Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) blasted the Democrats’ ballooning list of demands to protect illegal migrant criminals — including making polling places “sanctuary locations” — instead of funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
During remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Barrasso highlighted the Democrats’ “Christmas list of demands” they are fighting for instead of agreeing to enforce immigration law and avoiding another partial government shutdown.
“Democrats have come up with a Christmas list of demands, demands designed to appeal to their radical base. This growing list of Democrat demands makes it almost impossible to remove dangerous illegal immigrants from the streets of our nation,” the senator said. “Democrats are resisting even the most reasonable attempts to enforce our immigration laws.”
In resistance to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is funded by DHS, Democrat leaders have been threatening to push a shutdown on Friday if the Republicans do not capitulate to their “reforms.”
Last Friday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said if Republicans do not give in, there will be a shutdown of “other aspects of DHS, like Coast Guard, like FEMA, and like TSA, which would be very unfortunate.”
Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) trashed the White House’s attempt to avert a shutdown as the deadline approaches after a Monday night meeting, saying in a joint statement, “Republicans shared an outline of a counterproposal, which included neither details nor legislative text.”
“The initial GOP response is both incomplete and insufficient in terms of addressing the concerns Americans have about [Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s] lawless conduct,” they continued. “Democrats await additional detail and text.”
According to Barrasso, “The more we learn about the demands coming from the minority leader and that party, the less the normal American citizen likes them — and that’s especially if you are concerned about any safety or any security in the community in which you live.”
“The Democrats continually want to make it harder to arrest and remove illegal immigrant criminals,” he continued.
Criticizing the Democrats’ demand for ICE to use judicial warrants instead of administrative warrants, the Wyoming lawmaker said, “That may sound like a technical change. It is not. It is a dramatic change, and it would grind immigration enforcement to a halt.”
“You know what it would do? It would lock in place the chaos that Joe Biden and the Democrats foisted upon this country with their wide-open border policy,” he explained. “Democrats’ preference is to release illegal immigrants who are criminals right onto our streets. They prefer that over holding them until immigration officials can come to pick them up if they’ve been arrested.”
Highlighting an even more outlandish demand from the Democrats, Barrasso said, “They want to ban immigration enforcement from their so-called ‘sensitive locations.’
“The so-called ‘sensitive location’ defined by the Democrats — in the past it included places of worship, hospitals, schools, now they want to include in that list — polling places,” he continued. “Well, think about that. It’s an entirely new provision. Polling places have never been included on any list like this before.”
Questioning why illegal immigrants would need sanctuary at a polling place, the senator said, “Why in the world would they be there if they are not trying to vote?
“That tells you how far to the left the Democrats have moved… Democrats seem fixated on protecting illegal immigrant criminals at polling places. Democrats energetically oppose commonsense policies to protect the integrity of the ballot.”
Barrasso also pointed out that Democrats resisting the funding of DHS means that many essential services other than ICE, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), would come to a halt.
He stated:
Republicans will not accept changes that make our communities less safe. The deadline the Democrats have demanded to fund the Department of Homeland Security is Friday, three days from now. Our Homeland Security budget is $90 billion. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is 11 percent of that. Democrats are risking America’s safety over 11 percent of the Department of Homeland Security budget. The rest of the budget goes to other critical functions that the American people depend upon and need right now.
“So this week, Senate Democrats have a choice to make,” he continued. “Option one, fund the Department of Homeland Security. Option two, Democrats can once again side with the radical left and force a shutdown of the vital services to the American people. And why do they want to do that? To protect illegal immigrant criminals.”
If Democrats choose the second option, the Republican senator said that they will be forcing a shutdown to protect illegal immigrants, and that the consequences for the American people would be “painful.”
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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