Senator Marsha Blackburn
After suffering from four years of open borders, rampant crime and lawlessness under the last administration, the American people returned President Trump to the Oval Office with a mandate to Make America Safe Again.
In just his first months back in office, that is exactly what he has done.
In operations across the country, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested more than 66,000 illegal aliens and deported more than 65,000. Among those arrested, the vast majority are criminal illegal aliens, including violent MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members and thousands who were charged or convicted of assault, weapons offenses, sex crimes, and murder.
This effort represents a complete reversal of the open-border policies of the Biden administration, which welcomed criminals into our country and turned every state into a border state, including Tennessee.
Just last year, a criminal illegal alien from Mexico killed 42-year-old Nashville restaurant owner Matthew Carney in a hit-and-run after attempting to steal tools out of his truck.
Two months before, an illegal alien was charged with attempted kidnapping, sexual battery, public intoxication, and evading arrest after he followed a woman into the bathroom of a Nashville ice cream shop and groped her.
Now, President Trump is taking strong action to get criminals like these off our streets and ensure such tragedies can never happen again.
In recent days, the Department of Homeland Security has worked with Tennessee Highway Patrol to arrest nearly 200 criminal illegal aliens in Nashville, including convicted rapists and drug dealers. One of the aliens, Franklin Oswaldo Velasquez, is a Salvadoran national affiliated with MS-13 who is wanted in his home country for aggravated murder.
Across the country, similar arrests of criminal illegal aliens have preceded a significant drop in crime. After ICE in February targeted for arrest more than 100 Tren de Aragua gang members who had taken over an Aurora, Colo., apartment complex, overall crime in the city declined by 22 percent during the first quarter of this year.
Despite this success, Democrats are demonizing our law enforcement and demanding an end to the arrests. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, who came down to Nashville this month to lecture Tennesseans on immigration enforcement, said the ICE arrests are an “immigration assault” that are “not about keeping us safe.” Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, meanwhile, said that ICE’s detainment of violent gang members and rapists is “making [it] harder” to keep people safe.
The mayor is wrong in his assessment: Tennesseans in overwhelming numbers support the deportation of these criminal illegal aliens. As one police officer told me last week, these deportations make our communities safer, and they make the officers’ jobs on the street safer.
In many ways, Democrats are making clear that they would rather side with criminal illegal aliens than American citizens. In contrast, Republicans are standing for safety and the rule of law.
When it comes to immigration, there is a right way and a wrong way to enter our country. If an illegal alien continues to reside in our country in violation of our laws, the Trump administration will deport them and ensure they never come back. But if they accept President Trump’s offer to self-deport, they still have the ability to go through the proper legal channels to enter our country at a later point.
The 116 people who became U.S. citizens last week during a naturalization ceremony at the federal courthouse in Nashville did it the right way. As one new citizen told local media, if you want to be an American, “You have to respect the country you are going to live in. … You have to respect the law.”
In the Senate, Republicans are working hard to support the President’s efforts to maintain the rule of law when it comes to immigration. My CLEAR Act, for example, would ensure that state and local law enforcement officials have the explicit authority to assist the federal government in our immigration enforcement efforts.
This week, I’m also introducing legislation that would establish a “Deportation Shot Clock,” which would require the federal government to deport an illegal alien within 15 days of a court order for removal. This would empower the Trump administration to expedite deportations and ensure that we are getting criminals off our streets.
One thing should be clear: the Trump administration and Republicans are doing everything possible to remove criminals from our communities, uphold the rule of law, and Make America Safe Again. And we will use every resource available to ensure that happens.
Marsh Blackburn
U.S. Senator for Tennessee
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Senator Blackburn, it is best that you have researched the statistics on what you are discussing than go blindly and embarrass yourself.
The crime statistics that have been used on illegal immigrants by Trump are wrong, which can be verified by both private agencies and government agencies.
Raleigh Perry
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Mr. Perry, did Trump’s so-called fake figures regarding illegal alien crime come from your research or did you get it from NPR, MSNBC or one of your Senators, John Ossoff, D-GA or Raphael Warnock, D-GA? Or perhaps was it from Stacy Abrams, Warnock’s one-time business associate (AP News 1/15/25)? I guess because you said it we are to believe it.
After the recent revelations regarding AutoPens, rigging teleprompters, terrible cabinet meetings, denials and claims of five people running the government and none were Joe Biden (Original Sin, Tapper & Thompson, 2025) I find it laughable Democrats are still running the tale that Trump is the consummate liar.
I guess when you limit your news intake to the aforementioned leftist hotbeds, it explains how the last four years played out. I’m glad nearly 78 million people weren’t manipulated and I’m glad Marsha Blackburn is our Tennessee U.S. Senator.
Ralph Miller
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Some people, no matter their political stripe, have a problem with people not abiding the laws of this country, be they illegal immigrants, be they members of ICE pursuing those illegals, be they ones who broke into the U.S. House of Congress four years ago, the Tennessee State House long before that, or work as members of the Senate or the Executive, we take issue with them following their ideology rather than the laws of this land.
As for you, Senator, my proposal is put forth legislation that can work for both sides of the aisle, not just for those who delight in putting those of the low rungs of the economy down. Joe Biden did more for this economy by his senility and by being propped up by his team than has your leader. The Stock Market hummed along with Biden’s sleepiness, a bit different than how wide awake it has been this short four months.
You really need to listen to the farmers and businesspeople and citizens of this state and work for them, not the president. This country needs to change the script on the Statue of Liberty for the harsh deeds you so prescribe with law writing. Last but not least, read the Bill of Rights, it may get in the way of what you have written.
Prentice Hicks
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Mr. Hicks,
One point in your rant, you "accidently" forgot the part about Joe Biden's minders leaving the southern border wide open and not enforcing the immigration laws of the United States of America. Just think about it....most of the problems you complained of would be moot, if those immigration laws had been enforced.
I'm not sure what ideology Joe's minders had in mind, but whatever it was, the immigration laws of the United States and both sides of your wishful aisle were definitely not being considered. Be that as it may, most Americans decided a new sheriff, Donald Trump, was needed to clean up the mess and more. Thankfully.
Phil Snider
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Dear Senator Blackburn and Staff,
Have you lost touch with Chattanooga? Have you lost touch with the ideals of our nation as a whole?
We are a country founded on the dream that all people have inalienable rights- to include becoming American along with the agency therein. We are learning that not all immigrants are seeking an American dream, some are escaping nightmares, and our collective morality will need to be consistently evolving to reflect the needs of our people, and make no mistake, we are a nation of immigrants, and though there may be some who have grandmothers who have grandmothers who lived on this land with full access to citizenship, we are comparatively young in our governmental framework dependent on citizenry and participation, and the hubris of Blackburn's xenophobic proposed legislation reflects that.
Education has helped many of us to realize that we weren't the 'first' and there is no 'again'. We are too unpracticed of institutions, needing the wisdom of experience, the innovation of youth, and a foundation- however flawed- of all being created equal to reflect values for a pursuit often quoted: that of happiness. It can be a painfully slow process of thought and debate, which can be rooted in misguided and imperfect theory, but it is an experiment worth continuing. The recipe for America's feast has the ingredients, yet, our gatherings are sparse, for all do not have a seat, our table too limited for serving, and our collective exhaustion leaving people wary to attend.
With all the work Chattanooga, and I would add Tennessee, is trying to accomplish, this is how you throw a nod to your constituents here, a piece in the Chattanoogan? You have never agreed to meet, never, not once, taken a phone call or returned one, you've never not in all the times I and many others have urged you to heed the calls of dissent, not once have you represented any other agenda but the pursuit of power, supporting blindly and unequivocally an administration's agenda. To what end? Your office has left the diversity of Tennessee ill represented, leaving us to appear to support such proposed policies that your staff has taken the time to construct, enumerating ideas that our local law enforcement is to have direct authority to deport citizens. At what point did you lose touch with the actual needs for resources of our local law enforcement? The email to the Chattanoogan will not suffice for the answers we seek.
I do not support your proposed Clear Act or "shot clock". I do however support pay raises and better training- just while I may have your attention. And I am not alone. Readjust the lens through which you view our state and our country, invite those who do not think like you do to gain much needed perspective, it will make you a better leader.
And to any others reading this: vote accordingly.
Jamie C. Gaines