WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today questioned witnesses at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing entitled “Beyond the Smash and Grab: Criminal Networks and Organized Theft.” During his questioning, Durbin underscored that the Trump Administration is failing to crack down on organized retail crimebecause the President is instead focused on mass deportations.
“The investigations of these [organized retail] crimes at the federal level depend on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), does it not?” Durbin asked Ms. Summer Stephan, President of the National District Attorneys Association.
Ms. Stephan agreed that DHS is responsible for investigating retail crimes.
“In February, ‘the Department of Homeland Security ordered its entire investigations division, composed of 6,000 agents, to divert focus on drug dealers, terrorists, and human traffickers and shift priority to the Trump Administration’s mission of deporting people in the U.S. illegally. The new focus for DHS [DHS’ Homeland Security Investigations agency (HSI)], current and former officials say, is in keeping with the President’s [recent] executive orders [signed by President Donald Trump] that demand a wholesale shift in federal law enforcement resources toward immigration crackdowns and removal,” Durbin read from a USA Today article on DHS’ focus on mass deportation.
“‘But they warn the shift will undermine high-profile investigations into some of the most dangerous transnational threats Americans face, including Mexican drug cartels smuggling deadly fentanyl across the border from Mexico.’ Chris Campanelli, the former HSI supervisor agent, said, ‘A lot of my colleagues were afraid this was going to happen. This is going to be a total train wreck,’” Durbin read from the article.
“If anyone is involved in illegally being in the United States, undocumented or otherwise, and is engaged in criminal activity that is dangerous to themselves and others, they should be removed, period… But what about those who are living here, who have been here for years, working a job, showing up every day, raising a family [in] which [the children are] mainly American citizens, and paying their taxes? Is that a priority over what we are discussing today? Not in my book,” Durbin said to denounce the Trump Administration’s prioritization of mass deportations over preventing organized retail crime.
Video of Durbin’s questions in Committee is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s questions in Committee is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s questions in Committee is available here for TV Stations.
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