Lofgren: House should not use tragedy to promote a deportation agenda
WASHINGTON, D.C. – During floor debate today, U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), called on the House of Representatives to "learn from the tragedy in San Francisco to come up with real solutions that would make our community safer" rather than using this tragedy as an excuse to push a political agenda.
Lofgren is the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.
The full statement as delivered is below:
"Madame Speaker, we have an immigration system that is badly broken. There are 11 million undocumented people in this country and contrary to what Donald Trump may think, the majority of these people are not rapists. They are hardworking people—spouses and parents of U.S. citizens, Dreamers, entrepreneurs—who want an opportunity to come forward, submit to background checks, and become fully American.
"Faced with a broken system, State and local law enforcement, have adopted policies designed to enhance public safety and maintain community trust. Because when people are afraid of the police—when they are afraid that the police might ask them or their family about their immigration status—they are afraid to report crimes, unlikely to cooperate with investigations, and then criminals thrive and the general public suffers.
"This bill puts an impossible choice before State and local law enforcement agencies around the country. They can either abandon these policies that work, or they can lose the Federal funds they rely upon to police their communities and protect them.
"The dangers posed by this bill are real. 144 national, state, and local advocacy organizations have written opposing this bill because of the detrimental impact it would have on public safety – big cities, but also little ones, like Dayton, Ohio—a place that most people don't think of as a "sanctuary city."
"In Dayton, police officers are instructed not to check immigration status of witnesses and victims nor to ask about immigration during minor traffic stops. The police chief there has explained that that this policy has helped them have a safer community.
"According to the chief after the policy was adopted, serious violent crime in Dayton dropped nearly 22 percent and serious property crime decreased almost 15 percent.
"Madame Speaker, why should Dayton, Ohio be barred from receiving funds for policing when their policies work? Punishing the law enforcement officers by withholding the funds they need is not only incorrect, it's why the bill is opposed by the Major County Sheriffs' Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, and dozens of sheriffs and police chiefs.
"The President has said we should deport felons, not families, and that's what his Priority Enforcement Program does. But the Secretary of Homeland Security told the Judiciary Committee just last week that withholding funds from communities would be a "huge setback" in efforts to improve the relationship between DHS, State and local law enforcement, and communities across the country.
"It has been said that this bill is a response to the tragic murder of Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco, just up the road from my district. However, nothing in this bill would have prevented that outrageous murder of Ms. Steinle.
"Nothing in the bill would have required the Bureau of Prisons and ICE to consult with San Francisco to ascertain whether or not the 20 year old warrant would lead to a prosecution.
"Nothing in this bill would have required ICE to obtain a warrant as is necessary to hold people beyond the term of their criminal sentence.
"Nothing in the bill would even have affected the Sheriff of San Francisco's decision to release the individual charged with murdering Ms. Steinle. So that tragedy should not be used to advance a different agenda – this bill.
"Over the last year we have come to the Floor to vote on bills to deport the DREAM Act kids, to deport the parents of U.S. citizens, to deport vulnerable children fleeing persecution and sex trafficking. Today we are asked to vote on a bill that overrides the public safety mission of State and local law enforcement agencies to increase the deportations all around.
"We had the votes to pass comprehensive immigration reform in the last Congress, and I hope we can get back to that point.
"I would note that we have an opportunity here to learn from the tragedy in San Francisco to come up with real solutions that would make our community safer, instead of using that tragedy as an excuse to promote a different agenda. And with that, I yield back the remainder of my time."
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