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