Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mrs. LOEFFLER. Mr. President, this spring, 14-year-old Janina Valenzuela was riding a bike with a friend in Marietta, GA, when she was killed as part of an initiation into an MS-13 gang. In 2016, Christopher Dean was brutally murdered by gang members in Atlanta. The D.A. called it ``the most horrific death'' in recent history. His murder left two children without a father. In 2010, 11-year-old Nicholas Sheffey was shot and killed sleeping in his bed during a drive-by shooting in Chamblee, GA. These are just three of the too many lives that have been lost, tragically cut short due to senseless gang violence.

In Georgia, there are over 71,000 known gang members representing a variety of gangs, including the Ghostface Gangsters, an all-White gang in Georgia; the Gangster Disciples, which formed in Chicago and quickly spread to Georgia; and the Aryan Brotherhood, a White supremacy gang.

Nationwide, there are more than 1.4 million members and 33,000 gangs across the U.S. According to the most recent National Gang Report, half of law enforcement officials reported that gang-related violence has increased in each of their jurisdictions. Thankfully, President Trump and Georgia leaders have taken strong action to address the rising tide of gang violence and to end the cycles of violence that they cause.

For the first time ever, the Department of Justice has brought terrorism charges against a member of the MS-13 gang, taking action against their leader and 21 other gang members.

Under the leadership of Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr, my home State of Georgia has led the way on confronting gang violence, passing legislation that gives prosecutors the tools they need to disrupt and dismantle these terrible gang networks.

Today, I am introducing the Cracking Down on Gangs and Deporting Criminals Act to apply Georgia's anti-gang, pro-community measures across our country. This legislation, based on the Georgia law that Attorney General Carr has called ``one of the strongest statutes in the Nation,'' aims to deter and punish criminals who set out to destroy lives and communities. This includes violent crimes like the murders of Janina, Christopher, and Nicholas.

In addition to violence, gangs run elaborate drug operations. One recent bust in Pickens County last month resulted in the arrest of nearly 50 individuals. Law enforcement confiscated nearly $2 million worth of methamphetamine from a drug ring run by three gangs.

They deal in the abhorrent world of human trafficking. A study in San Diego County found that an astounding 85 percent of those involved in human trafficking were actively involved in gangs.

Current Federal gang statute has three strict criteria that are difficult for prosecutors to meet in order to hold someone accountable for their participation in a street gang. The legislation I am introducing today will make it easier for Federal prosecutors to seek harsh sentences for gang activity. It will facilitate the removal of criminal gang members who are in our country illegally, and it would create a national gang database, making it easier to eradicate these gang networks.

We need to take action now to take violent gang members off of our streets. Across the country, violence is skyrocketing in our cities, while radicals call to defund and abolish the police. The troubling decline in support for law enforcement, coupled with the effects of the pandemic and recent unrest, threatens the further spread of gang violence across communities in America.

The Cracking Down on Gangs and Deporting Criminals Act will help keep our communities safe and support law enforcement in their work to root out gang activity. No family should have to go through what Janina, Christopher, and Nicholas did. Parents should be able to send their children outdoors and off to school without worrying that they won't make it home, and children shouldn't fear that their parents won't return home. It is time that we hold gang members accountable for their vile and evil actions and keep the American public safe ______

By Mr. DURBIN:

S. 4242. A bill to establish programs related to prevention of prescription opioid misuse, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.

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