what the issue is that divides us. And there are discussions going on with your colleagues and with the White House to try to resolve some of those issues.

I am an Independent, although I caucus with these guys, but let's not talk about the Democrats shutting down the TSA. The Democrats are moving to fund the TSA and are being blocked by the other side. Let's be clear about what is going on here. If we could solve this and if we could fund those other Agencies, which we should--I agree--then we could talk about guardrails for ICE and putting them under the same kind of reasonable constraints as every other law enforcement agencies in the country.

In my whole life, I have never seen a law enforcement agency that wears masks. Why do they wear masks? Because it is intimidating. It puts people in fear--citizens in fear. It also gives a license to the person with the mask on to act not in the public interest. It emboldens somebody to use the force that they have.

I understand about doxing, and we can have a law--we can pass a statute--making the doxing of these agents illegal and a crime--a serious crime. I understand that. I have got a draft of that here--of that law--and I think that should be part of that discussion.

But I think we really should be talking about what it is that we are trying to resolve here with regard to the guardrails on ICE. The original communication from the minority leader and the minority leader in the House said nothing about defunding. They talked about what the restrictions are that we need to talk about. Warrants--this is Constitution 101. You don't break down somebody's door without a warrant unless there are certain exigent circumstances. The Presiding Officer is a constitutional scholar; he understands the Fourth Amendment. But those are the kinds of things that we need to be talking about, not ``Should we be paying TSA officers?'' Of course, we should.

So let's vote on it. Let's do it. Let's put it on the floor and get that done tonight or tomorrow, and then we can focus on the issue that is before us. I just believe that this body ought to be coming together and talking about the real issues and trying to resolve them and not having the collateral damage of these other Agencies.

For myself, given what happened in Maine and what happened in Minnesota, I cannot vote for a budget that leaves ICE rampant and without the guardrails that apply to every other police force in the United States. I can't, in good conscience, do that. That is why I am voting to move forward with the funding of the other Agencies but then will focus on ICE to try to get some reasonable guardrails, and we are negotiating and working toward those.

In the meantime, let's pay the TSA people. Let's pay the Coast Guard. Let's pay CISA. Let's pay FEMA. I get that. But let's be clear about who is blocking that.

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Mr. KING. Mr. President, let the record show that a real debate broke out for a few minutes on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

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