Comer: Democrat Governors are Prioritizing the Protection of Criminal Illegal Aliens Over the Safety of American Citizens

WASHINGTON—Today, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) delivered opening remarks at “A Hearing with Sanctuary State Governors.” In his opening statement, Chairman Comer declared that the American people overwhelmingly rejected the Biden Administration’s open-border agenda and now, under President Donald Trump’s leadership, that mandate is being fulfilled with decisive action to secure the border and enforce the immigration laws of the United States. 

While President Trump continues to deliver on his promises, Chairman Comer emphasized that Democrat governors across the country are actively undermining federal immigration enforcement and creating safe havens for criminal illegal aliens. He stressed that the governors of Illinois, Minnesota, and New York are publicly testifying before the House Oversight Committee today because their states’ reckless sanctuary policies are jeopardizing the lives of innocent, law-abiding American citizens. He underscored that criminal illegal aliens have been convicted of horrific crimes, including the vehicular homicide of an innocent woman, the sexual abuse of children, brutal machete attacks, and violent carjackings, with more offenses continuing to pile up. 

As Congress moves toward passing the One Big Beautiful Bill to fund the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he concluded that lawmakers must also consider cutting off every single federal dollar to cities and states that prioritize criminal aliens over the safety and well-being of the American people.

Below are Chairman Comer’s prepared remarks.

Good morning. Today, the Oversight Committee will continue to examine the consequences of reckless and dangerous sanctuary policies that jeopardize public safety. 

Three sanctuary state governors from Minnesota, New York, and Illinois are here to testify under oath about why they allow criminal illegal aliens to roam free in American communities.

Let me be clear: sanctuary policies don’t protect Americans. They protect criminal illegal aliens. 

This is a fact that the Abraham family knows all too well. With us today, is the father of Katie Abraham, Joe, and Katie’s stepmother, Michelle.

In January of this year, Katie was tragically killed in a car crash near the University of Illinois in Urbana. Urbana, like the state of Illinois, is a sanctuary jurisdiction. 

Katie’s killer was a previously deported criminal illegal alien who was driving drunk. He fled the scene and the jurisdiction, and was later apprehended by the U.S. Marshals Service in Texas.

Katie was just 20 years old. She had a bright future ahead of her that was stolen from her and her loving family. 

The illegal alien who took Katie’s life should never have been allowed into our country. This was a preventable crime.

Unfortunately, there are too many instances where criminal illegal aliens have harmed Americans.

Behind me are photos of some of the many criminal illegal aliens that have been captured in Illinois, Minnesota, and New York. 

These criminals have been convicted of crimes including, vehicular homicide of a woman, sexual abuse of children, slashing a victim with a machete, and carjacking, among other crimes.

It’s absolutely sickening that sanctuary jurisdictions seek to protect these criminals rather than protect Americans.

Instead of putting America First, the Biden-Harris Administration deliberately dismantled border security to unleash the worst border disaster in American history. Their radical policies allowed millions of illegals to flood our country.

Americans voted to end the Biden Border Crisis, and President Trump has delivered on his promise to secure our borders.

He has taken bold, decisive action to restore our sovereignty and make America safer with each passing day. 

And here in Congress, we are working to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement so it can carry out the mass deportation of criminal illegal aliens. 

Despite President Trump’s efforts to secure the border and enforce the law, Democrat-run sanctuary cities and states are siding with illegal aliens!

For today’s Democrat Party, it seems unlimited illegal immigration isn’t a failure of policy – it is the policy, and that agenda is being pushed at every level of government.

And this comes at a steep cost to public safety, strains law enforcement resources, and imposes a massive financial burden on both federal and state taxpayers. That’s not just bad policy – it’s a serious oversight failure. 

Congress must confront this absurd reality: state and local officials are actively undermining federal immigration enforcement – even when it’s aimed at making their own communities safer. It’s time to determine what legislative action is needed to stop this subversion and restore the rule of law.

It’s growing more and more absurd by the day. 

In recent weeks, we have witnessed a Democrat senator who traveled to a foreign country for a “wellness-check” on a foreign MS-13 gang member—and now indicted human smuggler—that ended with a photo op and margaritas on the rocks. 

The fervor among the Democrats to take the side of illegal alien criminals grew so strong that I even had to deny a written request from members of this very committee to go on a taxpayer-funded junket to visit with this same MS-13 gang member. 

Earlier this year, I launched an investigation into the radical, pro-illegal immigration policies of sanctuary jurisdictions.  

At an Oversight Committee hearing with some of our country’s worst sanctuary city mayors earlier this year, the public was able to clearly see how they care more about illegal aliens than their own citizens.

They have pledged not to cooperate with federal law enforcement officials—not even to hand over criminals in their custody who were originally arrested by their own local law enforcement officials for crimes. 

The absurdity doesn’t stop there. Several of those local officials pointed the finger to laws and policies that their state governments put in place. 

I invited these governors here today because, as the chief executives of their states, they willfully ignore federal law, shield illegal aliens, and pass the cost of free services onto their hard-working taxpayers.

It is hard to figure out whose side these governors are on – they shield criminals while their own citizens pay the price. 

Just a few weeks ago, Minnesota Governor Walz stood at a commencement podium and smeared ICE agents as “Trump’s modern-day Gestapo.”

Comparing brave law enforcement officers – who risk their lives to uphold federal law – to genocidal Nazi thugs is not just wrong, it’s vile and disgusting. 

I can only hope this reckless remark was not meant to incite violence. Assaults on ICE officers are already up 400 percent compared to this time last year. And we have witnessed repeated attempts at obstruction and assaults against federal law enforcement recently captured on video in California. 

Governor Hochul’s sanctuary policies cost taxpayers billions to house, feed, and provide drivers licenses for illegal aliens while the cost to rent rises and hospitals are overrun. Her defiance of federal law invites crime to plague communities across the state.

Governor Pritzker faces lawsuits for obstructing ICE as he turns cities like Chicago into havens for drugs and crime.

He is yet another governor providing free care to illegal aliens that many of his own citizens lack.

These Governors handcuff law enforcement from doing their jobs, harbor predators, and call it “compassion.”

It is NOT compassion, and it is costing lives, hurting Americans, and draining taxpayer money.

Congress must consider whether to defund every single penny of federal dollars going to cities and states that prioritize criminal aliens over the American people. 

Americans want a return to common sense. The Trump Administration and this Republican Congress aims to restore our safety and sovereignty.

It is past time for these governors to put Americans first.