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Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, what we have come to realize is, under the last administration, the American people really suffered from open borders, crime, and lawlessness. And they spoke out about this, and, in November, they issued a mandate to President Trump. And, of course, we talk a lot about the economic impact of that. We talk about the health, but we also focus on the ``Make America Safe Again'' provisions.

And I will say this. Since he was elected in November and sworn in, in January, President Trump has done exactly that. He has worked to make this country safe, to make our communities safer. And what we have seen in operations across the country is that the Trump administration has committed to getting criminal, illegal aliens out of our communities and off of our streets. We have seen that in Tennessee.

Now, in recent weeks, the Department of Homeland Security has worked with the Tennessee State Highway Patrol, and they have arrested 196 criminal, illegal aliens in Nashville, TN. Now, these are people that ought not to have ever been in the country. They are violent criminals, members of Tren de Aragua, members of MS-13. They are drug dealers. They are sex traffickers. They are human traffickers.

And do you know what? People said: I can't believe we had that many drug dealers, sex traffickers, gang leaders, gang clubs that were here in our community.

And when you start to look at the crimes of some of these people, people are aghast at what they have learned, and they are grateful that President Trump, Secretary Noem, Tom Homan--who is our border czar-- decided to come into Nashville and get these people off our streets and out of our communities.

Now, here is what we know about some of these. One of them is a Salvadoran national who is affiliated with MS-13. Now, he probably left El Salvador because he has been wanted for murder in his home country. That is the charge against him, murder.

Tennesseans are saying: Look, we want to make certain we get these individuals deported, and I was talking to one of our local law enforcement officers--they are in Middle Tennessee--and I said: Tell me what you think about ICE and Homeland Security and the work they are doing?

He said: I am happy to see them here. We welcome them. We are glad they are working with the Highway Patrol because when you get these criminals and these gang leaders off our streets, you make the community safer, and you make our jobs a little bit safer.

And we are seeing the benefits of these deportations of criminal illegal aliens on a nationwide scale. I give you the example of Nashville because I represent Tennessee. But we know that, nationally, since inauguration day, ICE has arrested more than 66,000 criminal illegal aliens. The vast majority have prior criminal convictions and charges, including--as I have mentioned--violent MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members. Thousands more were charged or convicted of assault, weapons offenses, sex crimes, and murder.

And when these criminals are taken off the street, do you know what happens, Mr. President? Crime goes down. Safety improves.

Now, in February--and I think this is a great example result. So in February, ICE targeted more than 100 Tren de Aragua gang members that had taken over an apartment complex in Aurora, CO. Many people saw this. I am certain many of my colleagues saw this reporting on the news.

Now, that same quarter, that first quarter of the year, overall crime in the city declined by 22 percent. That is what happens when you go after people that are breaking the law, that have come into the country illegally, and came in with ill intent.

Now, despite the success that we have seen--whether it is Nashville or whether it is Aurora, CO--my Democratic colleagues are still demonizing these efforts and law enforcement and demanding an end to arrests and trying to stop deportations, and some are even working to undermine our brave and courageous law enforcement officers.

Now the mayor's office in Nashville has been one that has tried to obstruct these, and they were claiming that ICE's detainment of violent gang members and rapists is ``making [it] harder'' to keep people safe.

So the mayor's office and the mayor doxxed Federal law enforcement officers who were involved in these operations. They released their names; they released details about different operations. So they were doxxing and unmasking the operation and the investigators or the agents' names.

So what happens when the mayor does that is basically you are serving up a treasure trove of information to the gang leaders. You make the officers less safe, all law enforcement officers. You make the communities less safe, and you encourage--encourage--people to target the operations or the officers.

So what we have seen is this makes the job of law enforcement more difficult. It undermines President Trump's efforts to make our Nation safe, and, in essence, it has turned Nashville into a sanctuary city.

And, interestingly enough, in the State of Tennessee, it is illegal to have a sanctuary city. And because of the actions of the Office of the Mayor and Mayor O'Connell, DHS has deemed Nashville a sanctuary jurisdiction.

And all of this, we need to realize, is happening as ICE agents have seen over the past couple of months a 413-percent increase in assaults. I will tell you I think that our law enforcement officers, our Homeland Security investigators, and our agents deserve our support for removing criminal illegal aliens from our communities.

So on Friday, I sent a letter urging AG Bondi to investigate the mayor's actions and the actions of his office and determine whether he is using taxpayer dollars to aid illegal aliens and to obstruct our Federal law enforcement efforts.

I will also use every tool in the Senate to investigate the mayor and his office and hold him to account for threatening the safety of Tennesseans.

And make no mistake, if the mayor is found by the Department of Justice to be working outside of the rule of law, he should resign his position.

And, unfortunately, he is not the only Democrat mayor that needs DOJ to investigate them. We have seen the mayors of Chicago and Boston and their offices, they have repeatedly stated that their police departments will refuse to cooperate with ICE to apprehend criminal illegal aliens.

Now, think about this. These are criminals that are robbing people. They are doing carjackings. They are assaulting people. Many of them are abusing children. They are wanted in their home countries. And you have elected officials that are siding with and trying to protect criminal illegal aliens instead of siding with and trying to protect law-abiding citizens.

While this obstruction makes it harder for Federal law enforcement to do their jobs, they are still working to remove these criminals from the streets of Chicago and Boston and, of course, Nashville. Just last month, ICE announced that they arrested the Tren de Aragua gang members who shot and killed three people at a house party in Chicago in December. Criminal illegal aliens shot and killed three citizens. And in Boston, ICE agents apprehended nearly 1,500 illegal aliens during ``Operation Patriot'' last month, making the largest ICE operation to date in our Nation's history. More than half of those 1,500 have major criminal convictions--not just charged but convictions and charges-- murder, rape, drug trafficking, abuse of children, all among that number, 1,500. These are horrific crimes committed by illegal alien criminals who are roaming free in American cities until ICE comes in and apprehends them.

While they continue to side with criminals--these Democrat mayors and those city councils--Republicans are supporting the President's efforts to maintain the rule of law so that there are no more innocent victims like Larisha Sharell Thompson, a South Carolina mother of two, who was allegedly murdered in cold blood last month by six illegal aliens who were trying to steal her car.

Or Ava Moore, an 18-year-old Air Force cadet candidate who was killed while kayaking in Texas over Memorial Day weekend by an illegal alien who, according to authorities, hit her with a jet ski and then fled the scene.

Or the 12 people, including a Holocaust survivor, who were set on fire on Sunday in an anti-Semitic terror attack; the suspect, an Egyptian national who overstayed his visa after entering under Biden's open borders. This has to come to a stop.

And Tennesseans say: What can we do about this? Well, I have the CLEAR Act, which we have had for a time. It would ensure that State and local law enforcement officials have the explicit authority to assist the Federal Government in our immigration enforcement efforts. Basically, it would codify the 287(g) Program.

And this week I am introducing legislation that is backed by the White House that would establish a deportation shot clock, which would require the Federal Government to deport an illegal alien within 15 days of a court order for removal. Right now, it takes 90 days. We think the deportation shot clock will empower the Trump administration to expedite deportations of these criminals and get them off our streets.

And following the dangerous actions of Nashville Mayor O'Connell and his office, I am also introducing legislation that will make it illegal to doxx Federal law enforcement officials who are working to get these criminal illegal aliens off the streets. We realized after this occurrence that they were not included in the ``covered persons'' provisions.

So I invite my Democrat colleagues to join us in this. If not, I invite them, come down here. Talk about why they would choose to support criminal illegal aliens instead of working to make our community safer and to uphold the rule of law.

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