U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, reacted today to a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) document showing that tens of thousands of convicted criminal aliens were freed by ICE last year into the U.S., as well as the presence of nearly one million individuals in the U.S. ordered removed by authorities who remain unlawfully in the country.
“The preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that immigration enforcement in America has collapsed. Even those with criminal convictions are being released. DHS is a department in crisis. Secretary Johnson must reject the President’s demands to weaken enforcement further and tell him that his duty, and his officers’ duty, is to enforce the law-not break it. As Homeland Secretary, Mr. Johnson is tasked with ensuring the public safety and the rule of law. But Secretary Johnson is not meeting these duties.”
He also criticized comments by the vice president and U.S. attorney general touting open-borders – and warned of the dangers to the public of the administration’s stance:
“Comments from top Administration officials, such as Attorney General Holder’s claim that amnesty is a civil right, or Vice President Biden’s claim that those here illegally are all U.S. citizens (apparently including someone whose visa expired yesterday), demonstrate the Administration’s increasing belief in an open borders policy the American public has always rejected.”
“The Administration’s lawless policies have not only impaired public safety but increased economic suffering for millions of vulnerable Americans by depriving them of their jobs and wages.”
