For some, the Biden administration’s handling of the flow of illegal immigrants through the U.S.-Mexico has left much to be desired, and that includes Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ leadership role. Among those critics is Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who had recently participated in a fact-finding mission on the border.
During an appearance on Mobile, AL radio’s FM Talk 106.5, Tuberville discussed his trip and disputed Mayorkas’ contention there was no problem at the southern border.
“The problem we’ve got is we’ve got people coming in,” Tuberville said. “Secretary Mayorkas goes down there last week, says, ‘Oh, there’s no problem down here.’ The guy must either be an idiot or doesn’t know what he is doing because they are just flooding across right in front of our eyes.”
Earlier in the week, the Alabama junior Republican U.S. Senator proposed legislation that would give local law enforcement the ability to enforce federal immigration law.
The so-called Empowering Law Enforcement Act would grant state and local law enforcement “inherent immigration enforcement authority to investigate, identify, apprehend, arrest, detain or transfer a migrant” accused of entering the United States illegally, according to a press release.
In addition to that, the bill would also give the Department of Homeland Security secretary “flexibility on how long a criminal alien may be detained, extending the 180-day period to ensure violent criminals are not released back into communities.”
“Here’s the problem we’ve got: I hate putting anything up to change anything,” Tuberville said. “We don’t need any more bills and laws. That’s all this place does up here. But here’s the problem we’ve got: Joe Biden and his cronies do not like ICE. They hate don’t want anybody to be the police. Now, ICE is the immigration police. They’re not just at the border. They’re in all 50 states. If you have an immigration problem, they’re the ones that handle it. They do arrests. They do investigations. They detain. Nobody else is allowed to do it unless a state or local law enforcement official works directly with the ICE agent.”
“Well, ICE has now been handcuffed,” he continued. “Their detainees have been brought down 66% in the last four months. Basically, Biden has said don’t go around courthouses or public places. We don’t want you involved with immigrants. So, they don’t have a job. We don’t have anybody policing the people that are here illegally. My bill says — it’s basically Empowering Law Enforcement Act — empowering the state and local officials. Listen, if you’ve got problems with immigrants in your small town, rural town — anywhere we need help with law enforcement. You will be given the power that ICE has to detain them, hold them. Right now, ICE can only hold somebody for 180 days. After that, they say, ‘You’ve got to let them go. I don’t care if they’ve killed somebody, run over somebody, raped somebody.’ It’s a disaster.”
“And so, we’re trying to get that length of time extended,” Tuberville added. “Right now, we’ve got to get some law enforcement in charge of all these illegal immigrants that are all over our country, and that’s what this act is about.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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