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Floor Speech
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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to tell you, to tell the body, and to tell the country that Republicans are going to fully fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as Border Patrol, and we are going to do it through the end of President Trump's term in the White House, all the way through--not just to the end of this year, this fiscal year, the calendar year--all the way to the end of the time that President Trump is in the White House. And we can do it without a single Democrat vote, and we are going to move forward without them.
The Democrats want to defund law enforcement in America. It is disgraceful. It is shameful. But that is who that party has become. They want to end immigration enforcement in the United States. Republicans will never let that happen.
Senator Schumer and the Democrats engineered this dangerous, reckless shutdown that we are currently living in. It is a shutdown of American security and American law enforcement. Now, they have done it for one reason: They would rather protect illegal immigrant criminals than protect law-abiding American citizens.
For the last 2 months, Democrats have fought to turn America into what some would call a sanctuary country and what I would call a country that harbors and protects illegal immigrants. That is what they are trying to do. Those are their beliefs. They rally around the country to proclaim it.
They voted to defund ICE, and they voted to defund Border Patrol--the very men and women who are hired to keep our Nation safe and secure. They tried to ban masks on ICE agents. That would allow the gangs of radical thugs who travel the streets at some of these rallies to threaten agents in their own homes, to terrorize their families.
Those were the demands the Democrats made in the negotiations. They all have one thing in common: They make our Nation less safe. Clear and simple, they make America less safe. That is who the Democrats are, and that is why Republicans have rejected all of the things they have been demanding.
Thanks to Republicans, immigration enforcement and border security will be fully funded, and they will be funded without conceding a single radical Democrat demand.
Democrats have spent the last 2 months trying to handcuff ICE and Border Patrol agents. Republicans are going to make sure that ICE and Border Patrol are fully funded as long as President Trump is in the White House.
So here is what comes next. I met with President Trump at the White House on Friday afternoon. Senator Lindsey Graham, who is chairman of the Budget Committee, and I met, sat, and visited with the President. We shared with him that Senate Republicans are not slowing down. We are united around a targeted, focused reconciliation bill, and we are moving immediately and quickly to fully fund and strengthen ICE and Border Patrol. We are going to do it with a simple majority right here in the U.S. Senate, and we are going to do it for the long term--no more hostage-taking by the radical Democrats. The safety and security of the American people are much too important for that. Senate Republicans intend to meet President Trump's June 1 deadline.
The men and women of ICE and Border Patrol are American heroes. They protect our Nation from murderers, from drug traffickers, from rapists. They protect our Nation from repeat illegal immigrant criminals. These are the individuals who should not have been let into the country in the first place, but Joe Biden and the Democrats let 10 million illegal immigrants flood into our Nation during those 4 years.
When Democrats obstruct this critical work, innocent Americans pay the price.
Remember Sheridan Gorman. She was 18 years old, just 18 years old and a student in Chicago. Last month in Chicago, she was shot and killed in cold blood by an illegal immigrant criminal.
Sheridan's killer entered our Nation in 2023. The Biden administration let him in. He was one of 10 million illegal immigrants allowed to enter the country. And, of course, Chicago's sanctuary city laws that they are proud of there shielded him from deportation. The city of Chicago and their mayor protected him. He turns out to be a murderer.
And don't forget Richard Williams. He was that 83-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran. Last month, in New York City--the minority leader's hometown--he was shoved onto the subway tracks by an illegal immigrant criminal. He died of his injuries.
His killer had a lengthy criminal record, but the sanctuary city laws of New York protected him. So he kept doing criminal deeds and acts against American people and their property.
Sheridan Gorman deserved better. Richard Williams deserved better. Every American citizen and every American community deserve better than what the Democrats are trying to hoist upon all of us.
This is what Republicans are fighting for. That is why we are here. From day one, President Trump and Republicans have fought alone to secure the border and to enforce the laws. Democrats responded with opposition, with obstruction, with extremism. Republicans will do what is necessary to fully fund our national security, and we will protect law-abiding citizens, not illegal immigrant criminals.
The American people have long demanded secure borders and safe communities. President Trump and Republican leadership are going to continue to deliver. Senator Schumer and the Democrats may scream. They are not going to stop us.
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