cities violating existing federal immigration laws. this legislation takes a commonsense approach to this problem. and there are three key parts to the bill. first, this bill changes the incentives for cities by creating penalties for states, local governments and law enforcement entities that choose to have them, these policies in place. these penalties come in the form of the removal of certain streams of federal funding for sanctuary jurisdiction and the penalties apply to whatever government entity is actually making that bad decision. in cases where a law enforcement entity like a jail or police department has a policy or practice that refuses to comply with federal immigration law, they will be prevented from receiving community oriented policing services grants or state criminal alien assistance program grants. so that entity directly will be

penalized. they're making the bad decision. if, on the other hand, a state or city council or executive passes a resolution or implements a policy or practice that refuses to comply with federal immigration law, then the city or that entity will no longer be available for community development block grant funds. so again, we penalize the specific entity public official involved. it's important that federal funds are withheld from the entity that makes the dangerous decision to allow dangerous illegal immigrants to walk free rather than turning them over to department of homeland security. second, we've seen the willingness of jurisdictions to comply with immigration detain ers decrease in recent years due to litigation pursued by the aclu. we know dozens of jurisdictions that want to cooperate and were

cooperating but became sanctuary cities in reaction to these lawsuits. our legislation deals with this threat head on. it grants local law enforcement the clear authority to always comply with i.c.e. detainers. however, it's important to note we've been very careful to protect individual rights and have preserved an individual's right to sue for a violation of their civil or constitutional rights. but if the problem was with the detainer, then individuals will sue i.c.e. and not the local law enforcement officials. the third and final part of this legislation deals directly with those who continue to cross our border illegally, and it establishes kate's law, appropriately named after catherine s steinle. it increases mandatory sentencing requirements for people who continue to cross the

border illegally. it will increase the packs penalty for illegal reentry from two years to five years. it also creates a maximum penalty of ten years for illegal immigrants who have been denied admission, excluded, deported or removed three or more times, and then illegally reenter the country. in order to ensure appropriate treatment of criminal illegal immigrants, kate's law creates a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for any illegal immigrant who illegally reenters the country and has been convicted of an aggregated felony prior to removal or has been previously convicted twice of illegal reentry. right now there are nearly 170,000 convicted criminal aliens who have been ordered deported but remain at large in our country. this is a direct result of nonenforcement policies and failed leadership. last year i.c.e. responded to a request disclosing that it

released 169 convicted illegals from over 130 zip codes in 2013. at least two of the zip codes mentioned are in louisiana, kener and baton rouge, and dangerous criminals were released through the south louisiana detention center. this year alone i.c.e. reported releasing 30,558 unique criminal immigrants from their custody. some of the crimes committed by these criminal aliens include arson, assault, burglary, kidnapping, larceny, robbery, sexual assault, drunk driving, weapons offenses and it 20 other serious crimes. mr. president, why would we ever want to provide safe harbor to these people? that's what sanctuary cities are doing. mr. president, this legislation is supported by a wide range of

organizations to crack down on this problem. the remembrance project, numbers u.s.a., the federation for american immigration reform, the federal law enforcement officers association, the international union of police associations, afl-cio, the national association of police organizations, the national sheriffs association, america first latino and letters from the mccain roseburg, oliver and wilkerson families all of whom tragically have had family members murdered by gleam aliens sms -- murdered by illegal aliens. and i ask unanimous consent to have their letters of support included in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. vitter: mr. president, in closing i would simply refuse to stand by and reward jurisdictions around the country with federal funding, with taxpayer funds when they're in clear violation of the law and

are actively making our communities more dangerous rather than safer. i've offered similar versions of this legislation many times in the past. we cannot wait any longer to tackle this problem head on. while president obama continues to let the world know that he will not be enforcing the current immigration laws or taking action against these jurisdictions, we here in congress have an absolute duty to act otherwise. i believe this legislation will absolutely benefit all americans by keeping us safe here at home. i strongly urge all of our colleagues to support it in votes tomorrow on the senate floor. thank you very much, mr. president. and i recognize the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask that the calling of the quorum be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: tomorrow we're going to be voting on a very important bill. we will have the opportunity to vote to proceed to a bill that

deals with sanctuary cities and immigration policy, and these are all serious threats to the public safety. we will move to take up the stop sanctuary policies p and protect americans act, a bill that should put an end to sanctuary jurisdictions, give law enforcement important tools that they need to detain criminals and increase penalties for dangerous and repeated offenders of our immigration laws. some of these sanctuary policies are created when the local government unit such as a city or county executive body passes an ordinance prohibiting their offers -- offices from

communicating with federal immigration and law enforcement officials. now there's another way. some sanctuary policies come about simply because local law enforcement initiates its own policies of providing safe harbor for undocumented immigrants. and then another way, some sanctuary policies develop because law enforcement officers are afraid that they'll be sued if they enforce immigration laws and detain an individual for an unlawful immigration status. now in summation, these policies and practices have allowed thousands of dangerous criminals to be released back into the community, and the effects have been disastrous. and i'm going to speak about those effects.

america saw these policies play out in july when kate steinle was innocently killed while walking along a san francisco pier with her father. the murderer who was illegally in the country and actually deported five times prior to that day, was released into the community by a sanctuary jurisdiction that did not honor detainer issued by our federal immigration and customs enforcement. the suspect in kate's death admitted that he was in san francisco because of its sanctuary policies. that kind of sums up the problem our bill addresses. now, here's kate, no longer with

us, as one example. i've got several other examples, because people tried to tell us you shouldn't change policy based upon one murder. maybe so, maybe not. but five years of statistics show about 121 people killed by people that have been deported for criminal activities in this country and then come back in. so i want to tell you what our bill does about that, but first tell you about some examples. in july, our senate judiciary committee held a hearing called -- quote -- "oversight of the administration's misdirected immigration enforcement policies , examining the impact on public safety and honoring

the victims." end of quote. that's the committee's hearing title. this hearing was an opportunity to hear the voices of americans who have been impacted by these very indefensible policies while also conducting oversight of the administration's policies and tolerance towards sanctuary jurisdictions. jim steinle, kate's father, expressed his family's desire to see legislation enacted to take undocumented felons off our streets. the committee was very moved by his presence there testifying and obviously something that wasn't very easy for him. he talked about how kate had a special soul, a kind -- i'm

quoting now -- had a special soul, a kind and giving heart, the most contagious laugh and a smile that would lighten up the room, end of quote. he told us how she died in his arms that day, despite her plea and her dying words, "help me, dad." the suspect in kate steinle's murder had seven prior felony convictions and had been deported five times, yet he was shielded, protected, in other words, by san francisco's sanctuary policy. but the kate steinle story is not a singular case. too many americans have lost their lives and too many families have had to feel the real and devastating impact caused by sanctuary cities and

lax enforcement policies. our committee heard powerful testimony from other families other than steinle -- kate steinle's father. we heard from mrs. susan oliver. she is the widow of deputy dan oliver. this is a family. he was a police officer, sacramento, california. danny was killed while on duty by an illegal immigrant who was previously arrested on two separate occasions for drug-related charges and twice deported. mrs. oliver spoke of the daily loss she experiences without her husband in everything from raising her children to the milestones he will miss,

including their daughter's upcoming wedding. we heard also from michael ronabeck, the uncle of grant ronabeck. you're seeing grant's picture here. grant was a 21-year-old convenience store clerk who was gunned down earlier this year by an an undocumented immigrant. the obama administration released grant's alleged murderer, who was in removal proceedings. grant was born in my state of iowa but resided in california -- or arizona, and had two brothers and a sister. mr. ronabeck expressed his family's desire to see grant's legacy be a force for change. imploring us as lawmakers to --

quote -- rise above political differences, to set aside personal interests, and to use your resources to make sensible immigration reform a reality in the coming months with the safety and security of american citizens first and foremost in mind, end of quote. so think of that tomorrow when you think of the ronabeck family losing their son, that they're asking us to keep the safety and security of american citizens first and foremost in our mind. we also heard from brian mccann. mr. mccann's brother, dennis mccann, was killed in 2011 by a drunk driver who was in the country illegally and driving without a license. u.s. immigration and custom

enforcement had placed a detainer on the drunk driver, but he was released under cook county, illinois, sanctuary city policies. mr. mccann expressed his anger at the sanctuary city policies of cook county which allowed his brother's killer to be free and at a system, a system that failed to communicate with him and his family when the suspect was released by the locals. we also heard from miss laura wilkerson, pearlville, texas, the mother of josh wilkerson. josh was 18 years old when he was murdered by his high school class mate, an undocumented immigrant, after josh offered

him a ride home from school. josh's murderer was sentenced to life in prison and will be he eligible for parole in 30 years. miss wilkerson spoke of the gentle soul of her son, the brutal torture that he endured, and watching, actually watching an unapologetic 19-year-old brag about his killing skills during trial and talking about how things were done in his country. these stories are heart breaking but nothing has changed. now, i want to talk about what's happened since kate's murder. we have seen more fall victims to sanctuary jurisdiction policies. shortly after kate's death,

marilyn ferries was -- ferris was brutally raped and tortured in her home in santa maria, california, by an undocumented immigrant who was released from custody because the county sheriff does not honor federal enforcement detainers. a 2-year-old girl was brutally beaten by an undocumented immigrant in san luis obispo county, california. he was released from local custody despite a u.s. immigration and custom enforcement detainer, an extensive criminal history, and is still at large. margaret castelineck was killed by an undocumented immigrant who

allegedly attempted to rape a 14-year-old girl and shoot a woman in a nearby park. he was released because immigration and custom enforcement refused to issue a detainer and take custody of that suspect. now, these are just a very few of the stories that could be told on this senate floor. there are many more families that are hurting today because lax immigration policies and the lack of willingness by president obama's administration to do something about sanctuary cities. now, i don't want you to take it from me. even the secretary of homeland security acknowledges that sanctuary cities are -- quote -

"counterproductive to public safety." end of quote. he said these policies were, his word, unacceptable. yet this administration has not taken demonstrable action to address the unwillingness of sanctuary jurisdiction to work with federal immigration authorities. more than 12,000 federal detainer requests were ignored by state and local jurisdictions in 2014. moreover, in june of this year, the administration rolled out a new program that reduces the enforcement priorities and announced it would not seek the custody of many criminals who are in the country illegally. now, this is called the prior

enforcement program, p.e.p. for short. that program actually gives sanctuary jurisdictions permission to continue giving immigration and custom enforcement to -- to continue ignoring immigration and custom enforcement detainers. p.e.p. even discourages compliant jurisdictions from further cooperation if immigration custom enforcement enforcement -- with the enforcement agency because it now only issues detainers for individuals who are already convicted of certain crimes deemed if they are a priority by the department of homeland security. many local jurisdictions want to

work with the federal government and protect their communities but are frustrated when the administration refuses to work with them. just think of arizona trying to protect its own citizens from the crimes committed by undocumented immigrants in that state. the state legislature passes laws. the administration goes to court, gets those laws declared contrary to the constitution for our only immigration laws. why? because under the constitution, one of the 18 powers of congress happens to be the enforcement or the writing of immigration laws, so that they're uniform. so when this administration won't enforce immigration laws

in arizona and arizona decides under the tenth amendment under the police powers of the state to do it for the federal government, then it's wrong for that state to do it, but this administration will not take action against the sanctuary cities that are violating the same immigration laws. now, i want to go on with some examples. where the administration refuses to work with local officials. sheriff cummings in cape cod, massachusetts, recently explained his frustration with immigration custom enforcement when an immigrant who had overstayed his visa was arrested for battery with a dangerous weapon and child pornography. sheriff cummings said that he -- when he learned that this

individual who had a long criminal history was in the country illegally, he asked immigration custom enforcement for a federal immigration detainer -- quote -- "so that if someone came up with a bail, we would then turn him over to immigration custom enforcement and we wouldn't release him back into the community." end of quote. now, what happened? i.c.e. -- immigration custom enforcement -- never issued the detainment. chaichairman cummings noted that immigration authority would issue detainers pretty quickly, but not anymore. so he comments -- and i have a long quote here -- "it