Richard J. Durbin
Senator for Illinois · Democratic · United States
“(c) Duties of the Commission.--The Commission shall-- (1) conduct pursuant to subsection (a) a comprehensive study that examines and assesses the adequacy of laws addressing child marriage and the extent of child marriage across the country, including making specific findings relating to-- (A) barriers to and gaps in services for minors f…”
“(c) Duties of the Commission.--The Commission shall-- (1) conduct pursuant to subsection (a) a comprehensive study that examines and assesses the adequacy of laws addressing child marriage and the extent of child marriage across the country, including making specific findings relating to-- (A) barriers to and gaps in services for minors f…”
“(4) Qualifications.--Members appointed under paragraph (1) shall have demonstrated experience or expertise in-- (A) providing services to survivors of child marriage in the United States; (B) providing services to immigrant survivors of child marriage in the United States; (C) working with State governments to limit child marriage; (D) th…”
“(4) Qualifications.--Members appointed under paragraph (1) shall have demonstrated experience or expertise in-- (A) providing services to survivors of child marriage in the United States; (B) providing services to immigrant survivors of child marriage in the United States; (C) working with State governments to limit child marriage; (D) th…”
“(3) Rule of construction.--The amendments made by this subsection may not be construed to preclude, limit, or modify eligibility of any noncitizen spouse subjected to battery or extreme cruelty and otherwise eligible for relief as a VAWA self-petitioner (as defined in section 101(a)(51) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.”
“(3) Rule of construction.--The amendments made by this subsection may not be construed to preclude, limit, or modify eligibility of any noncitizen spouse subjected to battery or extreme cruelty and otherwise eligible for relief as a VAWA self-petitioner (as defined in section 101(a)(51) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.”
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“(B) Provision of information.--On written request of the Chairperson of the Commission, each department, bureau, agency, board, commission, office, independent establishment, or instrumentality shall, to the extent authorized by law, provide the requested information to the Commission. (C) Receipt, handling, storage, and dissemination.-- Information shall only be received, handled, stored, and disseminated by members of the Commission and its staff consistent with all applicable statutes, regulations, and Executive orders. (3) Listening sessions.--The Commission shall organize and facilitate listening sessions with survivors of child marriage and advocates and experts working towards the elimination of child marriage in the United States in order to discharge its duties under this section.”
“(d) Powers of the Commission.-- (1) Hearings.--The Commission may hold such hearings, meet and act at such times and places, and receive such evidence as may be necessary to carry out the functions of the Commission. (2) Information from federal agencies.-- (A) In general.--The Commission may access, to the extent authorized by law, from any executive department, bureau, agency, board, commission, office, independent establishment, or instrumentality of the Federal Government such information, suggestions, estimates, and statistics as the Commission considers necessary to carry out this section.”
“(c) Duties of the Commission.--The Commission shall-- (1) conduct pursuant to subsection (a) a comprehensive study that examines and assesses the adequacy of laws addressing child marriage and the extent of child marriage across the country, including making specific findings relating to-- (A) barriers to and gaps in services for minors facing the threat of forced marriage or already married minors seeking protection from abuse in all States and territories; and (B) Federal laws, regulations, policies, and programs relevant to child marriage and individuals who marry before becoming 18 years of age; and (2) submit to the President, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Congress a report on the specific findings, conclusions, and recommendations to eliminate all child marriage in the United States and improve services and outcomes for survivors of child marriage in the United States, including specific recommendations on policies, regulations, and legislative changes as the Commission considers appropriate to eliminate all child marriage in the United States.”
“(5) Initial meeting.--Not later than 120 days after the appointment of members of the Commission, the Commission shall-- (A) hold an initial meeting, at which the members shall elect a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson, who shall be of different political parties, from among such members and shall determine a schedule of Commission meetings; and (B) begin the operations of the Commission. (6) Quorum and vacancy.-- (A) Quorum.--A majority of the members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number of members may hold hearings. (B) Vacancy.--Any vacancy in the Commission shall not affect its powers and shall be filled in the same manner in which the original appointment was made.”
“(4) Qualifications.--Members appointed under paragraph (1) shall have demonstrated experience or expertise in-- (A) providing services to survivors of child marriage in the United States; (B) providing services to immigrant survivors of child marriage in the United States; (C) working with State governments to limit child marriage; (D) the medical challenges that survivors of child marriage face; (E) the mental health challenges that survivors of child marriage face; (F) legal issues involving individuals who were married or sought to marry before becoming 18 years of age; (G) conducting research on the impact of child marriage on individuals who were married before becoming 18 years of age; (H) risk factors that play a role in child marriage; or (I) issues of forced or coerced marriage, family violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, or child abuse.”
“(3) Commission representation.--The Commission shall include at least-- (A) 1 survivor of child marriage; (B) 1 representative from a private nonprofit entity with demonstrated expertise in working with survivors of child marriage in the United States; (C) 1 representative from a private nonprofit entity with demonstrated expertise in working with immigrant survivors of child marriage in the United States; and (D) 1 representative from a private nonprofit entity with demonstrated expertise in working with State governments to limit child marriage.”
“(b) Composition of Commission.-- (1) Members.--The Commission shall be composed of 10 members, of whom-- (A) 1 member shall be appointed by the President; (B) 1 member, who is of a different political party than that of the member appointed under paragraph (1), shall be appointed by the President; (C) 4 members shall be appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services; (D) 1 member shall be appointed by the majority leader of the Senate; (E) 1 member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the Senate; (F) 1 member shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and (G) 1 member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the House of Representatives. (2) Governmental appointees.--An individual appointed to the Commission may not be an officer or employee of the Federal Government.”
“(a) In General.--There is established within the Department of Health and Human Services a commission, to be known as the National Commission to Combat Child Marriage in the United States (in this section referred to as the ``Commission''), which shall-- (1) conduct a comprehensive study on child marriage in the United States, including-- (A) applicable laws, or the absence of laws, which define or prohibit child marriage; (B) the extent to which such marriages currently occur; and (C) the extent to which such marriages occurred over the last 5 years in each State; (2) build upon the evaluations of other entities and avoid unnecessary duplication, by reviewing the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of other commissions, the Federal Government, State and local governments, State task forces, and nongovernmental entities relating to child marriage in the United States; (3) submit a report outlining the most effective strategies to eliminate child marriage in the United States informed by the study required under paragraph (1) to-- (A) the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; (B) the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives; and [[Page S4191]] (C) the Secretary of Health and Human Services; and (4) carry out other duties as described in subsection (c).”
“(C) Congress enacted the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (Public Law 113-4; 127 Stat. 54), which requires the Secretary of State to establish and implement a multiyear strategy-- (i) to ``prevent child marriages''; and (ii) to ``promote the empowerment of girls at risk of child marriage in developing countries''. SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. In this Act: (1) Noncitizen.--The term ``noncitizen'' means any person who is not a citizen or national of the United States. (2) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States. SEC. 4. FEDERAL COMMISSION TO ADDRESS CHILD MARRIAGE.”
“It also considers the forced marriage of a minor child to be a form of child abuse, since the child will presumably be subjected to non- consensual sex.''. (B) The United States Agency for International Development has observed that Child, Early, and Forced Marriage (In this paragraph referred to as ``CEFM'') ``impedes girls' education and increases early pregnancy and the risk of maternal mortality, obstetric complications, gender-based violence, and HIV/AIDS. Children of young mothers have higher rates of infant mortality and malnutrition compared to children of mothers older than 18. . . . CEFM is also associated with reductions in economic productivity for individuals and nations at large. CEFM is a human rights abuse and a practice that undermines efforts to promote sustainable growth and development.''.”
“have enacted new laws to end or limit child marriage with 5 more States requiring parties to be legal adults (meaning that the only exception to the requirement to be 18 years of age to be married is for certain court-emancipated minors). Until all States and territories take action, however, the patchwork of State laws will continue to put all children, particularly girls, at risk, given the ease with which they can be taken out of their home State or territory into another State or territory with lax or no laws. (12) The foreign policy of the United States is already imbued with these understandings that child marriage is harmful and should be prevented, including the following: (A) The Department of State in its Foreign Affairs Manual states the Federal Government view of ``forced marriage to be a violation of basic human rights.”
“Four States and 1 territory permit pregnancy to lower the minimum marriage age and in 1 State, Mississippi, and 1 territory, Northern Mariana Islands, the statute sets different conditions for approvals for girls and boys. (11) There is a growing movement to eliminate child marriage in the United States and 17 States--Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Michigan, Washington, Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine, Oregon, Oklahoma, and Missouri--as well as Washington, D.C., American Samoa, and the United States Virgin Islands, have set the minimum age for marriage at 18 years of age, with no exceptions. Since 2016, a total of 37 States, 3 territories, and Washington, D.C.”
“Citizenship and Immigration Services reported that between fiscal year 2007 and fiscal year 2017, it approved 8,686 petitions for spousal or fiance visas that involved at least one minor, though it remains unclear how many of these visas were ultimately approved by the Department of State. However, approximately 2.6 percent of fiance and spousal petitions were returned unapproved to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services between fiscal year 2007 and fiscal year 2017. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that the United States issued a visa to a significant number of the spouses and fiances named on the 8,686 petitions. (10) Four States and 2 territories set no statutory minimum age for marriage. In 10 States and 2 territories, clerks acting on their own--without judges--can issue marriage licenses for all minors.”
“And, if the minor attempts to obtain a home of their own, they may find no one willing to rent to them, because in many circumstances, minors cannot be held to contracts they enter. (8) Depending on the State, a minor who is being forced or coerced into marriage may not be entitled to file on their own for a protective order. Further, not all States clearly treat married minors as emancipated, meaning they still have the limited legal status and rights of a child and face similar vulnerabilities and challenges seeking help. (9) Child marriage in the United States can also be facilitated through the immigration system. Subject to rare exceptions, United States law recognizes marriages as valid if they were legal where they took place. U.S.”
“According to one study based on census data, 23 percent of children who marry are already separated or divorced by the time they turn 18 years of age. (7) Depending on the State, a child facing a forced marriage or a married minor trying to leave may find themselves with few options. A minor trying to avoid a forced marriage may not be able to leave home without being taken into custody and returned by police and may not be able to stay in a domestic violence shelter at all or in a youth shelter for longer than a few days. Friends or allies of a child escaping a marriage who offer to take them in could risk being charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor or harboring a runaway.”
“Another study found that women who marry before 19 years of age have a 23 percent greater risk of developing a serious health condition, including diabetes, cancer, heart attack, or stroke. (5) Child marriage can facilitate physical, emotional, and verbal abuse. Girls and young women 16 to 24 years of age experience the highest rates of intimate partner violence, and girls 16 to 19 years of age experience intimate partner violence victimization rates that are almost triple the national average. Further, the majority of States allow marriage to be used as a defense to statutory rape laws, which can incentivize perpetrators to marry victims to preempt prosecutions. (6) Seventy to 80 percent of marriages entered into when at least one person is under 18 years of age ultimately end in divorce.”
“This Act may be cited as the ``Child Marriage Prevention Act of 2026''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Congress finds the following: (1) Over 314,000 minors were married in the United States between 2000 and 2021. Most were wed to adult men and some were as young as 10 years of age, though most were 16 or 17 years of age. (2) Child marriage limits educational opportunities. Women who marry before they turn 19 years of age are 50 percent more likely to drop out of high school and 4 times less likely to graduate from college. (3) Girls who marry in their early teens are up to 31 percent more likely to live in future poverty. (4) Child marriage has harmful consequences for mental and physical health. Women who married as children have higher rates of certain psychiatric disorders.”
“Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 119 (Tuesday, July 21, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 119 (Tuesday, July 21, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S4190-S4194] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] STATEMENT ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Schatz, and Mrs. Gillibrand): S. 5060. A bill to comprehensively combat child marriage in the United States; to the Committee on the Judiciary. Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: S. 5060 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.”
“Last week, Leader Thune filed cloture so that we could move more quickly to Ms. Westercamp's nomination. After you have heard about her background, what do you think as a Senator? Despite her disrespectful and inflammatory comments, she is a priority for the other side. It is a disgrace that Senate Republicans are moving forward on this nomination while Senator McConnell is still in the hospital and so soon after Senator Graham's passing. Judges are chosen for judgment, for character, for maturity, for competence, for independence, and most especially, for their temperament. Ms. Westercamp does not meet that standard. I urge my colleagues to oppose her nomination.”
“There is much, [[Page S4169]] much more that she had to say about Senator Graham. Ms. Westercamp accused Senator Collins of Maine of prioritizing her ``own personal political power'' over loyalty to President Trump and called for her removal, as well as the removal of Senators Murkowski and Cassidy following their vote on the second impeachment effort against the President. Ms. Westercamp even posted a sexually explicit image and joke about former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi--a post that Ms. Westercamp herself later described as ``not safe for work.'' Notably, it appears some of her inflammatory, overtly political posts were made while Ms. Westercamp was on duty, actually, as an attorney at the Department of Justice; she was tweeting away. That would violate Federal law.”
“Did you see the damage they did to this U.S. Capitol Building? Yes, we left for our lives. The Vice President was spirited out of here by the Secret Service to protect his life. Ms. Westercamp has also repeatedly attacked Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky for supposedly ``betraying President Trump.'' She even called Senator McConnell ``a modern-day Benedict Arnold,'' and she repeatedly called him ``Cocaine Mitch''--an inflammatory nickname used by MAGA critics of Senator McConnell, the Republican Senator and former leader from Kentucky. I am not going to be able to repeat some of the things that she wrote in her tweets. They are just too much. But of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, she wrote: True to NO ONE but [his] own self-preservation. She crudely called him a name that I can't repeat in the Record for not toeing the MAGA line.”
“So much for the judgment of this would-be judge. I was in this Chamber during the counting of electoral votes for the 2020 election. Vice President Pence was sitting where the Presiding Officer sits today. Members of Congress watched as Secret Service evacuated the Vice President. Within minutes, we were told to leave as well because a violent mob of armed insurrectionists intended to prevent the certification of the 2020 Presidential election results, which Donald Trump had lost by 7 million popular votes. But Ms. Westercamp dismissed this event entirely. She retweeted a post that read--and I quote: We're all supposed to be sending thoughts and prayers to traumatized Members of Congress whose workday was interrupted for a couple of hours. Mr. President, did you see the video? Did you see the mob?”
“Her offensive, inflammatory, juvenile social media posts demonstrate she lacks the independence and the maturity and the temperament to be a judge. Ms. Westercamp tried to delete her old tweets so we wouldn't see them on the committee. She failed. Our staff was able to recover them. In these tweets, Ms. Westercamp spread conspiracy theories about the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol and attacked Republicans and Democrats alike for being insufficiently loyal to President Trump. She elevated claims that the January 6 attack was ``orchestrated by Members of the Senate, and members of the [Capitol] police.'' Let me repeat that. In her tweets, she claimed that the January 6 attack on the Capitol, which we all saw the news of, was ``orchestrated by Members of the Senate, and members of the [Capitol] police.”
“Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 119 (Tuesday, July 21, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 119 (Tuesday, July 21, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S4168-S4169] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] Nomination of Kara Marie Westercamp Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, those seeking to recoup losses from President Trump's disastrous tariff policies will appear before what is called the Court of International Trade. As is the case with many of President Trump's judicial nominees in his second term, his choice to fill a vacancy on this Court Kara Westercamp was tapped because of her obvious loyalty to the President who nominated her instead of her loyalty to the law.”
“Ricketts). On this vote, the yeas are 43, the nays are 40, and the motion is agreed to. The motion was agreed to. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip. ____________________”
“200 Ex.] YEAS--43 Armstrong Banks Barrasso Blackburn Budd Capito Cassidy Collins Cornyn Cotton Cramer Crapo Curtis Daines Ernst Graham Grassley Hagerty Hawley Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McCormick Moreno Murkowski Paul Ricketts Rounds Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Sheehy Sullivan Thune Tillis Wicker Young NAYS--40 Alsobrooks Baldwin Bennet Blumenthal Blunt Rochester Booker Cantwell Coons Duckworth Durbin Gallego Gillibrand Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kaine Kelly Kim King Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Peters Reed Schatz Schiff Schumer Slotkin Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wyden NOT VOTING--17 Boozman Britt Cortez Masto Cruz Fetterman Fischer Kennedy McConnell Moody Moran Padilla Risch Rosen Sanders Shaheen Smith Tuberville The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.”
“I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez Masto), the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fetterman), the Senator from California (Mr. Padilla), the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Rosen), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), the Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen), and the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Smith), are necessarily absent. The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 43, nays 40, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No.”
“I don't believe it will. We need to stop this effort immediately. We need to give the American people the last word in the election in November, not the President and his bizarre theories on who won in 2020. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Will the Senator withhold his request? Mr. DURBIN. Oh, of course. I am sorry. I didn't see the Senator on the floor. I yield to my friend from Wyoming. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Wyoming. [[Page S4149]]”
“Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 118 (Monday, July 20, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 118 (Monday, July 20, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S4148-S4149] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] SAVE America Act Mr. President, as we heard in the President's address, he will use these bogus claims to push for passage of this anti-democratic and anti-voting SAVE America Act. It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in the United States. They face prosecution and jail time for doing it. The SAVE America Act attempts to solve a problem that does not exist. The bill would impose expensive administrative roadblocks, making it more difficult for people to vote. Is that what America is all about, difficulties and hurdles for exercising our right to vote?”
“I will tell you: It is exactly what he did in the months preceding the 2020 election that he sought to steal. He is trying to lay the groundwork to justify rigging the results of the next election. That is the real political theater. President Trump and his Republican Party are struggling in the polls. They know their MAGA agenda is making life more expensive, communities less safe, and government more corrupt. And guess what. We are now again, sadly, in a never-ending war. So now they are focused on reviving thoroughly debunked conspiracy theories to undermine future elections before a single vote is cast.”
“I asked my wife: Where is my birth certificate? She said: I think it is in a box in the closet. We haven't seen it in a long time. Well, according to the President's SAVE America bill, you are going to have to produce one. Incidentally, if you are a woman with a maiden name on a birth certificate, you have to have additional documentation. All of this to stop the scourge of noncitizens who voted. There were 77 of them over a 30-year period of time--77 in a nation of millions of people. But the President can't get it out of his head that somehow or another that foreigners have taken over our election. He lost one, and he just can't live with it. So why would the President have hosted a prime-time address attempting to resurrect these debunked claims?”
“Half of Americans don't own a passport. If you want to get a passport so you can vote in the next election in about 100 days, what does it take? Well, you go to the passport Agency, and you plop down $165--that is what it costs for a basic passport in this country--and then you hope--you hope--it arrives in time. If you want to speed it up, get an accelerated process, it is $225. So in order to exercise your right to vote, under the SAVE America law, the President wants you to pay a poll tax, a passport fee, of up to $225 to vote. Anything wrong with that? That is just against most of the laws we have promulgated over the years saying that poll taxes on people to vote are fundamentally unfair. Oh, you can bring your birth certificate. I was thinking about that when I was home over the weekend.”
“When we took a look, between 1993 and 2023--that would be 30 years, 1993 to 2023--millions and millions of votes were cast. How many noncitizens have we identified tried to vote in those elections? Well, if we are going to change the laws of the United States, there must be a lot of them. Turned out there were 77. Out of the millions of people who registered and voted, 77 were actually not citizens of the United States. The President wants to change the law. And how does he want to change the law? Well, if you want to register to vote, under the President's approach, you have to prove you are a citizen of the United States. How can you do that? Well, I will show my driver's license. I am sorry, that is not enough under this law. Under this law, you would have to show your passport. Got one in your back pocket?”
“It doesn't exist--none, not one page of documents backing up the claims he made in his public statement. No evidence. Election experts and State officials have called out this claim as ``wildly speculative.'' Here are the actual facts. You know the SAVE America Act which the President is focused on, fixed on, can't think of anything else? The idea behind it is to make sure that noncitizens don't vote in the United States. Would you guess that it is currently against the law in the United States for noncitizens to vote? It is true. Well, let's take a look. Took a look at the Heritage Foundation, which is a conservative group, and asked them to provide information on how many noncitizens have been caught trying to vote in the United States.”
“He alleges the deep state misrepresented what actually happened to hide information from him. Second, his then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, whom President Trump now has leading the Central Intelligence Agency, made public remarks addressing all of these concerns in 2020. It is hard to hide information you publicly discuss in press conferences. President Trump claimed the Department of Homeland Security has identified 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in Federal elections. Think of that. The President of the United States claimed that his Agency of government has the names of 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in Federal elections. Well, I sure want to see that evidence. I am sure the American people do too. The President can't produce it.”
“You see, despite the fact that Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020 by 7 million votes, President Trump refuses to acknowledge the truth, and he continues to complain, which was the reason for his statement last week. In a 25-minute rant, the President alleged sweeping foreign interference in voting and railed against the so-called deep state. He was actually railing against his own administration. You see, the 2020 election was during his first term as President. He was in charge. He appointed the people that were supposed to enforce the law. The press conference and the announcement last week ignored that fact. These claims would be laughable if they weren't so dangerous. First, the President was famous for not reading and requesting shorter and shorter versions of a brief provided by our intelligence community each day.”
“Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 118 (Monday, July 20, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 118 (Monday, July 20, 2026)] [Senate] [Page S4148] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] Trump Prime-Time Address to the Nation Mr. President, on a separate topic, last week, the President of the United States delivered a prime-time address from the White House. These sorts of addresses are usually reserved for national crises or the marking of a major milestone. So what was the occasion last week for President Trump to make such an address? To air 6-year-old grievances and lies about the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election.”
“We mourn the loss of these beloved community members, and Senate Democrats will continue to call for an end to these fatal raids.”
“Why is that important? I will tell you. This change will sharply limit law enforcement scrutiny of ICE agents. For years, the Department of Justice's involvement in officer- involved shootings has provided an independent set of eyes and often uncovered crucial facts, including misconduct by Federal officers-- misconduct that has been evident in recent cases. The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General has at least agreed to investigate the use of excessive force by ICE agents, but it is unacceptable that the government's top law enforcement Agency, the FBI, has reportedly chosen to ignore its mission to enforce the law and instead does the White House's bidding. At a time when the American people are demanding more transparency and answers, the administration gives us less.”
“On the heels of these back-to-back killings which I have described, ICE temporarily paused traffic stops, but President Trump quickly took to social media to personally reverse that decision. The President said: ``The men and women of ICE are doing a GREAT job''-- Despite the recent reports of killings-- . . . and ``we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.'s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!'' Being pulled over and shot in your car has to be part of the strategy of ICE, according to the President. Traffic stops have been among the deadliest [[Page S4148]] tactics during this President's mass raids, but apparently, he doesn't care. According to the New York Times just yesterday, the FBI has informed its agents around the country that the FBI would no longer investigate alleged assaults by immigration agents.”
“If there is a warrant or extraordinary circumstances, that is one thing, but the ICE agents crashed down the door of people they suspect might be in the United States undocumented. Many times, they are just plain wrong. Sometimes, those homeowners turn out to be U.S. citizens. Yet when we sit down and say ``That should be basic in America, shouldn't it? If somebody is going to invade my home, with my wife and my kids or grandkids in there, for goodness' sake, they ought to have at least the color of law behind them, the support of the court behind them''--not ICE agents--every instance we have tried to make these changes--simple, commonsense law enforcement changes--the Republicans said no. Instead, the administration has lurched in the opposite direction, enabling these abuses to continue.”
“We know that their background checks are obviously very weak, and the training is limited. We also know that when they are on the job, on the clock, they are wearing masks. When is the last time your local police wore a mask in your hometown? How about your State troopers when they pull you over on the highway? Are they wearing masks? Of course not. But this is insisted on because these ICE agents are so notorious. These fatalities that I have talked about could have been avoided. These people could be alive today. After the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, we tried time and again to get our Republican colleagues to sit down and agree just on some basics. Without a search warrant or an arrest warrant, a person posing to be a policeman should not be crashing down the door of your home. That is pretty basic, isn't it?”
“The ICE agent who fatally shot Mr. Guerrero was hired by the Trump administration despite the fact that he has a long history of domestic violence, abuse, and mental health issues. Yes, a man with a long history of mental health issues, abuse, and domestic violence was hired as an ICE agent and given a gun and a mask. It is not clear whether ICE simply failed to vet him or identified these issues and ignored them. DHS quickly rushed to claim that both shootings were justified, without any body-worn camera footage or any serious investigation. You know, it is interesting. This Agency, which is actively trying to arrest, detain, and deport thousands of people, meeting quotas set by Stephen Miller each day, the agents involved in this are not like your hometown police. They are not like your State police either.”
“In the last 2 weeks, two fatal shootings by ICE agents in Texas and Maine have thrust this government's tactics back into the spotlight. Earlier this month, ICE shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop in Houston. Mr. Araujo had lived in the country for more than 30 years and was not the intended target of the operation. He is survived by his children, who are U.S. citizens. Instead of investigating, the ICE agents detained the witnesses that were around the scene. The Harris County district attorney has said these witnesses are critical to the investigation, but they have been detained by the ICE agents. Last week, Joan Sebastian Guerrero was also shot and killed while in his vehicle in Maine. He is survived by his wife and their 3-year-old daughter, who will now grow up without a father.”
“They are people who work in common jobs every single day, who stood next to you in the line in the grocery store, and who were with you in the pew at church on Sunday. ``Worst of the worst'' didn't hold up at all. At its peak, tensions boiled over with the killing of two American citizens at that time. We saw it in real time and on videotape: Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota. After the public outcry, these ICE raids were quietly scaled back by the Trump administration and Stephen Miller. But now Stephen Miller, the President's domestic adviser, and Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Mullin are quietly resuming these efforts, with immigration arrests surging this month to the highest levels in this administration. I assume they felt that America just wouldn't notice that they were back in business, but we have.”
“He said it over and over and over again. Turns out that the ``worst of the worst'' didn't fit in that category at all. Who were they? Some were U.S. citizens, legal residents, and people with no prior criminal history whatsoever--none. The administration brutally carried out this political theater by deploying military-grade weapons and using overwhelming displays of force that left communities and our country on edge. I saw it firsthand in the city of Chicago: Operation Midway Blitz. In our Hispanic neighborhoods, people were afraid to come out to go to church, afraid to send their kids to school. Were these criminals who were harboring their children from going to school? Hardly.”
“Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 118 (Monday, July 20, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 118 (Monday, July 20, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S4147-S4148] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] Immigration and Customs Enforcement Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, roughly a year ago, President Trump made good on his ``MASS DEPORTATION NOW!'' promise--it was a campaign pledge--when he unleashed ICE into cities across the country to carry out his brutal immigration crackdown. In its wake, including in the city of Chicago, the so-called ``worst of the worst''--remember? The President said he was going after those who were rapists, murderers, terrorists, criminally insane, and predators. The ``worst of the worst''--that is who we are going after.”
“Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.”
“I don't believe it will. We need to stop this effort immediately. We need to give the American people the last word in the election in November, not the President and his bizarre theories on who won in 2020. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Will the Senator withhold his request? Mr. DURBIN. Oh, of course. I am sorry. I didn't see the Senator on the floor. I yield to my friend from Wyoming. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Wyoming. [[Page S4149]]”
“Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 118 (Monday, July 20, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 118 (Monday, July 20, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S4148-S4149] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] SAVE America Act Mr. President, as we heard in the President's address, he will use these bogus claims to push for passage of this anti-democratic and anti-voting SAVE America Act. It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in the United States. They face prosecution and jail time for doing it. The SAVE America Act attempts to solve a problem that does not exist. The bill would impose expensive administrative roadblocks, making it more difficult for people to vote. Is that what America is all about, difficulties and hurdles for exercising our right to vote?”