Senator Schmitt Highlights Tragic Consequences of Democrats’ Open Border Policies on Senate Floor

Shares Stories of Victims of Illegal Immigration, Announces Plan to Protect America

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) spoke from the Senate floor to share the stories of victims of illegal immigration, condemn the political exploitation of "suicidal empathy" to enable radical policies that undermine public safety, and announce his plan to strengthen immigration enforcement and protect federal law enforcement officers.

In his speech, Senator Schmitt argued that left-wing political rhetoric has provided cover for policies that prioritized ideological goals over public safety, leading to violence against law enforcement and heinous, preventable murders of American citizens at the hands of illegal alien criminals. Finally, the Senator spoke of his Protect America Act, legislation he introduced to protect America by: (1) permanently ending sanctuary cities; (2) enhancing penalties for illegal entry and re-entry; (3) protecting law enforcement; and (4) dismantling rogue non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Watch Senator Schmitt's full speech HERE

Ready key excerpts of Senator Schmitt's speech, as prepared for delivery:

"There's a phrase that gets tossed around a lot these days: Suicidal empathy.

It's a term I've used myself, on more than one occasion. And it means more or less exactly what it sounds like: "Tolerance," taken to its most extreme and destructive end.

This is not the classic republican "tolerance" you find in the Federalist Papers, or the writings of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

It is a tolerance of anything and everything, which overpowers all reason and undermines all distinctions between right and wrong, good and evil, order and anarchy.

It's an attitude summed up by the famous slogan of the French student radicals in 1968: It is forbidden to forbid."

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"We open our borders and import millions of unvetted refugees, because we can't bear to turn a single asylum-seeker away.

We empty out our prisons, because we just can't stomach the thought of keeping anyone behind bars.

We let violent criminals off with a slap on the wrist, because we see them as victims of "socioeconomic conditions" beyond their control.

We turn a blind eye as rioters loot, steal and burn their way through our city streets - because "a riot is just the language of the unheard."

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"I think that phrase is actually far too generous.

The radicals on the streets of Minneapolis - and their comrades in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland - are not driven by "empathy," in any meaningful sense of the term.

These are not bleeding-heart humanitarians, paralyzed by an overwhelming concern for the welfare of mankind.

Quite the opposite: Their sphere of moral concern is vanishingly small - and it is reserved exclusively for those who can be used as instruments for their political goals.

They don't care about what is just. They care about what is useful.

They wield the language of decency and compassion as a political weapon.

If this was about empathy, they would have wept with the parents of Jocelyn Nungaray - the 12 year old girl who was kidnapped, raped, and murdered by two illegal aliens in 2024."

If this was about compassion, they would have mourned for the five young children of Rachel Morin, an American mother who was ambushed, raped and murdered by an illegal alien on a hiking trail in Maryland in 2023.

If this was about justice, their hearts would have broken for the family of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student in Georgia who was brutally murdered while out for a jog nearly two years ago to this day - beaten and strangled to death by a Venezuelan illegal because she fought back when he tried to rape her."

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"The monster who murdered Laken had been illegally released into our country under the Biden administration's farcical "humanitarian parole" program.

He had been arrested in New York for endangering a child - and released.

Arrested again, for shoplifting - and released again, with a citation.

Time and time again, the people in power in this country were given the chance to stop him - as if God Himself was begging them to do something.

Time and time again, they refused.

And now, another American family will have to live the rest of their lives with a pain most of us cannot even begin to comprehend.

These are stories that most of the people on my side of the aisle know. American mothers and daughters whose memories we have a duty to keep alive.

But most of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle won't even say their names."

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"So, you know what? Spare me.

To the media, the pundits, and the talking heads; to the protestors on the streets and their politician friends here in the halls of power: We know who you are.

We know what you care about.

It's not humanity, or empathy, or compassion. It is power.

And we know what you do with power. We've seen what you do with power.

The empty chair at the Riley family's dinner table is the cost we've paid for your power. And it is our patriotic duty to ensure you never get close to power again."

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"You know what I care about?

I care about Americans.

I care about the people who are risking their lives to enforce our laws, rather than the ones who are hellbent on breaking it.

I care about the people who are trying to get the kinds of monsters who rape and murder our daughters out of our country, rather than the ones who want to put their bodies on the line to keep them here.

I care about the thousands of federal agents who have been targets of a malicious, coordinated doxxing campaign that is explicitly and intentionally designed to put them and their loved ones in danger."

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"There is a war on the rule of law itself. It is the "mobocratic spirit" that Lincoln spoke of in 1838.

Some of the Democratic Party politicians in this city might want to pretend that's not what's going on here - but their friends on the streets out there are very clear about what this is all about.

This war is organized, coordinated, and actively aided and abetted by local and state authorities across the country.

Since January 2025, there has been a 1,347% increase in assaults against ICE officers.

A 3,200% increase in vehicular attacks.

And an 8,000% increase in death threats against them and their families.

This is not the time to play defense or seek some kind of negotiated surrender. It's time to go on offense."

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"That's why I'm introducing the Protect America Act. This bill does four things:

First, it doubles the criminal penalty for assaulting federal law enforcement - and for the first time, it also makes it a federal crime to "inhibit, stymie, hinder, hamper, or interfere with" federal law enforcement operations.

That means the people blowing whistles and erecting roadblocks on the streets of Minneapolis - not just the ones who physically attack ICE and Border Patrol.

Second, it dismantles the corrupt NGOs that are funding and coordinating these attacks - enabling us to revoke the non-profit status of organizations which incite or fund domestic violence against law enforcement.

Third, it turns illegal entry into a felony with mandatory detention - no more "catch and release" - and it establishes a 10-year mandatory minimum prison sentence for those who try to illegally re-enter after being deported.

And finally, it ends sanctuary cities. Under this legislation, all federal funds are conditioned upon full cooperation with ICE."

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"We are at a crossroads.

We can surrender our country to the barbarians at our gates, or we can steel our spines, plant our feet, and fight to defend our home.

I've made my choice. I urge my colleagues to make theirs."

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