Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005

BORDER PROTECTION, ANTITERRORISM, AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CONTROL ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - December 16, 2005)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this amendment. My hometown of Austin has seen the horrifying effects that a sanctuary policy can have on a community.

Nearly two years ago an 18-year-old woman named Jenny Garcia was found brutally stabbed to death in her Northwest Austin home.

An illegal alien by the name of David Diaz Morales was one of Jenny's coworkers. He made it clear to her that he wanted to be more than just her coworker or friend. When Jenny rejected his advances, this put David Diaz Morales into a murderous rage.

On January 26th of last year, Morales broke into Jenny's home, forcefully grabbed her, held her down, savagely raped her and then brutally stabbed her to death.

In less than 24 hours, the Austin Police Department arrested this 20 year old thug who had absolutely no business being in the United States, let alone Jenny's home.

However, David Diaz Morales had no business being free to walk the streets either. You see, before becoming Jenny's murderer, he had been previously arrested for molesting a child in Austin.

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle decided not to prosecute Morales's molestation case. Instead, he let him out of jail to commit more violent crimes, and when it came to Morales's immigration status District Attorney Ronnie Earle looked the other way.

If only District Attorney Earle had picked up the phone, he would have discovered that Morales was in our country illegally. He could have contacted immigration officials who would have deported him out of our country. He could have saved Jenny's life.

This is one horrific example of many injustices which could have been prevented. That is why we must include this vital amendment to the underlying bill. This amendment will put $1 billion in the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, and make the Institutional Removal Program, which identifies criminal illegal aliens, mandatory. It also gives states, counties and cities 2 full years to come into compliance or risk losing State Criminal Alien Assistance Program funds.

Mr. Chairman, we owe it to victims like Jenny Garcia and so many others to include this language in the underlying bill, and I strongly urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

http://thomas.loc.gov/