WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today spoke on the Senate floor and urged his colleagues to support his amendment to the budget resolution, which would ensure that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has sufficient resources to detain and deport all illegal aliens who have been convicted of a criminal offense in the United States. The amendment was adopted 53-46.
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Remarks as prepared for delivery:
Thank you,Madam. President.
My amendment provides for ensuring that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement—which is charged by Congress with enforcing immigration laws in the United States—has sufficient resources to deport illegal aliens who have been convicted of crimes in the United States.
According to ICE’s website, 92 percent of the illegal aliens that ICE deports have been convicted of or charged with crimes. Yet, despite the border crisis and record border crossings, the Biden Administration has drastically reduced deportations to roughly one-quarter what they were last fiscal year, reaching the lowest levels on record this spring—from over 28,000 in October 2019 to less than 3,000 in April 2021. That means the Administration is allowing thousands of criminal illegal aliens per month to remain in American communities and potentially commit more crimes.
I ask for your support for enforcing our immigration laws and deterring illegal immigration and criminal activity by providing the resources necessary to remove criminal illegal aliens from our streets.
Thank you, and I ask for the yeas and nays.