STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY
S. 2146 – Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act
(Sen. Vitter, R-LA, and 14 cosponsors)
The
Administration strongly opposes S. 2146. This bill fails to offer
comprehensive reforms needed to fix the Nation's broken immigration laws
and undermines current Administration efforts to remove the most
dangerous convicted criminals and to work collaboratively with State and
local law enforcement agencies.
The
Administration continues to believe that it is critical to fix the
Nation's broken immigration system through comprehensive commonsense
legislation that builds on existing efforts to strengthen border
security, cracks down on employers hiring undocumented workers,
streamlines legal immigration, and offers an earned path to citizenship
for undocumented immigrants to get right with the law if they pass
background checks, contribute to the Nation's economy by paying taxes,
and go to the back of the line. While the Senate passed comprehensive
legislation with strong bipartisan support over two years ago that would
do just that, the House of Representatives failed to take any action.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bipartisan Senate
legislation would also grow the Nation's economy by 5.4 percent and
reduce Federal deficits by nearly $850 billion over 20 years. The
Administration continues to urge the Congress to address all of the
problems with the Nation's broken immigration system and take up
commonsense legislation that will offer meaningful solutions to those
problems.
The
Administration also believes the most effective way to enhance public
safety is through sensible and effective policies that focus enforcement
resources on the most significant public safety threats. The
Administration has put in place new enforcement priorities that
accomplish this important law enforcement goal by focusing limited
resources on the worst offenders – national security threats, convicted
criminals, gang members, and recent border crossers. The effectiveness
of these new priorities depends on collaboration between Federal, State,
and local law enforcement. Every day, the Federal government fosters
State and local collaboration through a variety of mechanisms, including
policies, programs, and joint task forces. The Department of Homeland
Security's (DHS) Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) enables Federal
immigration enforcement to work with State and local law enforcement to
take custody of individuals who are enforcement priorities, including
public safety and national security threats, before those individuals
are released into communities. PEP is a balanced, commonsense approach
to enforcing the Nation's immigration laws. It replaced the Secure
Communities program, which, by establishing a “one-size-fits-all”
approach to State and local cooperation with Federal immigration
enforcement officials, discouraged some localities from turning over
dangerous individuals to DHS custody. Secure Communities was embroiled
in litigation and widely criticized for undermining State and local
community policing efforts. PEP builds collaboration between Federal,
State, and local law enforcement that allows for the most effective
enforcement while enhancing community policing and trust. The vast
majority of the Nation’s approximately 3,100 local law enforcement
agencies are collaborating with DHS through the PEP program, and more
than half of the approximately 340 jurisdictions that previously
declined to cooperate with DHS are now working with DHS under PEP. The
Congress should give PEP a chance to work, instead of displacing that
collaborative approach—which prioritizes the worst offenders—with the
coercive approach of this bill, which makes no such differentiation.
The
bill would also jeopardize the ability of State and local governments
to receive Federal funding that is critical to their efforts to ensure
public safety and to tackle serious problems facing their communities.
For some jurisdictions, it would deny funding for cities to implement a
wide range of community development and housing activities, including
public safety enhancements and neighborhood-based community policing
efforts and investments to increase access to affordable housing, and
eliminate blight and support neighborhood planning. The bill would also
essentially turn State and local law enforcement into Federal
immigration law enforcement officials, in certain circumstances. The
Administration believes that these provisions would lead to mistrust
between communities and State and local law enforcement agencies;
undermine the ability of law enforcement to keep communities safe across
the country; and impede our efforts to safely, fairly, and effectively
enforce the Nation's immigration laws.
If the President were presented with S. 2146, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto this bill.
Source: Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget
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