so-called sanctuary cities. live now to the senate floor. the chaplain: let us pray. soo righteous and holy god, we worship you. we see your glory in the beauty of sunrise and the splendor of sunset. great and marvelous are your works, for your faithfulness sustains us. guide our lawmakers to connect to your eternal, essential and unchanging holiness. with the power of your righteous presence, renew their minds,

cleanse their hearts and guide their steps. liberate them from the chains of pessimism. reminding them that all things are possible to those who believe. lord, thank you for the wonder of your love, the beauty of your mercy, and the power of your grace. we pray in your holy name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible,

with liberty and justice for all. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: just before the state work period, i asked senators to consider some important questions. in a time of limited federal resources and tough choices, is it fair to treat localities that cooperate with federal law enforcement or work hard to follow federal law no better than localities that refuse to help or actually actively flout the law? when a deputy sheriff puts her

life on the line every day, is it fair to make her live in constant fear of being sued for simply trying to keep us safe? when felons enter our country illegally and repeatedly, is it fair to victims and families to not do what we can to stop them? the answer is it isn't fair. that's why colleagues should support the legislation we'll consider this afternoon. it aims to ensure more fairness to cities and states that do the right thing, redirecting certain federal funds to them from those that choose not to do the right thing. it aims to support law enforcement officers who risk everything for our safety, protecting them from lawsuits for simply doing their federally mandated duties. it aims to deliver justice for victims and their families, substantially increasing deterrents for criminals who commit felonies and then try to

illegally re-enter our country, endeavoring to save more americans from the pain these families continue to experience every day. now, we all know the heartbreaking story of kate steinle. kate was walking arm in arm with her father one moment, begging for help the next as she began bleeding to death in his arms. the man who ended her life shouldn't have even been there that day. he had been convicted of seven, seven felonies and deported five times, but san francisco is a so-called sanctuary city that arbitrarily decides when it will cooperate with federal government and when it won't. and it refused to even honor the federal government's request for an immigration detainer. what happened to kate is tragic, and it's not just an isolateed incident. consider this letter from susan oliver who lost her husband just last year.

here's what she had to say. the man that killed my husband deputy danny oliver was deported several times for various felonies. however, due to lack of cooperation between law enforcement agencies, his killer was allowed back into the country. i'm asking for only one thing, she said. i do not want your sympathy. i want changes so others will not have to endure the grief we have in our lives every day. the bill which we will consider this afternoon is supported by law enforcement organizations like the national sheriffs association, the federal law enforcement officers association and the national association of police organizations. here's what the international union of police associations had to say about it. the international union of police associations is proud, proud to add our name to the list of supporters of the bill addressing sanctuary cities titled stop sanctuary policies and protect americans act.

as it now stands, our officers can be held liable for sharing relevant information and honoring immigration detainers. even when they are from federal immigration officials, this legislation remedies that. additionally, the bill provides a financial disincentive for cities to become or remain sanctuary cities. the organization also noted that this bill would help end the revolving door of criminals who, even though convicted of felony criminal activity and deported, unlawfully return to prey upon our citizens. so the issue before us is not really about immigration. it's more about keeping our communities safe. those who defend so-called sanctuary cities callously disregard how their extreme policies hurt others. the president's own d.h.s. secretary used terms like not acceptable and counterproductive to public safety when referring to sanctuary city policies. such extreme policies can

inflict almost unimaginable pain on innocent victims and their families. as the father of three daughters, i know, i know we can do better. i'm calling on every colleague to put compassion before left wing ideology today. this bill would support the deputy sheriff who puts her life on the line every day. this bill would provide hope and justice for victims and their families. so let's vote to support them, not defend extreme policies that actually hurt them. now, mr. president, i understand there are three bills at the desk due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the titles of the bills for a second time. the clerk: s. 2181, a will to -- pill to provide guidance and priorities for federal government obligations in the event the debt limit is reached. s. 2182, a bill to cut cap and balance the federal budget. s. 2183, a bill to reauthorize and reform the export-import

bank of the united states, and for other purposes. mr. mcconnell: in order to place the bills on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i would object to further proceedings en bloc. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bills will be placed on the calendar. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: i have watched over the years my republican colleagues who are supposedly concerned about states' rights wipe them out woo speech like this you just heard and the legislation before this body today. states and communities, i am told and have always believed the republicans think they should have the ability to do the things they think is appropriate. any one of these states that my

friend refers to, any one of these communities, has a right at any time to change the law. this is not a federal law that they're going to change. they're trying to change what has taken place in cities throughout the country. so the states' rights, to my republican colleague's only words, it certainly doesn't belie the actions that they have tried to take. our republican leader tries to make the bill before this body today a political issue. it is donald trump bashing immigrants issue. this bill is opposed by the national association of chiefs of police. it's opposed by the national council of mayors and many, many different organizations who believe in states' rights. my friend, the republican leader, would just make things a lot worse, and that's an understatement. with provisions in this bill, it's estimated that it would

take 15 new huge prisons just to handle the people that would be arrested. huge prisons, costing billions of dollars. it's not smart police policy. it's not smart budget policy. mr. president, over the last ten months, congressional republicans have proven they are incapable of governing, at least governing productively. instead, republicans are governing destructively. it's hard to understand or fathom, but this seems to be what they want -- destruction. it's not a word i decided to bring into the conversation today. one republican congressman said very recently, and i quote, "we are looking for creative -- we are waiting -- i'm sorry. pardon me, mr. president.

we are looking for creative destruction in how the house operates, close quote. this republican congressman said, and i repeat, and i quote, "we are looking for creative destruction in how the house operates." close quote. and they are as good as their word in the house and sadly also in the senate. time and time again, republican leaders have brought the united states to the brink of unnecessary disaster, and sadly here we are again facing another manufactured crisis courtesy of republicans in congress. this time it's a debt limit crisis. on november 3, just two weeks from today, our great country, the united states of america, will default on its debt unless republicans start legislating more constructively to solve the problem. let's be clear about what the debt limit does and doesn't mean. adjusting the debt limit when it's absolutely necessary -- and

it will be in two weeks -- it's necessary to pay this country's bills that are already due. what we face now with the debt isn't something about a penny of new spending, it's not a penny of new programs or a penny of new taxes. it's not about creating new obligations. only meeting existing ones. the debt limit is about paying what we already owe. what are these debts? a large, large, large chunk of these is what we owe as a result of an unpaid war, a second unpaid war and tax breaks for the rich that were unpaid for. remember this great theory of president bush was that these wars would bring a new democracy to the world. well, the invasion of iraq was the worst foreign policy decision probably in the history of the country. look what it's done, and it's

been done at the cost of trillions of dollars of taxpayers' money, and that's part of the debt that's due. these tax breaks for the rich. why did the bush administration push these tax breaks? because it would be great for the economy. well, it's been great for the rich people. they're getting richer. the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is being squeezed. all these tax cuts were unpaid for. but if we don't act, we allow the united states to default, the day of reckoning will be terrible. we'll hurt american jobs, families and businesses, and the fallout will be felt around the world. if some republicans in congress get their way, the united states will default on this debt, and what happens then? the short answer is economic catastrophe. the former director of the congressional budget office douglas hotels eken describes what will happen if the united

states defaults. here's what he said. the first thing you will see is a market react. then you will get dramatic impacts on consumer confidence, the worlds melting down again and going into an economic fetal position. there is just no good news there, close quote. this wasn't some left-wing blogger. it was a man who did a good job representing this country in a bipartisan -- on a bipartisan basis, the congressional budget office. by the way, during a republican administration. and he said the first thing you will see is a market reaction. then you get dramatic impacts on consumer confidence, the world is melting down again and they go into an economic fetal position. there is just no good news there, close quote. the republican chairman of the house ways and means committee, the reasonable paul ryan, said this last week, and i quote --

"if the united states missed a bond payment, it would shake the confidence of the world economy. all kinds of credit would dry up. loans for small business, mortgages for young families. we could even go into another recession, close quote. paul ryan. so, mr. president, that's what we'll face in two weeks. if the republicans don't get their act together. by all signs, it doesn't appear they're going to. all signs indicate that the house and senate republicans still are not serious about dealing with the debt limit. listen to what they're doing. if they're serious about keeping america on a sound economic footing, they wouldn't be proposing an absurd bide of having an partial defeat, a partial default. mr. president, you can't be partially pregnant. you can't have a partial

default. house republicans have engineered legislation to pick which debts to ignore and pay. their proposed legislation is going to pay foreign creditors first, like china, but they zoo want to meet our -- but they don't want to meet our obstacler obligations to veterans and to medicare beneficiaries. they wanthe truth is this pay-china-first approach is just default by another name. this approach would lead to a middle-class family into financial ruin. just imagine what it would do to world markets. there is a he no such thing as a partial default. partial default is default. we can't allow the federal government to be delinquent in paying its debts. we have two weeks to get something done. if we can -- if republicans come to their senses.

this unnecessary drama over paying our bills is already rattling the financial markets. the bond market has already been hurt. you can see it. i say to my republican friends, especially the leaders in the house of representatives and the united states senate, start governing in a way that's not an embarrassment to congress and the american people. mr. president, would you announce what we're going to be doing here today. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, ann donnelly of new york to be united states district judge for the eastern district. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the time until 11:00 a.m. will be equally divided for debate in the usual form. the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: mr. president, i

had the privilege of joining senators shaheen, klobuchar, and warren during the recess just concluded in traveling to europe to assess the refugee flow that is spilling into greece and ongoing russian aggression and a visit to ukraine. let me start with the visit to one of our most important nato and european allies, greece. greece is struggling, we all know, with its own economic challenges, but now is facing an overwhelming flow of refugees across its border. almost half a million refugees have come into greece just this year. they're fleeing war and economic stability in the region. most are from syria, but there are many others from afghanistan, iraq, and other countries in peril. many are middle-class families who are simply exhausted from years of horrific war in syria. i met many of them and had a

chance to speak to them. their stories are heartbreaking. they're fleeing with their children and whatever they can carry. their destinations -- uncertain. but they know they can't stay in the kafns or in syria. they are -- in the camps or in syria. they are the victims of exploitation. some of these desperate people are charged 1,000 euros just to cross a two-mile stretch of ocean between turkey and greece. we were on the island of les le. many who watched "60 minutes" this weekend saw a presentation about what is happening on that island where more than 400,000 refugees have come through in the last several weeks. many of these ru are unaccompand children. at one of these champs -- at oe

of these camps, i met a young man who had come across the stretch of water with his 8-year-old sister. think for a moment what that family must have gone through in deciding that it was safer for this 15-year-old to take his 8-year-old sister and head into europe, try to find their way to a safe place in europe, rather than stay in war-torn syria. that is the reality of many of these refugees and the plight that they face. on this island of lesbos, 2,000 refugees are arriving every single day. we saw stacks -- the greek coast guard showed us stacks of discarded rubber rafts. these rubber rafts are made to hold about 20 people, as they cross this three-mile stretch of ocean. they pack them with over 50 people. they charge 1,000 euros for each adult and 500 for each child.

we saw these rafts stacked up and piles of life preservers. some of them are life jackets that you might expect but others are ridiculous. some of them are literally pool toys, and they say so, written right on them, not to be used a as life preserver. pool toys they strapped to these kids. row upon row of cheap outboard motors that were used to propel these rafts across the straits. the smugglers, incidentally, pick someone in the raft and say, you're in chancht you know how to operate this motor? if they don't, they show them and point them in the direction and off they head in the hopes that they can make it across safely, and many times they don't. despite greece's economic hardships, i was impressed with how the greek people are handling this refugee crisis. processing registration centers

have been established and many are quickly onary wa on their wo resettlement in europe. i ran into four other people who spoke english, all college graduates in their 20's, one a premed student, who said we just couldn't live any longer with war in syria. we were ready to risk our lives to find a safer place. the mayor of lesbos has been generous and thoughtful in addressing the suffering. he told me he often thought he was handling a ticking time bomb with this refugee crisis. instead his island has become an example of what the rest of the world can do. in athens we visited with an impressive n.g.o. known as praxus, that is giving unaccompanied minors a safe place to stay while they attempt to place them with families. the united states leads the world in financial assistance for this syrian refugee effort, but we have a moral obligation

to do that and more. i've called on the administration to accept 100,000 syrian refugees. i'm the cosponsor of the emergency supplemental bill addressing refugee assistance recently introduced by senators graham and leahy. allow me to put the 100,000 number in perspective. germany has agreed to accept 800,000 of these syrian refugees. it is estimated there are about 4 million total. the united states accepted 750,000 vietnamese refugees, over 500,000 cuban refugees after the castro regime took over. those cuban refugees included the fadges of two sitting united states -- the fathers of two sitting united states senators, one of whom is running for president of the united states. we accepted over 200,000 soviet jews who were being persecuted. we accepted refugees from somalia and from different

places around the world such as bosnia. we've assimilated them into america and we can do it again. when we go through this process of accepting refugees, we carefully check their background to make sure they are not a threat to the united states or anybody who lives here. i think we should continue to do that. but the fact that only 1,700 have made it to our nation in the last four years tells us that we need to do more. i will be a strong advocate -- continue to be -- for humanitarian safe zones in syria so the people there can have a safe place to be treated for their illnesses and to at least live until this war comes to an end. and let me say something else, mr. president. it is embarrassing to me to stand before the united states senate and note that on our executive calendar, which is on the desks of senators, there includes one nominee, gayle sminl, who has been nominate to

the agency for international development. she has been sitting on this calendar since july 29 of this year. the usaid which she seeks to head is the premier frontline agency for helping refugees, and yet this good woman, with a lifetime of experience, is being held up in the senate for entirely political reasons. there are no objections to her personally, no objections to her background. one senator is holding up her nomination because the senator has stated publicly that he objects to the president's iran nuclear agreement. gayle smith had nothing to do with that. usaid had nothing to do with that. shouldn't we appoint this good person to manage this agency to deal with this international refugee crisis? and while we're at it, thomas melia of maryland, they're asking that he be the assistant administrator. wouldn't we want competent management when we're talking about billions of american tax

dollars being spent wisely in this humanitarian effort? and yet they languish on this calendar. if there are objections to these nominees, state them. if not, approve them. mr. president, after greece, we had a visit to ukraine. i believe what's happening there is deeply important to us in the united states. i'm committed to seeing ukraine succeeds a democratic sovereign nation. it is hard to describe what's happened there. a shamefully corrupt regime deeply influenced by russia was rejected by the ukrainian people. as the country tried to get back on its feet and build a more transparent and democratic future, vladimir putin and russia staged an invasion first taking over crimea and then invading eastern ukraine. they've turned eastern you a crane, the russians have, into an abandoned wasteland, somehow under the illusion that this is going to be the new russia. more than 1 million people have

been displaced in eastern ukraine, thousands killed. the captured land was even used as a base to shoot down a civilian airliner killing hundreds. a recent dutch investigation showed this was done with russian weaponry. if only president putin would try to help with this investigation of this shoot-down of this malaysian plane instead oof nakedly blocking the efforts of the council, we would have even more information about this horrible tragedy. despite to agreeing to a pull 1- a pullback of weapons, russia has dragged its feet on every term of the agreement hoping the world won't notice. we notice. yet amid all this effort to undermine ucairng the country has found a new unity and determination. it has taken on significant reforms. during my visit with my fellow senators, i was struck by how many dedicated ukrainians are working for a better future.

they are now members of parliament, local officials coming right out of the midon demonstration. they're giving everything they can for the future of their country. i have been a strong supporter of president obama's efforts to support ukraine to train and equip its military and to provide assistance for their courageous effort. as the world's atten is distracted to many other challenges, let's not lose sight of the ongoing struggle in ukraine. the u.s. and europe must remain united on sanctions against russia as long as it continues to i invade and occupy a soveren nation like ukraine. let me conclude by recognizing the many dedicated foreign service officers working in our embassies that we meet with. they are on the front lines of american leadership and generosity. ambassador jeffrey piot and david in greece are two.

let us not forget that these men and women and many like them literally risk their lives every single day standing up and representing the united states around the world. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. vitter: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise again today in strong support of the stop sanctuary policies and protect americans act we'll be voting on later today. i was here on the floor yesterday laying out the strong case in support of that, talking to many, many colleagues before this vote today, as i had been for the past severallation. and today -- for the past several days. and today i rise to focus on some arctics from the other sued to -- on some arguments from the other side so everyone has a clear picture of why this legislation is so needed.

mr. president, first, i've heard a few of my colleagues talk about the need for federal and local authorities to do a better job of working together. for instance, senator durbin who just left the floor said -- quote -- "federal and local authorities must do a better job of communicating and coordinating so that undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records are detained and deported." close quote. similarly, senator feinstein said it is very clear that we have to improve cooperation between local, state, and federal law enforcement." well, mr. president, let me say that i completely agree with them and they are laying out a strong case for this legislation, not against it. because we need to do something about the cause of the noncooperation, the obstacle

between that full cooperation, that absolutely needs to happen every day. simply wishing for a better outcome isn't going to make it happen. the fact of the matter is there are dozens and dozens of sanctuary cities, jurisdictions that have those policies that were cooperating in the past, that want to cooperate, but they have been faced with lawsuits from the aclu and others, court decisions that local law enforcement officials could be held liable for violating an individual's constitutional rights simply for honoring a detainer request from i.c.e. now, that's ridiculous. that's an abusive threat, and our legislation on the floor today is going to remove that threat. the stop sanctuary policies and protect americans act allows for that cooperation between local and federal authorities to

resume again because section four of the bill will facilitate state and local compliance with the i.c.e. detainer and remove that onerous and unreasonable threat. cooperation has been stifled by lawsuits aimed at bullying local law enforcement, and this bill would grant local law enforcement the authority to clearly comply with i.c.e. detainers without threat of liability. it will protect them from that liability for simply complying with i.c.e. detainers. and i'll remind my colleagues that will do nothing to infringe on an individual's civil or constitutional rights. they still have the same ability to pursue those against i.c.e. or anyone else they choose. that's why this legislation is supported by those who know something that needs to happen for local and federal

authorities to cooperate. who am i talking about? the federal law enforcement officers association, they know what they're talking about. the international union of police associations, they live it every day. the national association of police organizations and the national sheriffs association. don't you think they know what's needed on the ground? they do, and because they do, they strongly support this legislation. now, second, mr. president, some argument -- some colleagues on the other side argue that this bill won't do anything. instead, we need so-called comprehensive immigration reform like the gang of eight bill. but, mr. president, the gang of eight bill that my colleagues are pushing, 1,200 pages long when it passed the senate, it didn't do anything to resolve this issue of sanctuary cities. it didn't do anything to change

the abusive lawsuits i'm talking about. it didn't do anything to encourage federal and local authorities to cooperate in real time, absolutely nothing. and that's just the fact of the matter once you read the 1,200 pages. all the gang of eight bill does is lead with a big amnesty, an amnesty overnight to about 11 million illegal immigrants in our country today. so that comprehensive immigration reform bill, gang of eight bill, whatever you want to call it, does nothing in this area that is so crucial to fix, does nothing about sanctuary cities, does nothing to remove these abusive lawsuits as obstacles to the clear and full cooperation between federal, state and local authorities that even folks on the other side of the bill admit needs to happen and is a problem right now.

mr. president, there are lots of these myths about our bill versus the facts, and so with that in mind, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to submit for the record a myth versus fact sheet that lays out clearly the myths, the arguments made against this legislation and the real facts of the stop sanctuaries policies act, s. 2146. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. let me highlight the two biggest ones, and the first one is that our legislation would somehow punish and make it more difficult for illegal persons to report crimes and cooperate with local law enforcement. that is a pure myth. and what's the fact of the matter? well, read the bill. as the american people suggest, read the bill.

our bill s. 2146 specifically provides that if a jurisdiction has a policy that local law enforcement will not inquire about the immigration status of crime victims or witnesses, that jurisdiction will not be deemed as a sanctuary jurisdiction. it will not lose federal funds over that. so that argument is simply a myth. the second argument often made is that somehow this legislation is requiring local law enforcement to carry out federal immigration responsibilities. again, a pure myth, a purely erroneous argument that if you read the bill, s. 2146, you will see is simply not true. the bill does not require local law enforcement -- quote -- to carry out federal immigration responsibilities -- close quote -- in any way, shape or form. removing illegal immigrants remains the exclusive province

of the federal government. the bill simply whoaldz certain federal funds from jurisdictions that prohibit exactly the cooperation that our opponents on the other side say is so necessary and correctly say is so necessary. so that again is the fact of the matter versus the myth that's being propagated. again, we have several myths versus facts as part of the record, and i urge everyone starting with our colleagues democrats and republicans to study that carefully. mr. president, this is an important issue. sanctuary cities are a real problem, and we need to fix that problem to move forward, and so i urge my colleagues to look carefully at this issue. what's driving these sanctuary cities policies. our legislation will take up those drivers, those obstacles,

will solve those problems, will result in the cooperation at all levels of law enforcement that we desperately need. so i urge my colleagues to vote yes later today so we can push forward with this important and critical legislation. and, mr. president, i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. without objection. under the previous order, the question occurs on the donnelly amendment. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

prosecute. the presiding officer: is there anyone wishing to vote or change their vote? if not the ayes are 95. the nays are 2. the nomination is approved. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table. the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate will resume legislative session. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 2146, which the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 252, s. 2146, a bill to hold sanctuary jurisdictions accountable for defying federal law, and so forth and for other purposes.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz: mr. president, the american people have demanded for years that the federal government faithfully enforce our nation's immigration laws. americans are tired of seeing their laws flouted and their communities plagued by the horrible crime that typically accompanies illegal immigration. but for too long the pleas of the american people on this issue have gone unheeded here in washington. you see, when it comes to the problem of illegal immigration, the political class and the business class, our nation's elites, are of one mind. they promise robust enforcement at some point in the future, but only on the condition that the american people accept a pathway to citizenship now for the

millions of illegal immigrants who are already in this country. not wanting to be swindled, the american people wisely rejected this deal which the washington class calls -- quote -- "comprehensive immigration reform." of course the elites don't like this one bit. so instead they've taken matters into their own hands. they bend or ignore the law to make it more difficult for immigration enforcement officers to do their job. we've seen this repeatedly with the obama administration. president obama has illegally granted amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants with no statutory authorization whatsoever. even though before his reelection, the president assured the american people that he couldn't do so without an act of congress.

as president obama said when asked about could he grant amnesty, i am not an emperor. well, i agree with president obama. but yet, just a few months after saying he couldn't do this because he was not an emperor, apparently he discovered he was an emperor because he did precisely what he acknowledged he lacked the constitutional authority to do. and although the administration today claims to be focusing its resources on deporting illegal immigrants with criminal records, it has adopted a policy where many illegal immigrants that the administration deems to be low priority will not be detained and deported but will be released back into our communities. remarkably in the year 2013 the obama administration released from detention roughly 36,000 convicted criminal aliens who

were actually awaiting the outcome of deportation proceedings. these criminal aliens were responsible for 193 homicide convictions. they were responsible for 426 sexual assault convictions, 303 kidnapping convictions, 1,075 aggravated assault convictions and 16,070 drunk driving convictions. all of this was on top of the additional 68,000 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions that the federal government encountered in 2013 but never took into custody for deportation. dwell on those numbers for a moment. in one year the obama administration releases over

104,000 criminal illegal aliens, people who have come into this country illegally who have additional criminal convictions. murderers, rapists, thieves, drunk drivers. one wonders what the administration says to the mother of the child lost to a murderer released by the obama administration because they will not enforce the laws. one wonders what the obama administration says to the child of the man killed by a drunk driver released by the obama administration because they will not enforce our immigration laws. and while this administration's refusal to enforce the laws is bad enough, the scandalously poor enforcement of our

immigration laws is made much, much worse by the lawless actions of the roughly 340 so-called sanctuary jurisdictions across the country. although these jurisdictions are more than happy, eager even, to take federal taxpayer dollars, they go out of their way to obstruct and impede federal immigration enforcement by adopting policies that prohibit their law enforcement officers from cooperating with federal officers. some of the jurisdictions even refuse to honor requests from the federal government to temporarily hold a criminal alien until federal officers can take custody of the individual. not only are these sanctuary policies an affront to rule of law, they are extremely dangerous. according to a recent study by the center for immigration studies, between january 1 and september 30, 2014 -- just a

nine-month period -- sanctuary jurisdiction released 9,295 alien offenders that the federal government was seeking to deport. that is roughly 1,000 offenders a month that sanctuary jurisdictions were releasing to the people. now, of those 9,295, 62% had prior criminal histories or other public safety issues. and amazingly, to underscore just how dangerous this is to the citizenry, 2,320 of those criminal offenders were rearrested within the nine-month period for committing new crimes after they had already been released by the sanctuary

jurisdiction. if that doesn't embody lawlessness, it's difficult to imagine what does. jurisdictions that are releasing over and over again criminal illegal aliens, many of them violent criminal illegal aliens, and exposing the citizens who live at home to additional public safety risk, to additional terrorist risk. this same study found that the federal government was unable to preapprehend the vast majority of the alien offenders released by the sanctuary jurisdictions. 69% as of last year. even homeland security secretary jeh johnson has admitted that these sanctuary policies are -- quote -- "unacceptable." quote -- "it is counterproductive to public safety to have this level of

resistance working with our immigration enforcement personnel." i'm thrilled to hear the secretary of homeland security say so out loud. i assume that means that the obama administration will be supporting the legislation before this body. after all, the secretary of homeland security says it's unacceptable. that it is countering productive to public safety and yet sadly the obama administration is not supporting the legislation before this body. indeed, it has taken the tragic and terrible death of kate steinle to galvanize action here in washington. kate died in the arms of her father on a san francisco pier after being fatally shot by an illegal alien who had several felony convictions and had been deported from the united states multiple times. her death is heartbreaking.

the senate judiciary committee, we had the opportunity to hear from kate steinle's family. the heartbreak is even more appalling because kate's killer had been released from custody and not turned over to the federal government to be deported because of san francisco's sanctuary policy. the city of san francisco is proudly a sanctuary city. they say to illegal immigrants across the country and across the world, come to san francisco. we will protect you from federal immigration laws. we, the elected democratic leaders of this city, welcome illegal immigrants, including violent criminal illegal immigrants like the murderer who took kate steinle's life. these policies are inexcusable. they are a threat to the public

safety of the american people, and they need to end. that's why i'm proud to be one of the original cosponsors of the stop sanctuary policies and protect americans act, which strips certain federal funds, especially community development block grants from jurisdictions that maintain these lawless policies. if these jurisdictions insist on making it more difficult to remove criminal aliens from our communities, then these federal dollars should go instead to jurisdictions that will actually cooperate with the federal government, that are willing to enforce the law rather than aid and abet the criminals. it makes no sense to continue sending federal money to local governments that intentionally make it more difficult and costly for the federal government to do its job. but this bill doesn't just address sanctuary jurisdictions. it also addresses the problem of

illegal immigrants who like kate steinle's killer, are deported but illegally reenter the country which is a felon knee. this class of illegal aliens has a special disregard and disdain for our nation's law, and too often these offenders also have serious rap sheets. in 2012, just over a quarter of the illegal aliens apprehended by border control had prior deportation orders. that's an astounding 99,420 illegal aliens. and of the illegal reentry owe offenders who are actually prosecuted in fiscal year 2014, that's just 16,556 offenders, but a fraction of those who