Merkley Delivers Opening Statement at Sanctuary Cities Hearing

Merkley Delivers Opening Statement at Sanctuary Cities Hearing

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, U.S. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following opening statement at a Senate Budget Committee hearing on sanctuary cities. Ranking Member Merkley invited David J. Bier, Director of Immigration Studies and The Selz Foundation Chair in Immigration Policy at the Cato Institute, and Brendan Duke, Senior Director for Federal Budget Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Sen. Merkley's remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

A lot has happened over the last year.

The Big, Ugly Betrayal Law slashed nutrition assistance for hungry children, gutted health care for millions of families, and increased the enormous wealth of billionaires while massively increasing our national deficit and debt and massively increasing the budget for ICE.

Now, Trump has turned ICE into his secret police. I never thought I'd see federal agents wearing masks without personal ID, driving unmarked vehicles without agency ID, breaking down doors without a judicial warrant, smashing windows and dragging people out of their cars, or detaining people without access to attorneys or family.

Heartbreakingly, three American citizens have been killed by ICE. Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in Minnesota, and Ruben Ray Martinez, in Texas.

Sadly, we are just learning what happened to Mr. Martinez due to recent reporting by CBS News that obtained body cam footage showing him being killed by an ICE officer in March 2025.

Multiplying ICE's budget by a factor of seven and the agency's alarming change in behavior would be a very good topic for a hearing.

Another good topic for a hearing would be the budgetary costs of the new war with Iran. Wars always come with enormous costs. The costs of previous Middle East wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were staggering in terms of blood and treasure:

• More than 7,000 American servicemembers killed.

• More than 50,000 servicemembers were wounded.

• More than $6 trillion of treasure spent.

In Iran, seven U.S. servicemembers already have been killed and the Pentagon's preliminary cost estimate was $1 billion a day, and Republican lawmakers are now saying $2 billion a day.

This committee should be focused on putting money back in the pockets of American families, not waging another war in the Middle East.

I think it would be great for the Budget Committee to hold hearings on all of these significant items which involve vast changes in expenditure and vast changes in revenues, all very relevant to this committee.

But the topic of today's hearing has very little relevance to our budget expenditures.

The word "sanctuary" is a misnomer. Sanctuary policies do not make places a limitless safe haven where immigrants cannot be detained or deported.

These policies simply refer to states, cities, and local leaders deciding that local police should handle local police work.

These policies and state autonomy are rooted in the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution.

My Republican colleagues usually lean on states' rights. They know that, for decades, the courts have said the federal government can't commandeer local officials to be federal agents.

So, the idea of local police doing local police work is protected by our Constitution.

And there's a public safety rationale behind it.

We know that when local police serve as local police, they build relationships with the community and decrease crime.

Research shows that sanctuary jurisdictions have higher median household income, less poverty, less reliance on public assistance, and lower unemployment.

And they have lower crime rates. A 2022 study found sanctuary practices lead to a decline in crime rates in those communities.

But, when local police must double as federal immigration officers, local police get less information, trust in the community drops, and crime goes up.

And let's be clear: nothing about local police being local police hampers federal immigration enforcement - federal agents just need to get a judicial warrant.

And a reminder -- each of these issues - slashing nutrition assistance for hungry children, gutting health care for families, increasing the wealth of billionaires, exploding the deficit and debt, transforming ICE into Trump's secret police launching a new war in Iran are issues that the Budget Committee should hold hearings on.

Sanctuary cities are not new and do not have significant budget implications.

So, with all of the challenges we face, it's puzzling why this is today's topic.

But, as long as we're here, let's understand that states that choose to let local police be local police do pretty damn well.

With that in mind, I have invited two expert witnesses to join us today.

Mr. David Bier, from the Cato Institute, is an expert on sanctuary policies and the broader concerns about the Department of Homeland Security receiving $170 billion for immigration enforcement with little accountability or oversight.

Joining him is Mr. Brendan Duke, from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, who focuses on critical budgetary concerns, including how the Big, Ugly Betrayal Law has exploded our debt and raised costs for working families.

Thank you both for joining us today.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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