Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. DeSANTIS. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

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Mr. DeSANTIS. Madam Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time.

The President likes to say that he wants to focus all of our resources on the criminals, and yet, over the last 2 years, by DHS' own figures, this administration has released 66,000 individuals who have been criminally convicted in our country and who are illegally in our country. The number of crimes and the quality of crimes is stunning: some are homicides; some are rapes; some are drug trafficking.

I think you have seen a record developed over the last several years that has put the public safety at risk, so I am perplexed why someone would oppose this amendment. If somebody is convicted of molesting a child, maybe it doesn't qualify under the highest priority. The administration wants to dismiss it as a significant misdemeanor. Why would we have any tolerance for child molestation? If you are not in our country legally and you get convicted of an offense like that, you should be gone.
We shouldn't even be discussing this. And the fact of the matter is, as a prosecutor, you have to make some tough decisions. You may not be able to put a young child victim on the stand. You may have problems with evidence, and you may have to do a plea to a lesser charge because of the family's concerns and because of what that could do to a victim. That perpetrator is no less dangerous to our community and to our society.

So I think the people that are going to vote ``no'' on this are basically saying we don't want a zero-tolerance policy against child molesters and sexual offenders. I don't care what offense it is, if you touch a child, you are here illegally, you are gone.

I urge people to vote in favor of this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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