WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) called on Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to take up and pass the CLEAR Act, which would ensure state and local law enforcement officials can help the federal government deport criminal illegal immigrants from the U.S. This hearing included testimony from Patty Morin whose daughter, Rachel Morin, was allegedly murdered last year by an illegal immigrant from El Salvador.

Click here to download video of Senator Blackburn’s remarks during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Blackburn: Open-Border Policies Are Not Compassionate

“This open-border policy that we’ve seen is not a compassionate policy. I’ve talked to people that work with human trafficking and sex trafficking, and what is happening to women and children is abhorrent, and we are all aware of that. Mr. Chairman, I appreciated your remark that we should deport those that are truly a danger to Americans. I think that’s accurate. I don’t think anyone would disagree with that.”

Blackburn Calls on Senate Judiciary Committee to Pass the CLEAR Act

“We’ve all seen the uptick in violent crimes – such as Ms. Morin and her family have experienced – and this is the reason I re-introduced my CLEAR Act this year, which would enable local law enforcement when they apprehend someone who is in the country illegally to detain them and then call on ICE to deport them. And then the federal government have to repay that local law enforcement agency for what they’ve spent in that apprehension, that detention, and we should pass this bill today. That would be a good thing for this committee to be doing this last week. Pull it up, put it on the hotline, and run it.”