Justice for Victims in Sanctuary Cities

Floor Speech

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Mr. BUDD. Mr. Speaker, I am here to talk for just a moment about law and order. I am here to talk about how we as a body can prevent more needless tragedies in our country. I am here to talk about true justice. Specifically, justice for victims of dangerous sanctuary city policies.

We have all heard the stories. Kate Steinle brutally murdered in San Francisco by an illegal immigrant who was repeatedly released.

In Washington State, an illegal named Rosalio Ramos-Romas was deported four times before authorities arrested him in October of 2017. Once notified of his arrest, ICE issued a detainer request asking local authorities to imprison him for an additional 48 hours. But, instead, local authorities ignored the detainer request and allowed Rosalio back into the community, where he eventually murdered his cousin and hid the body in a dumpster.

In my State of North Carolina, the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office refused to notify ICE and comply with lawful detainer requests when it released dangerous illegal immigrants from the county jail. One was charged with multiple domestic violence offenses for strangling a woman and threatening to kill her.

These are not isolated incidents of violence, but, rather, the norm in sanctuary cities across America. The truth is that sanctuary city policies are unnecessary and they only threaten the safety of our families and our neighbors. This lawlessness leads to tragedies that are simply not acceptable and should not be allowed by our leaders.

That is why I introduced the Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act with Senator Thom Tillis. Our bill would allow anyone harmed by an illegal immigrant in a sanctuary city to sue the sanctuary city or State for the damages that it caused. It also withholds certain grant funding from jurisdictions that refuse to comply with Federal law. This move will put lawless cities on notice and will, hopefully, persuade them to reverse course, enforce our laws, and keep our streets safe.

At a time when the current administration refuses to crack down on sanctuary cities, Congress has the responsibility to act. It is long past time that cities who refuse to enforce our immigration face legal consequences. This has to stop. Uneven Allocation of the COVID-19 Vaccine

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Mr. BUDD. Mr. Speaker, last month, over 10,000 patients in and around my district had their COVID-19 vaccination appointments forcibly canceled, throwing seniors and frontline workers into uncertainty. This mistake was the result of an uneven allocation process and bureaucratic confusion. It is unacceptable and something has to be done.

I sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services demanding immediate answers for my constituents. I understand that an expedited national vaccine rollout is complex. It is a tough undertaking. But the faster vaccine doses are allocated to States like mine in North Carolina, the sooner we will be able to defeat this virus once and for all.

The people of my community deserve clarity and honesty when it comes to vaccines from the Federal Government, and I am going to continue to get answers for them. Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

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Mr. BUDD. Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade was decided 48 years ago last month. Since abortion was made legal, more than 60 million unborn children have had their lives prematurely ended. This is a matter of conscience for me, and I believe that life begins at conception.

In recent years, advances in science and medicine have given us an increasingly vivid picture of what life in the womb is like. A child has a heartbeat at just 6 weeks. A child feels pain at 20 weeks.

Science makes clear that life exists in the womb and, therefore, an unborn child is entitled to the most fundamental of human rights, and that, Mr. Speaker, is the right to live.

This issue transcends what it means to be an American and goes to the core of what makes us human. I hope that one day soon, the Supreme Court corrects their constitutional error so that the American people can reassert their voice in determining the moral question of our time.

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