The Washington Examiner | July 09, 2021
By: Congresswoman Ashley Hinson

"The Left’s growing anti-police rhetoric and efforts to defund law enforcement nationwide are having dire consequences.

As the Left continues to demonize policing, morale among officers is low, and others are leaving the force. A recent survey showed a 45% increase in officer retirements and a 20% increase in resignations over the last year alone.

Law enforcement officers I’ve spoken to across my district in Iowa have echoed this concern. They are struggling to retain and hire new officers they need to keep our communities safe.

And to no one’s surprise, crime is on the rise in cities that have defunded their police forces. It’s not just local police departments the Left wants to strip of resources. House Democrats on the Appropriations Committee are trying to slash funding for our immigration enforcement agencies amid the worst illegal immigration crisis in modern history.

The Democrats released their initial Homeland Security funding proposal for the next fiscal year last week. Under their bill, both U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would lose the resources they need to manage the illegal immigration surge and protect our country against threats stemming from our open border.

On my recent trip to the border, law enforcement told me they needed more resources and more boots on the ground to handle the current crisis conditions they are facing. Illegal border crossings continue to surge at record levels. Our officers don’t have the manpower or tools necessary to combat the cartels, smugglers, and human traffickers using sophisticated techniques to push dangerous drugs and people across our border every day — and this bill inexplicably provides no funding for additional Border Patrol agents to counter this surge.

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Our law enforcement officers across the country and at the border are being stripped of the resources they need to keep Americans safe. I will always defend, never defund, law enforcement officers in Iowa and at our southern border."

Read the full story here. 

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