Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said on Newsmax Saturday that the funding lapse for the Department of Homeland Security is "absolutely shameful" and "very irresponsible," arguing that the standoff risks core security and emergency functions after the department entered a partial shutdown when a short-term funding extension expired.
"Saturday Report" host Rita Cosby asked how Congress reached the point of a Homeland Security funding lapse and whether Democrat demands drove the impasse as the department entered a partial shutdown after the DHS continuing resolution expired.
Malliotakis, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, answered on "Saturday Report" that it was "absolutely shameful" and said two New York Democrats, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, "know very well ... what's at stake if we do not fund Homeland Security." She added, "They want to play politics with ICE," as she framed the dispute as broader than just immigration enforcement.
"What they're actually doing is not funding the TSA," referring to the Transportation Security Administration, and she added that lawmakers also were "not funding the Coast Guard," referring to the United States Coast Guard.
She said the lapse also affects "counterterrorism and cybersecurity activities," and that lawmakers were "not funding FEMA," referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In describing what she said were the practical stakes, Malliotakis argued, "They're being very irresponsible here, and they're putting American citizens and our law enforcement and our service members at risk right now with this political game."
She tied that argument to a broader warning that "we need to make sure our Homeland Security Department is completely funded."
While "the Democrats on the federal level are defunding homeland security and our law enforcement," locally, Democrats are "preventing ICE from actually going into jails and taking illegal immigrants to have them deported out of our country."
She added, "You have rogue judges here in New York City, who are allowing criminals to go out the back door of the courthouse so they can evade ICE."
"It is insane what's happening."
She then pointed to recent ICE successes, saying, "If you go through the laundry list of the people that ICE has arrested in the last couple of weeks," it includes "convicted murderers with orders to be removed from this country," and she added, "I saw one guy had 24 criminal convictions."
"You have a whole slew of sex offenders and pedophiles as well," calling it "ludicrous that this is who they're fighting for," arguing Democrats were "willing to shut down the Department of Homeland Security over it."
Asked about how to tamp down ICE issues, Malliotakis said, "They [sanctuary cities] need to actually just cooperate and turn over the criminals in a silent manner, at the courthouses and at the jails."
Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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