[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 79 (Monday, May 11, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2189-S2190]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, we have a lot to do over the next 2 weeks: 
confirm Kevin Warsh to the Federal Reserve, approve a nominations 
package, and fund law enforcement at the Department of Homeland 
Security.
  That last item should not need to be on our agenda. We should have 
been able to have funded border security and immigration enforcement 
officers as part of the final Homeland Security funding agreement, but 
my Democrat colleagues refused. In fact, the Democrat leader said today 
that Democrats will fight legislation to fund law enforcement at DHS 
with ``every tool we have.''
  It is difficult to believe that we are here again. We all remember 
the ``defund the police'' movement embraced by the left and members of 
the Democrat Party. We also remember how cities who moved to defund the 
police backtracked in pretty short order because it turns out, as even 
some leftists came to realize, we need police officers; we need law 
enforcement. We live in a fallen world, and there are always going to 
be people out there who seek to hurt and exploit the innocent, and we 
need men and women who will stand between the innocent and danger. We 
need men and women who courageously dedicate their lives to law 
enforcement.
  All of this should go without saying. I can scarcely think of 
anything more obvious, but, apparently, the need for law enforcement is 
not obvious to my Democrat colleagues because they are right back to a 
``defund the police'' position. This time, it is defunding law 
enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security, specifically Border 
Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the men and women--the 
men and women--who patrol our borders and take dangerous criminal 
illegal immigrants off of our streets.
  Mr. President, when I say defunding law enforcement and DHS, I don't

[[Page S2190]]

mean reducing the budget. I mean complete and total defunding. My 
Democrat colleagues refused to provide a single dollar for the men and 
women who protect our borders. They refused to provide a single dollar 
for the men and women who take dangerous criminal illegal aliens off of 
our street.
  And I want you to think about that for just a minute.
  My Democrat colleagues, apparently, believe there should be no 
physical presence at our borders and no law enforcement officers to 
deport dangerous criminals who have entered our country illegally.
  We had 4 years of chaos at the southern border under President Biden, 
but at least we had the Border Patrol, overstretched as it was. Now 
Democrats, apparently, believe in removing all law enforcement officers 
from our Nation's borders.
  I shouldn't need to state the obvious here: that we need border 
security and immigration enforcement officers to protect our Nation, 
just as we need police officers and FBI agents and Secret Service 
agents and all of the law enforcement officers who serve our 
communities.
  Democrats might like to pretend otherwise, but there are dangerous 
individuals who would like to make their way illegally across our 
border--drug traffickers, human traffickers, other criminals, 
terrorists. And the men and women of the Border Patrol and Immigration 
and Customs Enforcement are the men and women who stand between us and 
these dangerous individuals, who turn them back at our borders and take 
them out of our communities, if they do manage to make their way into 
our country.
  These are the men and women my Democrat colleagues want to defund--
not reform. Nope, my Democrat colleagues repeatedly rejected reforms. 
They want to defund and defund completely--zero--zero agents at our 
border, zero agents to deport criminals here in the United States 
illegally. That is what my Democrat colleagues opted for.
  It is Police Week this week, a week to honor our Nation's law 
enforcement officers and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice 
while protecting our communities. Perhaps--perhaps--it will remind my 
Democrat colleagues of just how much we rely on law enforcement and 
just how much we need all--all--of our Nation's law enforcement 
officers.

                          ____________________