Republicans funded immigration enforcement; every Democrat voted no

By U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn
R-Tennessee
   
Last week, Senate Republicans put the American people first. We passed the Secure America Act, vital legislation that will fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection through the end of President Trump’s second term. 

This package will ensure that our brave federal law enforcement officers have all the resources they need to track down violent criminals, stop the flow of illicit drugs into our communities, and enforce our immigration laws. In other words, it’s a victory for our country – yet every single Democrat voted against it.

The reason for Democrats’ opposition is simple: They want to abolish ICE and end the enforcement of our immigration laws altogether. Since February, they have voted more than a dozen times to block funding for immigration enforcement. For 76 days, they kept the Department of Homeland Security shut down, leaving the Secret Service, Coast Guard, FEMA, and other critical agencies unfunded at a time of heightened national security threats.

They have made no secret of their intentions. They demanded “not one more dollar for ICE.” They claimed ICE is “beyond reform.” And across the board, they promised to their far-left base that they’ll “abolish ICE.” This isn’t a fringe position in today’s Democrat party. It has become a mainstay of their political agenda.

Since President Trump returned to office, we’ve seen the consequences of this rhetoric on full display. In New Jersey, far-left rioters have assaulted law enforcement for days outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility near Newark. Some have thrown rocks at officers. Others have pushed barricades at police. One rioter screamed at an ICE agent: “Your children, your wife—all dead. I have your face…You’re dead.”

By all appearances, these are professional protesters: Outside the facility, they’ve set up entire supply stations with masks, hard hats, goggles, and duct tape. The state’s attorney general even admitted that most of the arrested rioters have come from outside New Jersey. Yet instead of condemning this violence, the state’s Democrat governor has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with these rioters. After days of clashes, she sent state police to secure the area—not to ensure the safety of federal law enforcement, but, in her words, to “avoid escalation from ICE.” Now, she’s citing the unrest to call for the closure of Delaney Hall.

This is how radical Democrats have become. They will allow organized mobs to assault our federal law enforcement. Then, they’ll point to that violence as a reason to stop law enforcement from doing their jobs.

It is not hard to imagine the chaos that would ensue if Democrats got their way and wiped out ICE and CBP, the agencies responsible for protecting Americans from cross-border crime and illegal immigration. There would be more crime, more human trafficking, more illicit drugs, more terrorism, and more lives lost. It would mark a return to the failed policies of President Biden, who laid out the welcome mat for millions of illegal aliens to flood our country and overwhelm our communities. 

By passing the Secure America Act, Republicans slammed the door on Democrats’ radical-left demands and ensured the brave men and women who are risking their lives to enforce our immigration laws have everything they need to get the job done.

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