officials in fiscal year 2017. that time frame includes the last several months of the obama administration and falls significantly short of the estimated 10,000 ms-13 gang members who reside in the u.s. according to a spokesperson for u.s. customs and immigration enforcement, it's difficult to know the exact number of ms-13 gang members who have been deported because officials do not track who is being removed based on gang affiliation. read more at politifact.com. the house took steps to pass a bill known as kate's law which imposes tougher penalties on illegal immigrants who are repeatedly caught crossing the u.s. border. we heard homeland security secretary john kelly talk about the legislation this week shortly before the bill passed on a mostly party line vote.

he also discussed a bill which strips federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities. >> the word sanctuary calls to mind someplace safe. but too often for families and victims affected by illegal immigrant crime, sanctuary cities are anything but safe. instead, these cities are places that allow some criminals to go free, undermine fiene federal l enforcement and make our communities less safe. when a city fails to comply with an i.c.e. detainer, it doesn't mean i.c.e. stops looking for the bad guy. it means i.c.e. has to take its operations out of the safe and secure confines of a jail and go into neighborhoods, businesses, and other public places. that's infinitely more dangerous for the law abiding public and for my i.c.e. officers and it creates unnecessary and avoidable anxiety for many in the illegal immigrant community.

arresting a criminal while they are still in custody is always, always the best option. additionally, failing to honor an i.c.e. detainer means these criminals are out on the street that much longer. whether that is days or weeks or months, a criminal is back on the street and oftentimes breaking our laws again. it is beyond my comprehension why federal, state, and local officials sworn to enforce the laws of the nation, as i am, would actively discourage or outright prevent law enforcement agencies from upholding the laws of the united states and why they would set public funds aside to pay for the legal representation of illegal aliens who are also law-breakers. in doing so, they prioritize criminals over public and law enforcement officer safety. the two bills up for a vote this week, kate's law and the no sanctuary for criminals act, will help immigration and customs enforcement uphold our

nation's immigration laws and help make our communities more safe. president trump has clear that our borders are not open to illegal immigration, that we are a nation of laws, and we will no longer look the other way. well, we will no longer look the other way in the interior either. i.c.e. has arrested nearly 66,000 individuals who are either known or suspected of being in the country illegally. 48,000 of those individuals are in fact convicted criminals. many of the rest were charged with crimes, often multiple ones or had gang affiliations. so far in fy 2017, i.c.e. homeland security investigations has over 32,700 arrests, criminal arrests. the crimes include illegal gang activity, childhood exploitation, human trafficking, narcotics trafficking, financial crimes and many, many others.

i appreciate congress' effort to address the dangers of illegal offenders. dhs does not make the laws, congress does. and we will enforce the laws that are passed by congress. and i am offended when members of this institution threaten me and my officers to ignore the laws they make and i am sworn to uphold. mr. speaker, gentlemen, ladies, i appreciate your time to protect the men and women of i.c.e. and the citizens of these so-called sanctuary cities from public officials who have chosen politics, in my opinion, over public safety. thank you. >> this weekend, c-span cities tour, with the help of our comcast partners, takes book tv and american history tv to portland, oregon. as we explore its rich literary

culture. we'll visit powell books, covering an entire city blocks. we'll go inside to see its vast collections and learn about the history of one of the world's largest independent bookstores. >> when we first moved into this building, we were 15,000 square feet of books. now we're 75,000 retail square feet of books. it i think is a reason that some authors move to portland. we hear that quite often from authors, that this is a resource for them. >> and then former state senator avelle gordley shares her journey as an african-american growing up in oregon, with her book, "remembering the power of words." >> knowing that we -- that i could be a part of the march and the demonstrations and the conversations that went on in our local community was very -- the word i would use now is

empowering. that's what it was. and connecting to what was happening all those many, many miles away. >> on sunday at 2:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv, we'll step inside an historic mansion built in 1914. the home belonged to the former owner and publisher of "the oregonian" newspaper. >> he was the one that kept it going. the owner was rather distracted with politics to the point that he owed henry a lot of back wages. in 1860, his employer, thomas dryer, decided to give the paper to henry in return for back pages that he was owed. henry turned the newspaper into a success, invested in real estate as the town grew and was able eventually to build a house as grand as this one. >> watch c-span cities tour of port