Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 3009, the Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act.

The murder of Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco was a senseless tragedy. My heart continues to go out to her family and friends at this difficult time.

As a nation, we cannot base complex policy decisions regarding the intersection of our federal immigration system and local law enforcement on a single tragic event.

Sanctuary Cities exist because municipalities across the country recognized that they had to act to keep families together as Congressional Republican leadership refused to move forward on bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform.

These are some of the most populous cities in the country--New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston--and the list goes on.

Our local law enforcement agencies are not trained immigration agents, nor should they be.

This conversation comes at a time in this country when many local law enforcement agencies are facing a crisis of trust with the communities they are sworn to protect and serve.

To threaten their federal funding based on local decisions about how best to serve their communities, as H.R. 3009, would do, is not only misguided but dangerous.

Instead, my colleagues should be working to pass bipartisan legislation to fix our broken immigration system and address these longstanding issues in a comprehensive and thoughtful way.

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