CLEAR Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, sitting here listening to my colleagues, I find it just so incredibly interesting that nearly everyone that is coming to the floor today is talking about an issue that centers on our Nation's security, whether it is our national security writ large in the world, what is happening in the Middle East, or what is happening here at home.
And, as I talk to female constituents, it is amazing to me what comes up over and over: How are we going to be certain that we are safe in our homes, in our communities? How do I know that my children are going to be safe at school? How do I know that we are going to be safe when we are out at events in the community or driving in the car or going to church?
These are questions of concern to so many moms who, like me, worry about their children and their grandchildren.
Mr. Speaker, this is one of the issues that brings me to the floor today. I have legislation that I first filed in 2007. It is called the CLEAR Act. It is H.R. 2964.
The CLEAR Act addresses the issues with the criminal illegal aliens that are in our country and the policies that have arisen around sanctuary cities. These sanctuary city policies and the executive amnesty really have turned every State into a border State and every town into a border town in this country.
Here is why: There are lax, permissive, and liberal policies that have really created an open border society here in our country--and do you know what, it makes Americans less safe every single day.
Now, the CLEAR Act isn't a big bill; it is 20 pages, but let me tell you what it does specifically. It withholds funding from section 241(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to sanctuary States and cities.
That is important to do because, as I said, those lax, liberal, and permissive policies have now allowed over the last 7 or 8 years to create a total of nearly 300 sanctuary cities in this country. This should disturb us because we are becoming a sanctuary country.
I would ask my colleagues: Will you support that provision of the CLEAR Act?
The second thing the CLEAR Act does, Mr. Speaker, is when a State or local law enforcement agency arrests an alien and requests that DHS, Homeland Security, take custody of that alien, the CLEAR Act requires DHS to do two things: take the alien into Federal custody and incarcerate him or her within 48 hours or request that the State or municipality temporarily incarcerate the alien or transport them to Federal custody.
The CLEAR Act requires the DHS to train State and local police in enforcing immigration laws and to repay them for the money that they have spent.
Now, sanctuary cities first started to happen in the United States in 1979. Los Angeles was the first sanctuary city. That means these cities choose--choose--to stand in violation of Federal law and to not comply with Federal immigration law.
Mr. Speaker, I think it is so instructive that the Department of Justice has never taken one of these cities to court, but if you let a State like Arizona try to strengthen their immigration laws, then the Department of Justice takes them to court. There is something wrong with that.
Another thing that has happened is the illegal alien crime rate which has continued to grow. Do you know what the illegal alien crime rate should be? It is zero--zero.
There should not be tolerance for this. We see it all across our country. Certainly, we saw it on a San Francisco pier. In Tennessee, a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer made a traffic stop on I-40 that led to the arrest of a man with an order of deportation and the recovery of a 19-year-old who may have been a victim of human sex trafficking.
Mr. Speaker, it is time to address this issue, and I encourage support for the CLEAR Act.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source