No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Chair, if those cities want the hard-earned tax dollars of our citizens, they need to respect our laws, our sovereignty, and the safety of the American people.

Mr. Chair, there are fewer things more despairing than having to pass laws to enforce laws because our chief law enforcement officer and Commander in Chief has fallen down on the job. If President Biden and Vice President Harris don't respect the laws of our land, I don't suspect other people will either.

I rise in support of H.R. 5717, the No Bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act.

Sanctuary cities are magnets. They are part of the perverse incentives that are drawing illegal immigrants into this country. In fact, their mere existence is illegal under U.S. law. Title 8, Section 1324 of the United States Code prohibits the harboring of illegal aliens, making such acts a felony punishable by imprisonment up to 5 years. Other sections in title 8 prohibit local jurisdictions from withholding the immigration status of an individual from Federal authorities.

These rogue local officials who promote these policies and flout the rule of law are themselves acting as criminals, and they are a disgrace to our great country. They should be impeached or prosecuted.

These jurisdictions are sanctuaries for lawlessness, crime, and chaos that is a cancer pervading our country.

Sanctuary cities are a scourge to our country's law and order, to a civil society whose sacred duty is to provide for a common defense, promote domestic tranquility, and enforce the laws of the land.

As John Adams once said, this is ``a government of laws, not of men,'' and when we depart from that central tenet of this Republic, we are diminished as a people and weaker as a nation.

Mr. Chair, you get what you tolerate, and we have tolerated this recklessness for way too long. Sanctuary cities must be stopped. This legislation would prohibit Federal dollars from funding public services for illegal aliens in sanctuary cities.

Mr. Chair, I urge all of my colleagues to do the right thing, uphold the rule of law, and protect the American people. I urge them to vote for H.R. 5717.

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