Border Security

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, tonight I rise to address the dangerous proposal being put forth by Democrats in the ongoing negotiations to secure our border and fund the government.

Talks on this issue are now stalled because Democrats are demanding a cap in the number of beds allocated to detain illegal criminals. But this new initiative blatantly contradicts what our leaders on the ground are asking us to do on this issue.

Just this weekend, the National Sheriffs' Association and the Major County Sheriffs of America both stated: ``Any legislation that reduces ICE's detention capacity would hinder its ability to perform its national security and public safety missions. . . . In order to meet the cap being tentatively proposed by Congress, ICE would be compelled to release thousands of aliens from custody.''

The sheriffs went on to say that if the Democrats' plans were approved, then 9,000 illegal immigrants would have to be released by the end of the fiscal year. That is 9,000 criminals.

We need to focus on securing our border, funding the wall, and making our country safer, not protecting criminals and sending them back onto the streets to endanger our citizens.

We need to listen to these recommendations.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source