Quigley Presses for Clean Homeland Security Budget

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05), member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Appropriations Committee, spoke out against the Republican shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, urging the House to consider a clean funding bill that could be signed into law before the critical agency is forced to shut down on February 28.

In Illinois alone, a shutdown would furlough or deny pay to 4,179 law enforcement officials, disaster response officials, and many other DHS personnel.

"In two days the Department of Homeland Security will shut down without the passage of a clean funding bill. An extreme anti-immigrant fringe of the Republican Party is acting recklessly and threatening the safety of Americans here at home by blocking this budget. In Illinois alone, nearly 4,000 DHS employees and 225 members of the U.S. Coast Guard will be furloughed if Republicans continue to listen to an extreme faction of their party," said Rep. Quigley. "DHS funding is crucial to Chicago's safety. This budget funds critical security functions including: cyber security, airport security, disaster assistance, transit security, and firefighter grants. I urge my colleagues to join me and send a clean DHS budget to President Obama's desk."

Rep. Quigley, a supporter of President Obama's executive orders on immigration, has been a staunch advocate of comprehensive immigration reform throughout his time in Congress and has pushed Congress to pass a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. He was a strong supporter of the DREAM Act, giving everyone born in the United States an opportunity to attend college or serve in the military. Rep. Quigley used his position on the House Appropriations Committee to highlight the need for Congress to protect undocumented immigrants from abuse in detention centers, reject unconstitutional Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers and end a mandated detention bed quota that wastes millions of dollars annually. Over the summer, he led a letter urging the president to take executive action to enact more human immigration deportation and detention policies. Most recently, Rep. Quigley joined a Congressional Equality Caucus roundtable discussion with undocumented LGBT advocates to emphasize the importance of including the LGBT immigrant community in the president's executive actions on immigration.

Consequences of a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security include: closing the DHS Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, which would no longer alert and coordinate with local law enforcement agencies, and withholding the Securing the Cities grants that pay for critical nuclear detection capabilities in cities across the country; halting Research and Development work on countermeasures to devastating biological threats, on nuclear detection equipment, and on cargo and passenger screening technologies; crippling FEMA's preparations for future disasters, furloughing 22 percent of FEMA personnel; and ending FEMA training activities with local law enforcement for Weapons of Mass Destruction events.

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