Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2012

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. Mr. Chairman, for those who want to be sure that we send away from our borders illegal aliens who are criminals, they surely would understand that the 287(g) program gives us a hugely better opportunity to do that.

We've got a few thousand ICE agents, Border Patrol agents, doing a wonderful job, and they are dedicated public servants; but there are so few of them, relatively speaking, to deal with the millions of illegals crossing our borders, many of whom are here in a criminal nature. A few thousand Federal agents. By working with local law enforcement, we can multiply that by hundreds of thousands of enforcers of America's laws, and we can get rid of the criminal aliens in this country. That's what 287(g) empowers localities to do.

Now, it is entirely up to the local communities. If they don't want to participate in the 287(g) program and receive funds from the Federal Government to train their local officials on how to enforce the Federal law, it's their choice. They don't have to do it. We don't make them do it. It's purely a local option. Many communities have. However, if they want to and if they decide to seek Federal assistance, it is there for them through this program to help train their local officials. We need to better empower States and localities, and through this program, that's exactly what we do.

Everyone admits we are failing to protect our borders. There is a consensus around that. We have not protected America's borders yesterday, today or probably tomorrow. The reason we can't do it is that we are outnumbered, and there is just not the Federal manpower to stop it. If you're going to want to try to stop it, particularly keep criminal aliens out, I don't understand why you would not want to gain some extra help from the local law enforcement officers, properly trained under this program and financed. I don't understand that.

In 1996, this section was added as an amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act for the express purpose to provide necessary immigration enforcement assistance to State and local law enforcement entities. It authorizes the department to enter into agreements with State and local law enforcement, equipping them through thorough training to perform important immigration enforcement functions. Local law enforcement agencies that are closest to the problem are more threatened by the criminality involved, and have more motivation to try to stop the criminal activity flowing across the border.

To date, the ICE agency has trained more than 1,240 State and local officers nationwide pursuant to this program. Since 2006, the 287(g) program has, according to ICE, resulted in the identification of more than 200,300 potentially removable aliens, mostly at local jails. Law enforcement agencies participate in the program in 24 different States: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. Those States say to keep this program in place because it's helping us keep criminal aliens out of our local communities--no longer selling drugs to our kids, no longer engaging in any criminal activity in their communities.

So I urge the defeat of this amendment. This program works. It is the only program that has allowed us to engage tens of thousands of local law enforcement officers to help with this consuming problem we have with criminal aliens.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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