Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. I must reluctantly oppose this amendment. I do not want to minimize in the least the unacceptable nature of the present state of affairs, and I do not want to minimize in the least the brute fact that a murderer is presently escaping justice. I also do not want to minimize the service that this man gave to our country. As a chaplain in the Air Force and as a pastor for over 11 years, it has been, unfortunately, my duty on many occasions to have to deliver news of one who has either been killed in action or of one who has died tragically. With that, my heart bleeds and my heart hurts for this family. In this situation, I commend my friend from across the aisle for his dedication to bringing this person to justice; and right now there is the inescapable fact of a problem going on.

However, the remedy proposed by the author of this amendment raises issues of such magnitude that they need to be resolved through regular order, through the Judiciary Committee's hearing and markup process.

I, personally, pledge to work with Mr. Ryan to examine in the Judiciary Committee the issues of foreign nations' compliance with extradition requests. On behalf of Chairman Goodlatte, I pledge to examine the possibility of withdrawing the right of nationals of non-cooperating countries to enter the U.S. Certainly, our Crime Subcommittee has the expertise on the extradition issue and the Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee has the expertise on immigration.

This is not the first time we have faced such troubling issues. For instance, it is very often the case that foreign nations refuse to accept the return of their citizens who have been ordered deported to the U.S. The DHS' Office of Inspector General reported:

As of June 2004, more than 133,662 illegal aliens with or pending final orders of removal had been apprehended and released into the United States ..... unlikely to ever be repatriated if ordered removed because of the unwillingness of their countries of origin to provide the documents necessary for repatriation.

Some of those aliens, from countries such as China, have gone on to kill Americans once released.

Last Congress, the Judiciary Committee considered legislation by Mr. Poe that would have withheld temporary visas from nationals of countries that would not accept back their deported citizens. It is important to note that the legislation would not have just impacted a single foreign country, but would have penalized all bad actors on an equal basis.

I do need to mention that there are also humanitarian concerns with implementing this amendment. In 2012, over 11,000 Brazilians received green cards--immigrant visas. Among these Brazilians were 8,000 ``immediate relatives'' of U.S. citizens--the spouses, minor children and parents of U.S. citizens. So we just have to keep in mind that by enacting this amendment we would be preventing thousands of U.S. citizens from reuniting with their Brazilian spouses, children, and parents.

Again, it is with a hurt heart that I have to rise in opposition to this amendment, but the good intentions of the gentleman from across the aisle do not override the larger concerns when dealing with this proposition in the issue of your amendment. So with that and for these reasons I have set out, I must oppose this amendment, but I do look forward to working to resolve this distressing situation with the author.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. I offer this amendment to ensure that none of the funds in this bill may be used in violation of section 236(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

This amendment prohibits the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement from using taxpayer dollars to process the release of or to administer alternate forms of detention to illegal immigrants who committed a crime that mandates their incarceration under section 236(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Section 236(c) requires the Federal Government to detain illegal aliens who committed any one of the serious crimes detailed in that section until that illegal alien is deported to their home country.

In my home State of Georgia, ICE has processed the release of criminal aliens under the guise of sequestration. Along with the fellow members of the Georgia delegation, I have written to DHS and ICE on two separate occasions requesting more information about the releases.

To date, DHS and ICE have failed to provide basic information regarding the criminal aliens released in Georgia. We don't know how many criminal aliens were released and to where. We don't know what crimes they committed prior to detention, and we don't know what forms of alternatives to detention ICE is using to ensure they don't commit additional crimes.

Mr. Chairman, this is unacceptable.

Our Nation was founded on the rule of law, and I do not believe taxpayer dollars should ever be used to circumvent the law.

I appreciate the men and women who work for ICE and have great respect for the work they do and the sacrifices they make.

This amendment ensures that political agendas won't interfere with the need to protect innocent citizens from criminal illegal aliens.

The Federal Government should enforce immigration law, particularly section 236(c), that mandates the detention of dangerous criminal illegal aliens.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment to prohibit taxpayer funds from being used in violation of section 236(c), and I yield back the balance of my time.

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