Supporting United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the men and women of ICE who courageously serve our country every single day.

Recently, ICE agents have been the targets of vicious name-calling and partisan attacks. Some have even described ICE as a terrorist organization. To make matters worse, some politicians in Washington are now calling on Congress to abolish ICE.

But just last year, Mr. Speaker, an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the House, including Leader Pelosi, voted to authorize ICE into law for the first time. This kind of dishonest double standard is politics at its worst.

Abolishing ICE is a reckless and dangerous idea that jeopardizes the safety of American communities.

ICE was originally formed after 9/11 to help secure our homeland.

When I was a Federal prosecutor with the Joint Terrorism Task Force, ICE was instrumental in deporting potential terrorists on immigration violations. Today, ICE agents stop drug smugglers, murderers, human traffickers, and dangerous gangs like MS-13 along our border.

In 2017 alone, ICE agents stopped almost 1 million pounds of narcotics, including opioids, from entering our country. This included 7,000 pounds of heroin and 2,400 pounds of fentanyl. They arrested nearly 5,000 gang members and identified or rescued over 500 victims of trafficking.

These are not just hollow statistics. These numbers represent the great work and positive impact that ICE has on people's lives.

John Kennedy, the great President, a Democrat, talked about profiles in courage. I would argue a ``present'' vote is hardly a profile in courage.

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