[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 88 (Tuesday, May 21, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E532-E533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         DETAIN AND DEPORT ILLEGAL ALIENS WHO ASSAULT COPS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 15, 2024

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Chair, I rise to speak in opposition to H.R. 
7343, the ``Detain and Deport Illegal Aliens Who Assault Cops Act.''
  As the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Crime Subcommittee and as 
Senior Member of the Homeland Security Committee, I am deeply 
disappointed in this harmful and misguided bill.
  This overly broad legislation would result in extremely harsh and 
unintended consequences, subjecting people to mandatory immigration 
detention for merely being arrested for, and never charged or convicted 
of a crime.
  It does not actually solve any problems with the immigration system 
or the border.
  This bill will, however, callously, and carelessly increases the 
scope of those subject to mandatory immigration detention to cover many 
undocumented immigrants, including those in a lawful status such as 
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or Temporary Protected 
Status (TPS), if they are arrested for assault of a law enforcement 
officer or first responder.
  In particular, it will make it so that someone who is merely arrested 
for or charged with an assault of a law enforcement officer or first 
responder, even if they never committed that crime or hurt anyone, is 
now subject to mandatory immigration detention.
  It is so broad and overinclusive that it would lead to truly absurd 
results and to the detention and removal of people who had no intention 
of ever committing a crime.
  Indeed, consider a situation where an immigrant is wrongfully 
arrested for assault due to mistaken identity.
  Under this bill, that individual would now be subject to mandatory 
detention, even though they were arrested by mistake and potentially 
never even charged with a crime.
  Wrongful arrests are not far-fetched scenarios.
  In fact, the main reason this bill was introduced was because 
Republicans wanted to exploit an incident involving recently arrived 
migrants allegedly assaulting law enforcement in Times Square.
  One specific image of an arrested migrant flipping off cameras after 
his arraignment set off a firestorm among Republicans.
  However, in March, ten weeks after the incident, charges against that 
specific individual were dropped.
  It turns out he was wrongfully arrested and charged. He was not even 
at the scene of the incident.
  This is a perfect example as to why this bill is absurd--if it was in 
effect, this individual, despite his innocence, would have been subject 
to mandatory detention.
  Additionally, many jurisdictions have a broad definition of assault 
that are so broad, they can include conduct as minor as throwing a 
parking ticket at a ticketing officer.
  This bill is a solution in search of a problem.
  No one in this caucus condones serious assaults against law 
enforcement officers.
  People who admit to or are convicted of serious assault offenses 
against law enforcement officers are already subject to mandatory 
detention under our laws. This bill would not change that fact.
  Instead, this bill will subject more people to mandatory detention at 
a time when Republicans refuse to give the Department of Homeland 
Security the resources it needs.
  It should also be noted that Congress has never appropriated, and no 
administration has ever requested, sufficient resources to detain all 
noncitizens who fall under the ``mandatory detention'' categories.
  Even former President Trump never tried to detain all migrants 
subject to mandatory detention.
  If this bill were to become law, as written, it would simply lead to 
absurd consequences.
  Consequences that do nothing to resolve the problems that Republicans 
claim they are seeking to resolve.
  Time and again, Republicans have refused to support additional 
resources and personnel for the border.
  In 2021, all but six current House Republicans voted against the 
Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, which provided additional funding to 
ports of entry to combat smuggling of people and drugs.
  All but two current House Republicans voted against providing robust 
funding for border security operations in the FY2023 appropriations 
omnibus legislation.
  That bill provided more than $17 billion to Customs and Border 
Protection (CBP), including funding for an additional 300 Border Patrol 
agents.
  The omnibus also included $60 million to hire 125 CBP officers and 
$70 million for nonintrusive inspection technology to detect narcotics 
and firearms at ports of entry.
  In October of 2023, the Biden administration sent Congress a 
supplemental funding request, which included an additional $13.6 
billion for border security.
  House Republicans refuse to schedule a vote on this funding request, 
which would provide the Biden administration the resources it needs to 
secure the border and provide additional support for communities 
receiving migrants.
  More specifically, this supplemental funding would pay for an 
additional 1,300 Border Patrol agents; 375 immigration judges and 1,600 
asylum officers to speed up processing of asylum claims; 1,000 CBP 
officers with a focus on countering fentanyl; new detection technology 
for ports of entry; additional investigative capabilities to combat 
fentanyl trafficking; and $1.4 billion more in grants to help 
communities receiving migrants, among other investments.

[[Page E533]]

  By forcing a vote on this bill, Republicans are really showing they 
have no real solutions to address the border.
  I urge my colleagues to not take the bait.
  It should also be stated that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates 
than native-born individuals.
  There are currently 45 million foreign-born people in the United 
States.
  In any large group, there are going to be some people who do bad 
things.
  These people do not represent the group as a whole.
  Unfortunately, Republicans and Fox News want to use any crime 
committed by an immigrant to fearmonger and scapegoat migrants for 
everything that is wrong in the country.
  But here are the facts: Higher immigration is associated with lower 
crime rates.
  According to a 2015 study by the American Immigration Council, 
between 1990 and 2013, the foreign-born share of the U.S. population 
grew from 7.9 percent to 13.1 percent and the number of unauthorized 
immigrants more than tripled from 3.5 million to 11.2 million.
  During the same period, FBI data indicates that the violent crime 
rate declined 48 percent--which included falling rates of aggravated 
assault, robbery, rape, and murder.
  Likewise, the property crime rate fell 41 percent, including 
declining rates of motor vehicle theft, larceny/robbery, and burglary.
  An NBC News review of available 2024 crime data from the cities 
targeted by Texas's ``Operation Lone Star,'' which buses or flies 
migrants from the border to major cities in the interior--shows overall 
crime levels dropping in those cities that have received the most 
migrants.
  Overall crime is down year after year in Philadelphia, Chicago, 
Denver, New York, and Los Angeles.
  With these facts, we can see that this bill is sadly another 
opportunity for my Republican colleagues to score cheap political 
points on a bill that has no chance to become law while trying to 
target and scapegoat migrants as criminals.
  For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to vote no on this bill.

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