Ken Buck Votes to Improve Immigration Enforcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Katherine Rosario, 202-225-4676

Washington – Today, the House of Representatives voted 241 to 179 to pass the Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act (H.R. 3009), which would cut federal funding to “sanctuary cities.” Sanctuary cities are jurisdictions that have policies directing local law enforcement to not cooperate with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) efforts to track and apprehend criminal illegal aliens. Congressman Ken Buck, a cosponsor of the bill, released the following statement:

“Sanctuary cities are part of a much broader problem with immigration enforcement in the United States. This Administration’s policies have handcuffed ICE agents. As a District Attorney in Weld County, I saw firsthand how low the morale was among ICE law enforcement officers specifically because they have been handcuffed from doing their job. H.R. 3009 is a step toward fixing this problem,” said Congressman Buck. “There is much more that needs to be accomplished to reform our immigration system, but this is a start.”

Sanctuary cities prohibit law enforcement officers from sharing information with federal immigration authorities to enable the removal of unlawful and criminal aliens.  According to ICE records, and the Center for Immigration Study, more than 8,100 deportable aliens were released by sanctuary jurisdictions between January and August 2014. Three thousand of them were felons and 62 percent had a prior criminal history.  The problems facing our immigration system extend beyond sanctuary cities. As House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte has noted, there are almost 180,000 convicted criminal aliens currently in removal proceedings living in the United States and almost 170,000 convicted criminal aliens who have been ordered removed also living free here.  Under the Obama Administration, the total number of such convicted criminal aliens who are not being detained has jumped 28% since 2012. 

Rep. Ken Buck (CO-04) is the Freshman Class President. He serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.  He serves on the OGR Subcommittees on Government Operations and the Interior and is a member of the Judiciary Subcommittees on Immigration and Border Security and Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations.

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