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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Anthony Wayne Mattivi to the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.

While it is commendable that Mr. Mattivi is a long-time public servant, I have deep reservations that he can be impartial if confirmed to the bench.

As the director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, KBI, Mr. Mattivi signed a 287(g) agreement to participate in Federal immigration enforcement and touted Kansas as being only the second State in the country to do so. Given ICE's cruel and inhumane tactics, that is nothing to brag about.

I am also concerned that Mr. Mattivi will not treat criminal defendants fairly, given that he has repeatedly characterized as soft on crime decreasing or eliminating mandatory minimums.

We have seen how outdated mandatory minimum policies stemming from the failed ``War on Drugs'' continue to impose lengthy, one-size-fits- all sentences for many nonviolent drug offenses. They don't deter crime; instead, they overcrowd prisons and strain budgets.

Lastly, Mr. Mattivi has demonstrated that he is too afraid to cross President Trump. When asked in written questions if he stood by his view that it was ``preposterous'' for President Trump to claim that he had issued a standing order to declassifying the documents he kept at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Mattivi declined to answer.

Given Mr. Mattivi's inability to demonstrate that he will be a neutral arbiter, I will oppose this nomination.

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