Illegal aliens, especially those who have committed crimes, pose a serious threat to citizens and legal residents in the U.S. Please cosponsor the CLEAR Act, which would clarify the authority of local law enforcement to deal with illegal aliens, and provide funding to enable them to effectively exercise that authority. Sheriffs from across the United States are visiting Washington, D.C., this week seeking more federal help and you can help these sheriffs by cosponsoring the CLEAR Act.
Our borders are dangerously porous. They are an invitation to criminals, smugglers, terrorists, and other lawbreakers. Compounding this critical homeland security breach is the fact that, once such persons have successfully entered our country, the likelihood that they will be apprehended is even lower than at the border, due to the woefully inadequate federal enforcement presence in the interior.
The CLEAR Act, among its other provisions, recognizes local law enforcement’s authority to help enforce immigration law, improves information sharing between local law enforcement agencies and the federal government, and requires the federal government to expeditiously remove criminal illegal aliens.
This legislation is made even more important because President Obama has defunded the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) which compensated localities for their apprehension and detention of criminal illegal aliens. The CLEAR Act would reauthorize this program and ensure that local law enforcement agencies that detain criminal illegal aliens are reimbursed.
SCAAP has broad bipartisan support and it needs to be reauthorized. Please do all you can to protect local communities by cosponsoring H.R. 100, the 2011 CLEAR Act.
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