Rep. Barry Moore, whose legislation would require the removal of illegal immigrants convicted of drunk driving, told Newsmax on Sunday that enforcement against such individuals eroded during the Biden administration.
"I talked to many judges under the prior administration, under the Biden administration," the Alabama Republican, whose bid for the U.S. Senate has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, said on Newsmax's "Sunday Report."
"The judges would have an individual coming to the court, be convicted of drinking and driving, they would hand them off to ICE, and ICE would go down the road and turn them loose," he said.
He pointed to other incidents he said show why the law should be changed.
"We had a kindergartner in Florida killed by an illegal alien drinking and driving on their fourth offense," Moore said.
"You would have thought that would have been in law, right?" he added. "I mean, you're drinking and driving, you're here illegally, you get caught, and you're taken out of the country."
"But that was not the case, and so now we're trying to codify that," he said.
The goal is to make deportation mandatory in those circumstances through federal law rather than relying on executive branch decisions.
"I can assure you that [Tom] Homan and those guys will take care of business now, but it needs to be codified through the legislative process so that ICE has a directive from Congress to remove these people when they're drinking and driving and they're in this country illegally," he said.
Moore also discussed federal action as states debate whether to provide driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and as the Trump administration moves to crack down on illegal immigrants driving commercial trucks.
"I think at some point we have to weigh in federally when you have these states that are just absolutely abusing the laws," Moore said.
Moore, who said he has held a commercial driver's license, warned about safety risks in heavy trucking.
"Those trucks are very heavy. They can be extremely dangerous," he said. "You don't need people out driving that don't know, can't read the road signs, don't know what they're doing."
"And then you just turn them loose with these incredibly large vehicles that can be incredibly dangerous," he added.
Moore also backed the administration's approach to sanctuary jurisdictions, saying withholding federal funds should be paired with enforcement assistance.
"One thing is you withhold the federal funding, and then you work with them, like we've seen President Trump do, to try and go in and help them clean up the mess that the Biden administration made," he said.
"It's hand in glove," Moore noted. "If we're going to remove the funding, then we're willing to help you clean the mess up, but don't be saying you want our money, but you don't want our help with cleaning up the messes."
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