Save Sba From Sanctuary Cities Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. LATIMER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, my district has over 30,000 small businesses, from restaurants and small grocery stores in New Rochelle to construction companies in Yonkers.

Every day, I hear from businessowners that they need certainty to run their businesses. They rely on an immigration system that ensures that their employees won't be targeted and unjustly detained on their way to work. They rely on trade policies that keep the cost of their products stable, and they rely on Federal partners who will be there when they need assistance.

Since taking office, President Trump and SBA Administrator Loeffler have outlined an agenda that will harm small businesses. Proposals such as cutting the SBA workforce by 43 percent; relocating SBA offices away from New York City, the center of that region; and firing an independent inspector general do not represent anything that looks like America First. It is an ideological agenda, and it is imposed upon the majority of this country that functions differently and requires tailored policies.

In addition, last week, my home county of Westchester was branded a sanctuary jurisdiction by the Department of Homeland Security, completely inaccurately. Westchester is not and has never been a sanctuary jurisdiction. In the last 7 years, we have reduced violent crime, and we have brought economic strength over a period of time that rivals any county in this Nation.

Westchester County cooperates with Federal immigration law. County law, however, requires that no administrative police can circumvent due process. We do this to ensure that all residents will cooperate with local law enforcement.

Westchester rejects the deep state police that appear masked and without badges and proper identification. This bill represents an attempt by House Republicans to enact retribution on places because this administration wants to impose its view of law enforcement: deep state authority not subject to judicial review.

The result of petty and punitive motives of this bill is that small businesses will suffer. You would think that, when you offer support for this President's tariff strategy, reckless as it is, which is damaging small businesses that rely on international goods, components, and supplies, they would instead be working to stimulate that. Yet, this bill could not be further from that goal.

If this bill is passed, SBA offices will be relocated as political payback, away from public access in major cities. In fact, that is the point: to reduce programs that help small businesses gain access to capital, professional services, and predictable tariff policies.

That is why I introduced an amendment to prohibit SBA from relocating an office if the next closest office is more than 50 miles from the communities that were relocated. We should be debating legislation that will help small businesses tackle what they identify as their biggest needs: workforce development, stability, and access to capital. That is not what we are doing.

If we continue on this irrational path, American businesses will suffer.

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Mr. LATIMER. Mr. Speaker, the mistakes we are making in this Congress, bill after bill after bill, will damage this Nation's strength at a time when we need unity and strength more than ever before.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill.

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