Laken Riley Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, if you believe we should be able to detain and deport undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes and you took Republicans at their word that the Laken Riley Act was necessary for us to do that, you need to know that is already Federal law. We can and do already detain and deport immigrants who commit serious crimes, and we are not about to change that.

But Republicans have been ignoring the policies we already have on the books to push for a bill that, in its current form, is more extreme, expensive, and broad than it first appears. I am very concerned that without serious amendments, this bill is rife with unintended consequences and powers that could be abused.

As written, it will drastically undermine civil liberties in this country. It will throw our immigration system into absolute chaos by undermining any President's authority to shape Federal policy. It will cost tens of billions of dollars. And here is the kicker. It will end up punishing legal immigrants and diverting resources from detaining true threats to public safety.

First off, let's talk about how extremely broad the language of this bill is. Under this bill, you don't have to be found guilty of a felony to be detained and deported. That is a huge attack on due process. All you need is to be arrested or charged, regardless of whether that is something as small as shoplifting a candy bar, regardless of whether it may become clear that you are innocent, regardless of whether this happened years or even decades ago, and even regardless of whether you are a child.

So let me just underscore that because it is important. This bill has no exemption for kids, no cutoff age, no process to keep it in line with our general child welfare laws. As written, this bill appears so broad that a child could be locked up and put on a plane without their parents. With such sweeping language, I am deeply concerned the Trump administration could abuse this law to deport Dreamers or our farmworkers or other essential workers who, again, may never be convicted of a crime.

And to be fair, it is not just Trump I am worried about because this bill is an open invitation for Republican State officials to dictate individual case outcomes regardless of ICE, derail national immigration policy, and even disrupt international relations.

Under this bill as written, any State attorney general could wreck major humanitarian relief pathways like temporary protected status for Venezuelan or Ukrainian nationals. They can seek court orders to deport individuals without signoff from ICE. And in some cases, they could sue to halt visas from entire countries.

That is a policy that, by its design, will end up punishing the people who are following the law to enter the United States legally. It could punish refugees who are fleeing violence. It could punish people who come here to engage in trade and in commerce that helps our economy grow. It could even punish American citizens if they are hoping to get a visa for their spouse.

With a Federal immigration system that is already too chaotic and complicated, just wait until any State AG can overrule ICE, undermine the President, and throw thousands of legal--legal--visa applications into limbo.

The bill also promises these lawsuits priority, which could be a huge burden on our courts. And if that weren't counterproductive enough, not only would this bill as written punish legal immigrants, it will also divert resources we need to detain genuine threats to our public safety. If ICE is required, as this bill says, to spend resources detaining nonviolent--not even convicted--shoplifting cases and the like, they will have their hands tied as resources are stretched thinner and thinner by an overwhelming number of minor cases, leaving them with fewer and fewer resources then to tackle the most serious cases.

That is especially concerning because DHS already does not have anywhere near the resources to implement this bill. ICE would need, actually, more than three times the current number of detention beds--a 265-percent increase--for this bill. It would need to execute 80 removal flights a week, almost double its current capacity, not to mention it would need to double ground transportation.

That all adds up to ICE needing to nearly double its staff, hiring over 18,000 additional people. And to give you a sense of how unrealistic that is, historically, DHS hasn't been able to onboard more than 1,000 people a year.

And to give you a sense of how expensive this is, ICE estimates it will need more than triple its budget in year one--really, closer to four times their current funding level. We are now talking up to $83 billion for this legislation over the first 3 years to implement it. That is more than the annual budget for the entire Department of Homeland Security. That is a lot of money to spend on a bill that is going to cause chaos, punish legal immigrants, and undermine due process in America, all while drawing resources away from true threats.

Make no mistake, there are serious challenges we have at our border. There is a serious need for sensible immigration reform. But being tough on immigration does not require us to forsake our bedrock principles like due process or our moral obligation to keep children safe. It does not require us to ignore our common sense and waste crucial resources.

So while I hope to work with my colleagues to improve this bill, as I try to improve every bill that I can, I have to say, we have a long road ahead to address my deep concerns with the way this bill threatens due process and the potential for it to be abused.

So I strongly urge my colleagues to demand a far more serious amendment process on this bill, but more than that, I urge them to demand a serious, bipartisan approach to tackling immigration in an effective, humane way, one that protects our country and upholds our values. Nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Mr. President, on a very different topic, I wanted a chance to talk today about one of the nominees that is coming before us because, when I was a very young girl, the polio vaccine was approved, and to this very day, I remember my mom saying: Thank goodness. We can now send our kids to school and not have to worry they will get sick, be paralyzed, or have to live in an iron lung or worse.

The relief was overwhelming. That is why the fear is so overwhelming now that Donald Trump wants RFK, Jr.--an outright, unapologetic, anti- vax conspiracy theorist--as our Nation's Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Now, I want to be clear. I will not be shy about making my concerns quite plain with the American people. That is part of our Senate's role to advise and consent to the President's nominees. It is our job to vet these nominees and put them through a rigorous process to determine if they are qualified to serve.

That is why I met with RFK, Jr., yesterday, so I could be direct with him about my concerns with his anti-vaccine record and so I could discuss the other challenges our Nation faces where HHS has a really crucial role. I do appreciate his time, and I appreciate the opportunity to look for areas of common ground. But as I have said already, I oppose his nomination because, regardless of any other views he holds, his long history of explicitly anti-vaccine activism is utterly disqualifying.

And I am not the only one who is worried. Even Trump's former FDA Commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, has said RFK, Jr.'s agenda ``will cost lives in this country.''

I mean, just imagine if RFK, Jr., was Secretary when COVID struck. We still might not have vaccines. After all, he called the COVID vaccine the ``deadliest vaccine ever made.''

This isn't a case where we can just look for areas of agreement or hope for the best--maybe drug costs or maybe healthy food. We are talking about a conspiracy theorist who is openly antagonistic to public health and who will have tremendous authority over Americans' lives and their healthcare.

It is not asking too much to have a Secretary of Health who believes in healthy food and believes in vaccines, especially when we are already backsliding on vaccines and seeing real and deadly consequences.

We eliminated measles in 2000, but last year we had 16 outbreaks. Whooping cough has spiked in the country and in my home State of Washington. Polio--even polio--is making a comeback. These are dangerous diseases, and RFK, Jr., would let them spread through our communities and schools like wildfire. And as any parent knows, when a bug goes around a school, it doesn't stop there; it comes home to Mom and Dad and baby brothers and sisters, who could be at serious risks.

So I am here this afternoon to talk some truth to the American people about the stakes here and lay out the facts for anyone who might not appreciate the serious threat posed by RFK, Jr.

Maybe you think: Well, he is not talking about vaccines like polio or measles, or: He is only asking questions. Except, know this: He founded a nonprofit entirely focused on attacking vaccines. RFK, Jr.'s nonprofit has made videos promoting falsehoods about vaccines and autism and sowing distrust in vaccines, especially among the Black community.

They tried to revoke the emergency authorization for kids' COVID vaccines. They sued against measles vaccine requirements, even amid measles outbreaks.

And it is not just RFK, Jr.'s nonprofit that should raise alarm here. He has said he doesn't know if the polio vaccine caused more deaths than it prevented.

Or another example: The HPV vaccine has led to a huge drop in cervical cancer. RFK, Jr., suggested it increases cancer risk.

And let's not get cute here with excuses like, well, he is just asking questions, because when he says we need to know vaccines are safe, he is ignoring the centuries of research we have already done on these vaccines. We do know they are safe.

What is more, he has not just been asking questions. These are statements I am going to give you that RFK, Jr., has made. These are in his own words. He has said:

I do believe that autism does come from vaccines.

He said:

They get the shot, that night they have a fever of 103, they go to sleep, and three months later their brain is gone.

Again, he said the COVID vaccine was the ``deadliest vaccine ever made.''

These statements are not just false; they are irresponsible, and they are disqualifying. Given his track record, we cannot just hope that if RFK, Jr., finally gets power to undermine vaccines--a cause that he has, by the way, dedicated considerable time and money and effort to-- that he will just give that up. That is not believable, especially when we know the lawyer helping him put together a team has tried to have 14 different vaccines pulled from the market himself--including, by the way, the polio vaccine.

And if you are thinking, well, he can't really do anything about vaccines, you need to think again. If confirmed, RFK, Jr., would have tremendous power to undermine vaccines. He could influence FDA's approval of medicine and drugs. He could directly appoint people to CDC's vaccine board, which influences vaccine coverage and costs.

He said he will fire top researchers by the hundreds and pause infectious disease research for years--a threat far beyond vaccines, I would say.

And let's not downplay the fact that, as Secretary, he would have one of the biggest megaphones in the world to spread anti-vaccine misinformation.

Maybe you are someone who thinks: So what if we have more whooping cough, or: A lot of people had measles, but they lived. I realize some people probably think like that because they have never seen the reality of these terrible diseases because vaccines have been so effective.

A nurse recently shared online what whooping cough can do to a baby, what she has watched families go through herself. I will warn you: It was soul crushing. First, the baby can't stop coughing--not even to eat, not even to breathe.

Then come seizures and strokes, then a breathing tube and a ventilator, and finally a machine to take over failing heart and lung function, and then they die. That is horrific. That is whooping cough, and it is far from the only disease at risk of a comeback. We don't want that to happen here in this country or around the globe.

Let's talk about measles. It is one of the world's most contagious diseases. It is easily spread by coughing and sneezing. It lingers in the air for hours. You are contagious 4 days before you develop a rash and 4 days after. Now, before the vaccine, millions of people caught measles annually, meaning thousands were hospitalized, hundreds died, most of them young children.

But this is not just history. Do you want to know what RFK, Jr., would do as Secretary of Health? I want you to look at Samoa. Before Samoa had a measles outbreak, he was there--he was there propping up vaccine deniers and falsely blaming deaths on the measles vaccine. After Samoa had a tremendous measles outbreak with over 100 hospitalized and at least 83 dead, mostly kids, no apology from him, no admitting he was wrong. Instead, he doubled down and wrote to the Prime Minister suggesting vaccines were part of the problem.

That is who we want to put in charge of our Nation's healthcare? What do we think is going to happen? How many outright lies are we going to tolerate? How many deaths before we realize this nonsense is dangerous?

And, look, the vaccine lies just scratch the surface here. This is someone who won't accept that HIV causes AIDS. This is someone who thinks chemicals in the water might turn people gay; he said that. This is someone who thinks 5G wireless is being used to ``control our behavior.''

This is not someone we in the U.S. Senate should be telling the American people to trust on healthcare. He is not someone we should be handing the levers of power.

For that matter, the same goes for some of Trump's other healthcare nominees who have ignored science and promoted false conspiracy theories. His nominee to lead the CRC is an anti-abortion extremist with zero public health experience--unless you count peddling the conspiracy theory that vaccines cause autism or promoting junk healthcare plans. Then you have Dr. Oz, who has been named to lead CMS--someone who is known for pushing quack treatments and debunked junk science, who will be shaping health coverage for millions despite clear conflicts of interest.

I cannot drive home enough to the U.S. Senate: This is not a game. These are not political roles without consequence. They have real power over whether Americans can get basic information and healthcare.

I want to end on this note, and it is important. Vaccines save lives. That is not a question. It is not a slogan. It is a fact. If you cannot accept that fact; if you cannot be honest with the American people about it; if, when parents look to you, worried about their newborn, wanting to do what is best for their baby, trusting your advice as a public health leader, if you cannot tell them the same truth that centuries of science and experience tell us, which is that vaccines are safe and effective and lifesaving, then you have absolutely no business leading the Department of Health and Human Services. None. That should not be up for debate.

A vaccine denier should not be our highest ranking healthcare official.

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